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Mara Takla Haymanot

 

 
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Mara Takla Haymanot
 
 
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Mara Takla Haymanot was N?gusä nägäst
Emperor of Ethiopia

The Emperor of Ethiopia was the hereditary ruler of Ethiopia until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. The Emperor was the head of state and head of government, with ultimate executive power, judicial power and legislative power in that country....
 of Ethiopia
Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast....
, and the founder of the Zagwe dynasty
Zagwe dynasty

The Zagwe dynasty ruled Ethiopia from approximately 1137 to 1270, when Yekuno Amlak defeated and killed the last Zagwe king in battle. The name of the dynasty is thought to come from the Ge'ez language phrase Ze-Agaw, meaning "of Agaw" and refer to the Agaw people....
. Some King Lists give his name simply as "Mararah", and other King Lists as "Takla Haymanot".

Mara was born in the province of Lasta, which was his powerbase. Originally a general of Dil Na'od
Dil Na'od

Dil Na'od was the last negus of Kingdom of Aksum before the Zagwe dynasty of Ethiopia. He lived in either the 9th or 10th centuries. Dil Na'od was the younger son of Ged'a Jan , and succeeded his older brother 'Anbasa Wedem as negus....
, whose daughter Masoba Warq became his wife, Mara overthrew his father-in-law to found the new dynasty.

There is some disagreement over the exact time when he came to the throne: there are two different traditions for how long the Zagwe dynasty ruled: the more common tradition states that it was for 333 years, while a less common one gives the time as 133 years.






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Mara Takla Haymanot was N?gusä nägäst
Emperor of Ethiopia

The Emperor of Ethiopia was the hereditary ruler of Ethiopia until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. The Emperor was the head of state and head of government, with ultimate executive power, judicial power and legislative power in that country....
 of Ethiopia
Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast....
, and the founder of the Zagwe dynasty
Zagwe dynasty

The Zagwe dynasty ruled Ethiopia from approximately 1137 to 1270, when Yekuno Amlak defeated and killed the last Zagwe king in battle. The name of the dynasty is thought to come from the Ge'ez language phrase Ze-Agaw, meaning "of Agaw" and refer to the Agaw people....
. Some King Lists give his name simply as "Mararah", and other King Lists as "Takla Haymanot".

Mara was born in the province of Lasta, which was his powerbase. Originally a general of Dil Na'od
Dil Na'od

Dil Na'od was the last negus of Kingdom of Aksum before the Zagwe dynasty of Ethiopia. He lived in either the 9th or 10th centuries. Dil Na'od was the younger son of Ged'a Jan , and succeeded his older brother 'Anbasa Wedem as negus....
, whose daughter Masoba Warq became his wife, Mara overthrew his father-in-law to found the new dynasty.

There is some disagreement over the exact time when he came to the throne: there are two different traditions for how long the Zagwe dynasty ruled: the more common tradition states that it was for 333 years, while a less common one gives the time as 133 years. The Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 scholar Carlo Conti Rossini accepted the shorter period, and working back from the accepted date of 1270 for the end of the Zagwe dynasty, claims that this dynasty started around 1137. He supported this theory with the recorded exchange between Patriarch John V of Alexandria
Pope John V of Alexandria

Pope John V of Alexandria was the 72nd Coptic Christianity Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria .He was initially a monk in the Monastery of Saint John the Dwarf in Scetes....
 and an unnamed king of Ethiopia, who asked for a new abuna
Abuna

Abun is the title of the metropolitan bishop or head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. When referred to without a following name, it is Abun, and if a name follows, it becomes Abuna ... ....
 because the current one was too old; Conti Rossini argued that the actual reason was that the abuna refused to condone the coup which resulted in Mara Takla Haymanot gaining the throne.1

The extent of his kingdom was much smaller than the later Solomonic dynasty
Solomonic dynasty

The Solomonic dynasty is the traditional Royal House of Ethiopia, claiming descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who is said to have given birth to the traditional first king Menelik I after her Biblically-described visit to Solomon in Jerusalem: ....
 came to rule, embracing parts of Lasta, Wag
Wag

Wag is a highland district in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia, in the approximate location of the modern Wag Hemra Zone. The district seat is the town of Sokota, which has been a major market center for centuries....
, Tigray
Tigray Province

Tigray was a province of Ethiopia. The Tigray Region superseded the province in 1995. By the time of its demise, Tigray had absorbed a number of its neighboring provinces, including Semien province, Tembien, Agame and Enderta province....
, and perhaps northern Begemder
Begemder

Begemder was a province in the northwestern part of Ethiopia. There are several proposed etymologies for this name. One is that it came from Bega plus meder , as an inscription of Emperor of Ethiopia Ezana of Kingdom of Aksum describes his movement of 4400 conquered Beja to a not yet located province named Matlia....
.