Menelik I

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Menelik I

Menelik I (originally named Ebna la-Hakim, "Son of the Wise"), first Jewish Emperor of Ethiopia

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....
, is traditionally believed to be the son of King Solomon

Solomon

Solomon is a figure described in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an. The biblical accounts identify Solomon as the son of David. He is also called Jedidiah in the Tanakh , and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah split; following th...
of ancient Israel

Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
and Makeda, Queen of Sheba

Queen of Sheba

The Queen of Sheba , was the woman who ruled the ancient kingdom of Sheba and is referred to in Habeshan history, the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Qur'an....
and ruled around 950 BC, according to traditional sources. Tradition credits him with bringing the Ark of the Covenant

Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant is described in the Bible as a sacred container, where in rested the Tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments as well as Aaron's rod and manna....
to Ethiopia, following a visit to Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
to meet his father upon reaching adulthood. According to the Kebra Nagast
Kebra Nagast

The Kebra Nagast , or the Book of the Glory of Kings, is an account written in Ge'ez of the origins of the Solomonic dynasty of the Emperor of Ethiopia of Ethiopia....
, King Solomon had intended on sending one son of each of his nobles and one son each of each temple priest with Menelik upon his return to his mother's kingdom.

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Encyclopedia

Menelik I (originally named Ebna la-Hakim, "Son of the Wise"), first Jewish Emperor of Ethiopia

Emperor of Ethiopia

Solomon

Israel

Queen of Sheba

Ark of the Covenant

Jerusalem

Zadok

# Zadok or Zadoc is a small village about Birjand.# Zadok is a Hebrew name, meaning "righteous"....
the High Priest secretly switched the replica with the real Ark, and brought it into Ethiopia where it is said to remain to this day in the ancient town of Axum

Axum

Axum, or Aksum, is a city in northern Ethiopia named after the Kingdom of Aksum, a naval and trading power that ruled from the region ca....
.

Upon the death of Queen Makeda, Menelik assumed the throne with the new title of Emperor and King of Kings of Ethiopia. According to legend, he founded the 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: ....
of Ethiopia that ruled Ethiopia with few interruptions for close to three thousand years and 225 generations later ended with the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. However, the medieval incarnation of the Solomonic dynasty didn't come into power until 1270, claiming descent from the Kings of Aksûm, while their predecessors, 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....
, were said to not be of "the house of Israel" (i.e. of Solomon and Menelik). The claims of descent of the Aksûmite Kings

Kings of Axum

Kings during the zenith of the Kingdom of Axum The following based on S.C. Munro-Hay, Aksum , pp. 67f...
preceding the Zagwe dynasty are uncertain, though early pagan inscription denote the King as "son of the unconquerable [god] Mahrem" (translated in Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
as Ares

Ares

In Greek mythology, Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. Though often referred to as the Twelve Olympians God of warfare, he is more accurately the god of bloodlust, or slaughter personified: "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war."...
), while medieval Ethiopian sources ascribe them a similar claim of descent. This is consistent with the earliest records that testify that one half of Ethiopians followed the laws of Moses, while the other half worshipped pagan gods.

Menelik I

See also