HISC52H3 Lecture Notes - Yeha, Kaleb Of Axum, Zagwe Dynasty
Document Summary
Folklore, story of king solomon and queen of sheeba, rulers of ethiopia needed to connect themselves further back in history, found a way to clarify descent from king solomon, wanted legitimacy. Each newcomer needs to come with legitimacy, must have a background. In ethiopia history there was a change in leadership, ruling class wanted to insure they were there before anybody else, around year 1000bc solomon and david ruled. In the old testament it refers to sheeba seeking king solomon for his wisdom, in the ethiopian account she has the child by him, her son becomes the first king of ethiopian, menelik the first. Since the beginning of the 20th century the popular artists have produced comic book account of this story, Kingdom of sheeba produces the queen, discussion go on in the community, decided she must go and find solomon, they used to worship the sun, now they are prepared to worship monopolistic.