33. Appendix 4: The Story of Isis and Osiris According to Plutarch’s De Iside et Osiride and the First Dynasty of Egypt (§§612-626) [Continued]

b. The Traditional History of Cush and Sheba

626.47. From C. F. Rey, In the Country of the Blue Nile, London, 1927, Appendix A, p. 261ff., from a list of kings supplied to Mr. Rey in 1914 by Haile Selassie. The Abyssinians reckon from the Creation 5500 years before Christ and their year AD 1 is AD 8 in our calendar. The Additional Notes (last column in some charts, and at times in the intervening comments) are my own.

I. TRIBE OR POSTERITY OF ORI OR ARAM

Total: 21 Sovereigns of the Tribe of Ori or Aram.

This is doubtless a list of Aramite kings, of the tribe of Aram son of Shem, who ruled Cush before the arrival of the Hamites of the line of Cush, that is, before the Dispersion from the Shinar Tower. The Hamites treated them as nephilim or “giants,” that is, demon-filled opponents who were to be ousted from the land. The giant Adites of Arabic legend, drawing on earlier Coptic sources, were believed to be offspring of Aram and the earliest inhabitants of the Nile valley. As in this case the reigns of the kings of the line of Aram are treated as consecutive and traced back over 1200 years to a period before the Flood, so also the Adites are treated in the sources sometimes as post-diluvian, sometimes as pre-diluvian, depending on the particular historical construction in which they feature. The “giants” of the post-diluvian world were believed, in fact, to be reincarnations of the nephilim before the Flood, and the pre-diluvian dates for them could be justified on that basis.

626.48. From the Deluge until the fall of the Shinar Tower 531 years to AM 2787 or BC 2713.

II. SOVEREIGNTY OF THE TRIBE OF KAM AFTER THE FALL OF THE SHINAR TOWER

Total: 25 Sovereigns of the Tribe of Kam, plus 21 sovereigns of the tribe of Ori (Aram). — Grand Total, 46 Sovereigns.

Habesh or Habassi (the eponymus of the Abyssinians) is the son of Phut son of Ham (the name Phut [p-w-ṭ] being alternatively spelled Qut [q-w-ṭ] in Arabic) and is otherwise described as the son of Cush son of Ham. Habesh is also himself titled or identified with Cush. Habesh does not feature amongst the sons of Cush named in Genesis 10. 7f., and Phut’s sons are not listed at all in the Bible. It is possible, therefore, on the analogy of the genealogical phenomena examined at §940, below, >> (with cross-references), that Habesh was the literal son of Phut son of Ham and was adopted into the family of Cush son of Ham, taking the name of his adoptive father, Cush. The national name Habesh is exchanged for Hebrew Cush in some Arabic versions of Genesis 10, and Cush is depicted otherwise as a son of Canaan son of Ham, rather than as a direct son of Ham, in Arabic traditional history, so Habesh is also found identified with Cush son of Canaan. However, the genealogy Cush son of Canaan is likely to have arisen as a result of the fact Minaeans (Sabaeans) were mixed with Hivites, the offspring of Canaan, which latter then became known themselves as “Min” (Minaeans) or “Sheba” (Sabaeans), and hence also as “Cush” (Sheba being the son of Cush, and the ethnic designations Cushite and Sabaean both being translated “Indian” in the Targums, §782, below, >>): in which case “Cush son of Canaan” really refers to the Minaean/Sabaean Hivites. Habesh is the father of Nuba, eponymous ancestor of the Nubians. Included amongst the Nubians is the tribe of Phung or Phun (p-w-n), doubtless the Puntites of ancient Egyptian inscriptions who inhabited the land of Punt (Pun-t = p-w-n-t). Sabtah son of Cush son of Ham (Gen. 10. 7) is called Zingahe (otherwise Zing) in Saadia’s Pentateuch. This is the eponymus of the Zing tribes of Africa, who are said to have been the sole occupants of Africa south of a mountain on the Equator inhabited by them. The following is from MacMichael, A History of the Arabs in the Sudan, vol. II, Cambridge, 1922, Text IV. D1, Part II by Muhammad walid Dolib the elder c. AD 1680 and Part III by his grandson, the younger, both with what appear to be occasional glosses added:

“(p. 197, Book III) CLXXVIII. The original autochthonous peoples of the Sudan were the NUBA and the Abyssinians (el Habsha) and the ZING.

CLXXIX. The first people who subsequently joined them were the BERBER. ([p. 189, Book II] LXXII. The BERBER are descended from Thamila son of Marib son of Faran son of Amr son of Amlik son of Laudh [Lud] son of Sam [Shem] son of Nuh [Noah] ….)

CLXXX Every [tribe] that is derived from the Hamag belongs to the Zing group, and every [tribe] that is derived from the Fung belongs to the Nuba group.

CLXXXI The tribes of the Arabs who are in the Sudan, other than these, are foreigners, and have merely mixed with the tribes mentioned above and multiplied with them. Some of them have retained the characteristics of the Arabs, and the element of Nuba and Zing that is interspersed among them has adopted the Arab characteristics; and on the other hand there have been some Arabs who have become fused with the Nuba and the Zing and adopted their characteristics; but in each case they know their origin.

CLXXXII The original [home] of the Zing is a mountain inhabited by blacks on the equator and south [of it]. Beyond them are no other peoples; and their country stretches from West Africa [el moghrab] to the neighborhood of Abyssinia, and part of it is on the Nile of Egypt.”

626.48.0.1. This account describes the homogeneous ethnic composition of sub-equatorial Africa c. AD 1680 and may be presumed to describe the situation in the preceding century or so. The whole region was inhabited by the Zing, that is, by the tribe of Sabtah son of Cush, which was the royal tribe of the Queens of Sheba. It was in that very period that the Balobedu “Rain Queens” are held to have originated in Zimbabwe, and from there spread with their people into South Africa, confirming the accuracy of the account of Muhammad walid Dolib. The Modjadji (Mujaji) or Rain Queen is the hereditary queen of Balobedu, a people of the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The succession to the position of Rain Queen is matrilinear, meaning that the Queen’s eldest daughter is the heir, and that males are not entitled to inherit the throne at all. The Rain Queen is believed to have special powers, including the ability to control the clouds and rainfall. According to the tribe’s own traditions recorded in the early twentieth century by E. J. Krige, c. AD 1600 the sons of a chief (mambo) Monomotapa in South-eastern Zimbabwe fought amongst themselves, and one, named Mulozwi, set himself up as king on Mount Maulwi. He was a sacred king who must end his reign by ritual suicide, and had the supernatural prerogatives to match, especially the power to ensure plenteous rainfall. His daughter Dzugundini became pregnant, though unmarried, and gave birth to an infant son Makaphimo. It was believed the father was her own uterine brother. She fled south before her father could make judgment in the case, having first received the rain charms and sacred beads of her father which had been stolen for the purpose by her mother. Dzugundini ended up in Molototsi Valley, which is in the present day Balobedu (Lobedu or Lovedu) Kingdom. Makaphimo’s son Muhale took his own uncles’ daughters as wives. The royal line continued through kings Malaji, Pheduli and Khiali, to whom were entrusted in succession the rain charms, up to c. AD 1800. Khiali bestowed them on his youngest son Mugodo. Under Mugodo all kinds of internecine strife arose in the kingdom as well as natural disasters, and despairing of a settled future in the usual order of things, Mugodo prophesied the kingdom would go to a female. By his favorite daughter Mujaji (the first of the succeeding line of Rain Queens) at a mountain called Maulwi (in memory of the ancestral home in Zimbabwe), and with respect to the origins of their people through Dzugundini, Mugodo initially begot a son, who was strangled, and then a daughter, who became the second Rain Queen, Mujaji II. (From E. J. Krige, The Realm of A Rain-Queen, 1943, p. 5ff.) She is said to have been the inspiration for H. Rider Haggard’s novel, ‘She: A History of Adventure.’ The line of Rain Queens continued with Mujaji III in the second half of the nineteenth century and on through the twentieth and the twenty-first. Note the matrilinear system in this case, as in that of related tribes originating from the same geographical zone in ancient Zimbabwe, the recurring theme of consanguineous marriage, reminiscent of the Pharaonic custom, which spread in early times from Egypt into Ethiopia (Sheba), and the belief that fertility depended on the maintenance of those traditions in the royal house. All this accords with Ethiopian (Cushite) culture in antiquity. Amongst the tribes linguistically and otherwise related to the Balobedu are the Lemba whose traditional Yemenite (Arabian Sheba) Jewish connections have recently been confirmed by DNA evidence. Historical and social interaction between Jews and Ethiopians in the kingdom of Sheba is well documented. The remarkable stone ruins of Great Zimbabwe from the vicinity of which these tribes migrated doubtless bear witness to the control exercised in ancient times by the line of Sheba and their queens over the incredibly rich gold deposits of the lands around it.

626.48.1. The failure to recognize the equation of the Arabic tribal names with the Biblical eponymi has resulted in a loss of clarity in the treatment of African traditional history. The names Habesh, Zing, Nuba and Phung represent real tribal groupings descended from the above-mentioned Biblical patriarchs in the lines of Phut and Cush. (Habesh [“Cush”] son of Phut son of Ham son of Noah, Zing = Sabtah son of Cush son of Ham son of Noah, Nuba son of Habesh son of Phut, and Phung a sub-tribe of Nuba son of Habesh son of Phut.) Their histories can be traced in general outline from the late third millennium BC onwards by means of these equations, and by giving due credit to the traditional genealogies of the Ethiopian royal line and medieval Arabic accounts, buttressed, in some cases, by Classical historical references and more recent archaeological discoveries.

626.48.2. The name Elektron of the fifth king in the series may look like a Greek anomaly, but the word elektron was believed in antiquity to be a secondary formation of the Greek divine name Elektor of the sun-god, and many nowadays see in the latter a Near-Eastern title of the god El, the sun-god of Canaan: for example, Elah-ktur (’-l-h k-t-w-r) would mean “Elah (El) arrayed with a corona,” which would become Elektor in Greek, and would be appropriately applied secondarily to the substance we call amber, and the Greeks called elektron. A similar Semitic form underlies what appears to be a Greek name, Etiyopus (Aithiops), Dynasty III, kings V and IX. The Greek is itself a representation of two Semitic words, aith (= Heb. esh, fire, see Gesenius-Tregelles s.v.), “to be fiery, burned,” and aph, “face,” so Aithi-ops means “Burned face.” Likewise in the case of Dynasty III, sovereign III Queen “Kasiyope,” which is the Greek Kassiopeia. The final element in this name, according to the traditional explanation, is as in the city-name Joppa, from Semitic y-ph-h, be beautiful, and the first element is either a transcription of the Semitic national name Kas = Cush, or of the Semitic plant name qeṣi‛ah = Cassia, both of which originate from the root k/q-s/ṣ/š = cut, peel. Here Elekton (“Amber”) closely follows Habassi (Habesh) on the throne of Ethiopia, and Habassi is the son of Phut (supra). Similarly in the Defloratio Berosi (§889.61ff., below, >>.), as earlier (14th century AD) in Boccacio’s Genealogiae (Lib. VII. cap. xli-xlii), Lygur (or Lygus), the eponymus of the “Amber” tribe, is the son of Phut or Phaethon: Lygur = Lynkhourion, “elektron, amber,” ancestor of the Lygurians or Ambrones, the “Amber-folk” in the environs of the Po and the Rhone. The myth of Phaethon is interpreted as follows by implication in the Defloratio: Phaethon is the Biblical Phut son of Ham, the ancestor of the Ethiopians. As a result of the environmental catastrophes associated with the Inundation of Noah’s time (cf. §509, above, >>, Phaethon in the Atlantis tradition) the land of Africa was subject to excessive heat and Phut-Phaethon’s descendants, the Africans, became blackened as a result (§613, above, >>, section related to Arueris). The kings of Ethiopia were identified with the sun-god. Thus Phaethon the king of Ethiopia, a form of the sun-god, was held to have moved out of his proper order (mishandled the chariot of the sun) and to have scorched the Africans black by the sun’s fiery heat. A similar explanation was given for a fire which burned over the regions around the Po and the Rhone in the days when Phut-Phaethon migrated thither from the north coast of Africa with his son Lygur (“Elektron”). (§889.61ff., below, >>.) Phaethon’s sisters the Heliades, or “sun-maidens,” were transformed into poplar-trees on the banks of the Po which wept “amber” (Lygurian) tears for Phaethon, who had perished as he fell from heaven into the river. The disappearance of Phaethon in the Po’s waters was, in cosmic terms, a reference to the extinguishing of the heat of the sun (Phaethon) in the waters of the Inundation, and in civil or historical terms, a reference to Phut-Phaethon’s “sailing out of sight for ever down the Po” when he left Lyguria and returned to Ethiopia.

626.48.3. An account of Phut-Phaethon’s migration with further detail on the nature of the fiery destruction and the patriarch’s reasons for leaving Africa is found in Turmair (Turmair/Aventinus, Germania Illustrata, ed. Leidinger, Munich, 1908, p. 162), borrowing from medieval expansions (perhaps scholia) on the Defloratio’s version. This account reads as follows:

Also the monstrous offspring of the giants were emboldened to commit every kind of wickedness, bringing upon them the wrath of heaven. Five well-appointed cities were set on fire by celestial fire from the heavens, and it continued to burn in many regions for a considerable time. The poets call it the burning of Phaethon. And on account of this what is related now came to pass. Lycurgus ruler of Thrace, and princes Sipylus and Mopsus were forced into exile from Thrace and fled for refuge to the German Mars {Tuisco’s offspring Istaevon, Aventinus, ibid., p. 162ff.} and implored his assistance. Amongst these events, — another consequence of the wrath of God, — a sore famine began to afflict the people. Now in Lybia Myrina, a woman of remarkable wisdom and boldness, being the daughter, as they claim, of Japheth Atlas Maurus, and the granddaughter of Noah, gathered an army of females and a huge military force from the region of Spain, and put to the sword those males who gave the greatest resistance. It was a force of thirty thousand foot-soldiers and two thousand horse, and comprised females only, as Diodorus Siculus relates in his fourth book {modern editions III. 54-55}. Males, if they were granted reprieve, were forced to become their servants. With these forces, Myrina self-confidently embarked on a campaign to take over the world. She stirred up war with Hiarbas king of Africa, a most bellicose prince, conquered him, and reduced him to servitude, but placated by his gifts and his submissive attitude, permitted him to live. Thereafter traveling across the whole of Africa and subduing it, she approached Egypt. Osiris {Mizraim} and Horus son of Isis went forth to meet her and gave her an official welcome, making peace with her. Next she brought Arabia under the sway of her arms, and crossed over Asia. She traversed the seas with her victorious army, and assaulted Europe, subdued Epirus, Dalmatia, and Illyrica, and threatened to advance on the kingdom of Germany. Phaethon the son of Ham, fleeing this army of females, sailed from Africa with his son Ligur, and settled down next to the river Rhone. Ligur founded Liguria, whose capital is Genoa, the ninth region of Italy.

Here the catastrophe in the days of Phaethon is identified with the burning of the five cities of the Plain (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Zoar, Genesis 14. 2, 8) by the fire from heaven. Similarly the sexual perversion practiced in those cities is said to have been characteristic of the “giants” (the nephilim, Anakites etc.) of the region (Canaan and the environs). It is further implied that the sexual deviance of the Amazonian army of Myrina was another symptom of the moral malaise of that era, and that was what impelled Phut (Phaethon son of Ham) to flee to the Rhone valley. Probably the geographical names had a more limited reference in the original, viz. “Thrace” (Hebrew Tiras) = Tyre (Tiras = Tyre in the Defloratio), Spain = Tubal in Asia Minor, Lybia = the territory of Heth (Hercules Libycus) in the Levant, Asia Minor, and in the vicinity of Egypt, Germany = Gomer (in Asia Minor), Epirus = Ophir, Dalmatia = Almodad, Illyrica = the region of Jerah (Iader) son of Ister/Joktan (Turmair/Aventinus, ut cit. supra, p. 118). On the historical Myrina see §626.6, above, >>.

626.49.

III. AGDAZYAN DYNASTY OF THE POSTERITY OF THE KINGDOM OF JOKTAN

Of the posterity of Ori (Aram) up to the reign of Makeda 98 Sovereigns reigned over Ethiopia before the advent of Menelik I.

626.50. The XVIth king of the Agdazyan Dynasty of Joktan was Piori II, who reigned AM 3889-3904. This reign coincided with the early 50s of the life of Moses, when the latter terminated his campaign in Ethiopia, according to the Alexandrian chronology of Hippolytus of Thebes, which is basically the same as that employed in the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition (AM 1 = 5500 years before the Advent of Christ), and according to the chronology of the life of Moses explained in summary in the True Date of the Exodus at thislink: http://www.christianhospitality.org/resources/exodus-online/content/exodus8.html. The chronology of Hippolytus of Thebes (Diekamp, Hippolytos von Theben, 1898, Texte, VIIIa-VIIIc), allows 2142 (variant 2242) years from Adam to the Flood, 1270 years from the Flood to the birth of Abraham, 75 years till Abraham’s migration to Canaan, 25 years thereafter till the birth of Isaac, 60 years till the birth of Esau and Jacob, 130 years till Jacob’s entry into Egypt, and 215 years for the sojourn in Egypt till the Exodus in Moses’ 80th year, AM 3917. (The Alexandrian calculation follows the erroneous Egyptian-based tradition of Demetrius, current texts of the Septuagint etc.) This means Moses was 52 years old in the first year of Piori II, AM 3889, according to the Alexandrian, and consequently according to the Ethiopian, chronology. His campaign in Ethiopia commenced somewhat after Moses’ 40th year, and lasted 10 years (True Date of the Exodus ut cit. supra). As explained at the following link, http://www.christianhospitality.org/resources/exodus-online/, Moses is Djehuty, the minister of Hatshepsut of the XVIIIth Dynasty. (Moses is said to have been called “Hermes” by the Egyptians in the Hellenistic historiographer Artapanus, and “Djehuty” is the Egyptian form of the Greek name “Hermes.”) Hermes (Djehuty) led a military-cum-agricultural expedition into Ethiopia (Nubia, Punt), according to Artapanus, and, according to Josephus (Ant. II. x. 2 [= II. 248-253]), married Tharbis, a daughter of the Ethiopian king:

When he had therefore proceeded thus on his journey, he came upon the Ethiopians before they expected him; and, joining battle with them, he beat them, and deprived them of the hopes they had of success against the Egyptians, and went on in overthrowing their cities, and indeed made a great slaughter of these Ethiopians. Now when the Egyptian army had once tasted of this prosperous success, by the means of Moses, they did not slacken their diligence, insomuch that the Ethiopians were in danger of being reduced to slavery, and all sorts of destruction; and at length they retired to Saba, which was a royal city of Ethiopia, which Cambyses afterwards named Meroe, after the name of his own sister. The place was to be besieged with very great difficulty, since it was both encompassed by the Nile quite round, and the other rivers, Astapus and Astaboras, made it a very difficult thing for such as attempted to pass over them; for the city was situate in a retired place, and was inhabited after the manner of an island, being encompassed with a strong wall, and having the rivers to guard them from their enemies, and having great ramparts between the wall and the rivers, insomuch, that when the waters come with the greatest violence, it can never be drowned; which ramparts make it next to impossible for even such as are gotten over the rivers to take the city. However, while Moses was uneasy at the army’s lying idle, (for the enemies durst not come to a battle,) this accident happened: — Tharbis was the daughter of the king of the Ethiopians: she happened to see Moses as he led the army near the walls, and fought with great courage; and admiring the subtlety of his undertakings, and believing him to be the author of the Egyptians’ success, when they had before despaired of recovering their liberty, and to be the occasion of the great danger the Ethiopians were in, when they had before boasted of their great achievements, she fell deeply in love with him; and upon the prevalency of that passion, sent to him the most faithful of all her servants to discourse with him about their marriage. He thereupon accepted the offer, on condition she would procure the delivering up of the city; and gave her the assurance of an oath to take her to his wife; and that when he had once taken possession of the city, he would not break his oath to her. No sooner was the agreement made, but it took effect immediately; and when Moses had cut off the Ethiopians, he gave thanks to God, and consummated his marriage, and led the Egyptians back to their own land.

The king of Punt in the time of Hatshepsut was Parahu. Parahu’s daughter is seen in Mariette’s copy of a relief at Deir El-Bahari being presented to the Egyptian military-cum-agricultural force as a gesture of submission. (Mariette, Auguste: Deir-el-Bahari, Leipzig 1877, Planche 5, bottom frieze [stolen since Mariette’s time and not recovered], illustrated below.) Undoubtedly Parahu is the original form of the name spelled Piori here, and his daughter, it can be concluded, was married subsequently to the Egyptian official Djehuty, viz. Moses. The princess’ mother is called Ati on the same relief. Moses is known from the Book of Numbers (12. 1) to have married at some point in time preceding the second year after the Exodus from Egypt an Ethiopian (Cushite) wife. This Ethiopian king-list is traditional, but preserves a consonantal form of the royal name of the father-in-law of Moses (Piori) which accords with the ancient Egyptian form of the name Parahu (viz. p’-r’–hw) of the king of Punt (Nubia, Cush,

Parahu (far right) king of Punt with his wife, Ati, two sons and daughter (middle)

Ethiopia) in the time of Djehuty. The tribute offered to Hatshepsut is said to be from “Punt and Aram” (the latter sometimes transcribed “Irem”) in the reliefs from Deir El-Bahari (Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, vol. II, 1906, p. 111, §270). Piori II was of the tribe of Aram, according to the Ethiopian king-list, and his father bore the name (Ori, Aram) of the tribal ancestor. The tribe of Kush (Cush) is also named in the Punt reliefs (Breasted, ibid, p. 112, §271), as associated in the offering of tribute to the Egyptian expedition (Breasted, ibid, p. 110, §267) with the chiefs of Punt, the chiefs of Aram, and the chiefs of the “Nemeyw” (nm’yw). We may reasonably take the people named last to be the Nuba (nb’), or Nubians, descended from Nuba son of Habesh-Cush, that is, “Nemeyw” (nm’yw) was pronounced “Nubayu” (the “b” sound interchanging with the “m” sound in Egyptian). The Puntites themselves are doubtless the “Phung” (consonantal p-w-n), representing a sub-group of the Nuba. All this is remarkable corroboration of the authenticity of the Biblical account, of the traditional Ethiopian king-list reproduced here, of elements of the medieval Arabic accounts, and of the historical reconstruction itself equating Djehuty with Moses.

626.51. In the following lists the first figure following the royal name is the years of reign, the second figure is the Year of the World when the reign terminated, and the third figure the same in Years Before or After Christ.

IV. Dynasty of Menelik I

I. Menelik I 25 4543 957

II. Hanyon I 4544 956

III. Sera I (Tomai) 26 4570 930

IV. Amen Hotep Zagdur 31 4601 899

V. Aksumay Ramissu 20 4621 879

VI. Awseyo Sera II 38 4659 841

VII. Tawasya II 21 4680 820

VIII. Abralyus Wiyankihi II 32 4712 788

IX. Aksumay Warada Tsahay 23 4735 765

X. Kashta Hanyon 13 4748 752

XI. Sabaka II 12 4760 740

XII. Nicauta Kandae (Queen) 10 4770 730

XIII. Tsawi Terhak Warada Nagash 49 4819 681

XIV. Erda Amen Awseya 6 4825 675

XV. Gasiyo Eskikatir — — —

XVI. Nuatmeawn 4 4829 671

XVII. Tomadyon Piyankihi III 12 4841 659

XVIII. Amen Asero 16 4857 643

XIX. Piyankihi IV (Awtet) 34 4891 609

XX. Zaware Nebret Aspurta 41 4932 568

XXI. Saifay Harsiataw II 12 4944 556

XXII. Ramhay Nastossanan 14 4958 542

XXIII. Handu Wuha Abra 11 4969 531

XXIV. Safelya Sabakon 31 5000 500

XXV. Agalbus Sepekos 22 5022 478

XXVI. Psmenit Waradanegash 21 5043 457

XXVII. Awseya Tarakos 12 5055 445

XXVIII. Kanaz Psmis (son of preceding) 13 5068 432

XXIX. Apras 10 5078 422

XXX. Kashta Walda Ahuhu 20 5098 402

XXXI. Elalion Taake 10 5108 392

XXXII. Atserk Amen III 10 5118 382

XXXIII. Atserk Amen IV 10 5128 372

XXXIV. Hadina (Queen) 10 5138 362

XXXV. Atserk Amen V 10 5148 352

XXXVI. Atserk Amen VI 10 5158 342

XXXVII. Nikawla Kandat (Queen) 10 5168 332

XXXVIII. Bassyo 7 5175 325

XXXIX. Akawsis Kandake III (Queen) 10 5185 315

XL. Arkamen II 10 5195 305

XLI. Awtet Arawura 10 5205 295

XLII. Kolas II (Kaletro) 10 5215 285

XLIII. Zawre Nebrat 16 5231 269

XLIV. Stiyo 14 5245 255

XLV. Safay 13 5258 242

XLVI. Nikosis Kandake IV (Queen) 10 5268 232

XLVII. Ramhay Arkamen IV 10 5278 222

XLVIII. Feliya Hernekhit 15 5293 207

XLIX. Hende Awkerara 20 5313 187

L. Agabu Baseheran 10 5323 177

LI. Sulay Kawawmenun 20 5343 157

LII. Messelme Kerarmer 8 5351 149

LIII. Nagey Bsente 10 5361 139

LIV. Etbenukawer 10 5371 129

LV. Safeliya Abramen 20 5391 109

LVI. Sanay 10 5401 99

LVII. Awsena (Queen) 11 5412 88

LVIII. Dawit II 10 5422 78

LIX. Aglbul 8 5430 70

LX. Bawawl 10 5440 60

LXI. Barawas 10 5450 50

LXII. Dinedad 10 5460 40

LXIII. Amoy Mahasse 5 5465 35

LXIV. Nicotnis Kandake V 10 5475 25

LXV. Nalke 5 5480 20

LXVI. Luzay 12 5492 8

LXVII. Bazen Before Christ 8 5500 —

After Christ 9 5509 9

Before Christ 165 Sovereigns reigned.

626.52.

V. THOSE WHO REIGNED AFTER THE BIRTH OF CHRIST

I. Sartu Tsenfa Assegd 21 5530 30

II. Akaptah Tsenfa Ared 8 5538 38

III. Horemtaku 2 5540 40

IV. Garsemot Kandake VI 10 5550 50

V. Hatosza Bahr Asaged 28 5578 78

VI. Mesenh Germasir 7 5585 85

VII. Metwa Germa Asfar 9 5594 94

VIII. Adgale II 10 yrs + 6 months 5604 104

XI. Agba 6 mo of Adgale + 6 mo 5605 105

X Serada 16 5621 121

XI. Malis Alameda 4 5625 125

XII. Hakabe Nasohi Tsiyon 6 5631 131

XIII. Hakli Sergway 12 5643 143

XIV. Dedme Zaray 10 5653 153

XV. Awtet 2 5655 155

XVI. Alaly Bagamay 7 5662 162

XVII. Awadu Jan Asagad 30 5692 192

XVIII. Zagun Tsion Hegez 5 5697 197

XIX. Rema Tsion Geza 3 5700 200

XX. Azegan Malbagad 7 5707 207

XXI. Gafale Seb Asagad 1 5708 208

XXII. Tsegay Beze Wark 4 5712 212

XXIII. Gaza Agdur 9 5721 221

XXIV. Agduba Asgwegwe 8 5729 229

XXV. Dawiza 1 5730 230

XXVI. Wakana (Queen) 2 days — —

XXVII. Hadawz 4 months — —

XXVIII. Ailassan Sagal 3 5733 233

XXIX. Asfehi Asfeha 14 5747 247

XXX. Atsgaba Seifa Arad 6 5753 253

XXXI. Ayba 17 5770 270

XXXII. Tsaham Laknduga 9 5779 279

XXIII. Tsegab 10 5789 289

XXXIV. Tazer 10 5799 299

XXXV. Ahywa Sofya (Queen) 7 5806 306

These thirty-five sovereigns at the time of Akapta Tsenfa Arad (from AD 30 to AD 38) had become Christians through the ministry of the Apostle Saint Matthew. There were few men who did not believe, for they had heard the words of the gospel. After this Jen Daraba, favourite of the Queen of Ethiopia, Garsemat Kandake (AD 40 to AD 50), crowned by Gabre Hawariat Kandake, had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem according to the Law of Orit (the ancient law), and on his return Philip the Apostle taught him the gospel, and after he had made him believe the truth he sent him back, baptizing him in the name of the Lord Jesus. The latter (the Queen’s favorite), on his return to his country, taught by word of mouth the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ and baptized them. Those who were baptized, not having found an Apostle to teach them the Gospel, had been living offering sacrifices to God according to the ancient prescription and the Jewish Law.

626.53.

VI. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE CHRISTIAN SOVEREIGNS WHO RECEIVED BAPTISM AND FOLLOWED COMPLETELY THE LAW OF THE GOSPEL

I. Ahywa (her regnal name was Sofya, and she was the mother of Abreha Atsbeha. The time of her reign was 7 years).

II. Abreha Atsbeha (partly with his mother) 26 5832 332

III. Atsbeha (alone) 12 5844 344

IV. Asfeh Dalz 7 5851 351

V. Sahle 14 5865 365

VI. Arfed Gebra Maskal 4 5869 369

VII. Adhana I (Queen) 5 5874 374

VIII. Riti 1 5875 375

IX. Asfeh II 1 5876 376

X. Atsbeha II 5 5881 381

XI. Amey 15 5896 396

XII. Abreha II 7 months — —

XIII. Ilassahl 2 months — —

XIV. Elagabaz I 2 5898 398

XV. Suhal 4 5902 402

XVI. Abreha III 10 5912 412

XVII. Adhana II (Queen) 6 5918 418

XVIII. Yoab 10 5928 428

XIX. Tsaham I 2 5930 430

XX. Amey II 1 5931 431

XXI. Sahle Ahzob 2 5933 433

XXII. Tsebah Mahana Kristos 3 5936 436

XXIII. Tsaham II 2 5938 438

XXIV. Elagabaz II 6 5944 444

XXV. Agabi 1 5945 445

XXVI. Lewi 2 5947 447

XXVII. Ameda III 3 5950 450

XXVIII. Armah Dawit 14 5964 464

XXIX. Amsi 5 5969 469

XXX. Salayba 9 5978 478

XXXI. Alameda 8 5986 486

XXXII. Pazena Ezana 7 5993 493

Of the posterity of Sofya and Abreha Atsbeha until the reign of Pazena Ezana 31 Sovereigns reigned over Ethiopia: from Ori until the reign of Pazena Ezana 230 sovereigns.

626.54.

VII. DYNASTY OF ATSE (EMPEROR) KALEB UNTIL GEDAJAN

I. Kaleb 30 6023 523

II. Za Israel 1 month — —

III. Gabra Maskal 14 6037 537

IV. Kostantinos 28 6065 565

V. Wasan Sagad 15 6080 580

VI. Fere Sanay 23 6103 603

VII. Advenz 20 6123 623

VIII. Akala Wedem 8 6131 631

IX. Germa Asafar 15 6146 646

X. Zergaz 10 6156 656

XI. Dagena Mikael 26 6182 682

XII. Bahr Ekla 19 6201 701

XIII. Gum 24 6225 725

XIV. Asguagum 5 6230 730

XV. Latem 16 6246 746

XVI. Talatam 21 6267 767

XVII. Gadagosh 13 6280 780

XVIII. Aizar Eskakatir 1/2 day — —

XIX. Dedem 5 6285 785

XX. Wededem 10 6295 795

XXI. Wudme Asfare 30 6325 825

XXII. Armah 5 6330 830

XXIII. Degennajam 19 6349 849

XXIV. Gedajan 1 6350 850

XXV. Gudit 40 6390 890

XXVI. Anbase Wedem 20 6410 910

XXVII. Del Naad 10 6420 920

27 sovereigns of the posterity of Kaleb; 257 in all.

626.55.

VIII. SOVEREIGNS ISSUED FROM ZAGWE

I. Mara Takla Haymanot (His regnal name was Zagwe) 13 6433 933

II. Tatawdem 40 6473 973

III. Jan Seyum 40 6513 1013

IV. Germa Seyum 40 6553 1053

V. Yermrhana Kristos 40 6593 1093

VI. Kedus Arbe (samt) 40 6633 1133

VII. Lalibala 40 6673 1173

VIII. Nacuto Laab 40 6713 1213

IX. Yatbarak 17 6730 1230

X. Mayrari 15 6745 1245

XI. Harbay 8 6753 1253

Of the posterity of Mara Takla Haymanot (whose regnal name was Zagwe) until the reign of Harbay 11 sovereigns reigned over Ethiopia; 268 sovereigns in all.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE 8 GENERATIONS OF AN ISRAELITISH DYNASTY, WHO WERE NOT RAISED TO THE THRONE, DURING THE PERIOD OF THE REIGN OF THE POSTERITY OF ZAGWE.

I. Mahbara Wedem

II. Agbea Tsion

III. Tsinfa Arad

IV. Nagash Zare

V. Asfeh

VI. Yacob

VII. Bahr Asagad

VIII. Edem Asagad

These eight did not mount the throne.

IX. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE SOVEREIGNS FROM YEKUNO AMLAK, EMPEROR, AND OF HIS POSTERITY, ALL ISSUED FROM THE ANCIENT DYNASTIES WHICH WERE RAISED TO THE THRONE.

I. Yekuno Amlak 15 6768 1268

II. Yasbeo Tseyon 9 6777 1277

III. Tsenfa Arad 1 6778 1278

IV. Hesba Asagad 1 6779 1279

V. Kedme Asagad 1 6780 1280

VI. Jan Asagad 1 6781 1281

VII. Sabea Asagad 1 6782 1282

VIII. Wedma Ared 15 6797 1297

IX. Amda Tseyon 30 6827 1327

X. Saifa Ared 28 6855 1355

XI. Wedma Asfare 10 6865 1365

XII. Dawit 30 6895 1395

XIII. Tewodoros 4 6899 1399

XIV. Yeshak 15 6914 1414

XV. Andreyas 6 months — —

XVI. Hesba Nafi 4 6918 1418

XVII. Bedl Nafi 1 (6 mo with Andreyas) 6919 1419

XVIII. Amde Tseyon 7 6926 1426

XIX. Zara Yacob 34 6960 1460

XX. Boeda Maryam 10 6970 1470

XXI. Iskender 16 6986 1486

XXII. Amda Tseyon 1 6987 1487

XXIII. Naod 13 7000 1500

Of the posterity of Yekuno Amlak up to the reign of Naod 23 sovereigns ruled over Ethiopia; in all 291 sovereigns.

626.56.

X. ELEVATION TO THE THRONE OF ATSE (EMPEROR) LEBNA DENGEL, AND THE INVASION OF ETHIOPIA BY GRAN.

I. Lebna Dengel 32 7032 1532

II. Galawdewos 19 7051 1551

III. Minas 4 7055 1555

Grand Total: 294 sovereigns.

Fifteen years after Atse (emperor) Lebna Dengel came to the throne Gran devastated Ethiopia for fifteen years.

XI. THE HOUSE OF GONDAR

I. Sartsa Dengel 34 7089 1589

II. Yakob 9 7098 1598

III. Za Dengel I 7099 1599

IV. Susneyos 28 7127 1627

V. Fasil 35 7162 1662

VI. Degu-Johannis 15 7177 1677

VII. Adyam Sagad Iyasu 25 7202 1702

VIII. Takla Haymanot 2 7204 1704

IX. Tewoflus 3 7207 1707

X. Yostos 4 7211 1711

XI. Dawit 5 7216 1716

XII. Bakaffa 9 7225 1725

XIII. Birhan Sagad Iyasu 24 7249 1749

XIV. Iyoas 15 7264 1764

XV. Johannis 5 months +

5 days — —

XVI. Takla Haymanot 8 7272 1772

XVII. Solomon 2 7274 1774

XVIII. Takla Giyorgis 5 7279 1779

Of the posterity of Sarisa Dengel up to the reign of King Takla Giyorgis 18 sovereigns reigned over Ethiopia. From Ori to Takla Giyorgis the total is 312 sovereigns.

[Thus concludes the List of Ethiopian Kings forwarded by H.I.H. Ras Makonnen, latterly H.I.M. Emperor Haile Selassie I]

626.57.

XII. SOVEREIGNS OF ETHIOPIA SUBSEQUENT TO THE FOREGOING LIST

Although the list given me by the Regent concludes in the year given as EC 1779, I have thought it desirable to bring the tale up to date, and have completed the following list from various sources.

In this connection it should be noted that for some fifty years prior to the reign of the last king mentioned in the foregoing list (i.e. since about 1730 up to the advent of Theodore in 1855) the kings had exercised no real power, and had been murdered, deposed, restored and driven out again, or treated as nonentities by anyone of the great Rases of semi-independent kings who were strong enough to maintain themselves against their rivals, such as, for example, Ras Kikael Suhul of Tigre (1730-80), Ras Guksa of Amhara, a Galla (1790-1819), and the son (Ras Marye) and grandson (Ras Ali) of the latter.

In 1813, indeed, no less than six nominal “Kings of Kings of Ethiopia” were all alive, having been successively turned out of office by others.

The names of all these kings (who were actually raised to the throne) are, however, given below in order to maintain continuity, together with the dates (according to the western calendar) of their chequered reigns:

Yasus 1784-88

Takla Haymanot 1788-89

Iskias 1789-95

Baeda Maryam 1795- 97

Junus 1797

Adimo 1797-99

Egwala Sion 1799-1818

Joas 1818-21

Gigar 1821-26

Baeda Maryam III 1826

Gigar (again) 1826-30

Iyasu IV 1830-32

Gabra Kristos 1832

Sahala Dengel 1832-40

Johannes III 1840-41

Sahala Dengel (again) 1841-55

From this period dates the re-establishment of the empire, and the rapid extension of the powers of its sovereigns. From then they are:

Theodore 1855-68

John IV 1868-89

Menelik II 1889-1913

Lej Yasu 1913-16

Zauditu (Empress) & Tafari Makonnen (Regent & Heir) 1916

Negus Tafari Makonnen (King) 1928-1930

HIM Haile Selassie I 1930-1974