The Solomonic dynasty and the Kebra Nagast
Yekuno Amlak seizes the throne claiming descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, a claim enshrined in the national epic, the Kebra Nagast.
- The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek (Kebra Nagast) — E. A. Wallis Budge (translator), Medici Society (1922)
- A History of Ethiopia — Harold G. Marcus, University of California Press (2002)
- The Ethiopians: A History — Richard Pankhurst, Blackwell (2001)
- A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855–1991 — Bahru Zewde, James Currey (2001)
In 1270 a lord from Amhara named Yekuno Amlak overthrew the last Zagwe king. His supporters, including the influential monasteries, presented this not as a coup but as a restoration: the true royal line, descended from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, was back on the throne. The Solomonic dynasty, with interruptions, ruled until 1974.
- A History of Ethiopia — Harold G. Marcus, University of California Press (2002)
- The Ethiopians: A History — Richard Pankhurst, Blackwell (2001)
The story behind that claim was written down in the early fourteenth century in the Ge’ez book the Kebra Nagast, “The Glory of the Kings”. It tells how Makeda, Queen of Sheba, visited Solomon, was converted to the God of Israel, and bore a son, Menelik. When Menelik visited his father, the Ark of the Covenant came with him to Ethiopia, and God’s favour passed from Israel to Ethiopia.
- The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek (Kebra Nagast) — E. A. Wallis Budge (translator), Medici Society (1922)
- A History of Ethiopia — Harold G. Marcus, University of California Press (2002)
The early Solomonic kings, such as Amda Seyon (r. 1314–44) and Zara Yaqob (r. 1434–68), built a powerful, mobile Christian empire, fought Muslim sultanates to the east, and sponsored a flowering of church literature and monasticism. The Kebra Nagast became a kind of national epic, retold in paintings that still sell to tourists, and later inspired Rastafari, who read it as proof of Haile Selassie’s sacred lineage.
- A History of Ethiopia — Harold G. Marcus, University of California Press (2002)
- The Ethiopians: A History — Richard Pankhurst, Blackwell (2001)
- Exodus! Heirs and Pioneers, Rastafari Return to Ethiopia — Giulia Bonacci, University of the West Indies Press (2015)
The Queen of Sheba, Makeda, visited Solomon in Jerusalem and bore his son Menelik, who returned to Ethiopia with the Ark of the Covenant. The line was broken by the Zagwe usurpers and restored in 1270. Ethiopia thus inherited Israel's covenant with God.
- The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek (Kebra Nagast) — E. A. Wallis Budge (translator), Medici Society (1922)
- A History of Ethiopia — Harold G. Marcus, University of California Press (2002)
The Kebra Nagast was compiled in the early fourteenth century from older biblical, Jewish, Christian and possibly Arabic materials, apparently to legitimise the new dynasty. Its genealogy cannot be tested, but it is a remarkable work of political and religious literature.
- A History of Ethiopia — Harold G. Marcus, University of California Press (2002)
- The Ethiopians: A History — Richard Pankhurst, Blackwell (2001)
Why it matters today
The Solomonic story, that Ethiopia's kings descended from Solomon and that the Ark of the Covenant came to Aksum, made Ethiopia a chosen land in its own eyes. It legitimised every emperor down to Haile Selassie, whose 1955 constitution still wrote the Solomonic descent into law. Many Orthodox Ethiopians still cherish it; others, especially from communities outside the old empire, see it as the founding myth of one group's rule over others.