The Saho are close kin of the Afar who, in the account Wikipedia follows, moved north along the Gulf of Zula and settled in the eastern foothills of Akele Guzai and Semhar sometime between the ninth and twelfth centuries.
On 1 January 1200 they hold the steep valleys and terraces of the escarpment between Massawa and the Tigray border and the lowland round the Gulf of Zula, where the ruins of Adulis lie, herding and farming a little, and they control the passes by which the highland trade goes down to the sea. Most Saho had become Muslims by the thirteenth century; the Irob of the southern escarpment (on the Tigray side) are Christian. They are not named in writing until the chronicle of Susenyos (seventeenth century).
Who holds it
- Name
- Not known for 1200
- Title
- Saho clan elders (ukal)
- Since
- Not applicable
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
None known; the Zagwe king's officers on the plateau above and the Dahlak sultan's men at Massawa are neighbours, not known masters.
How things stand that morning
No war recorded. Above them the Christian plateau of Akele Guzai under Zagwe suzerainty; north the Dahlak sultan's Massawa; south-east the northern Afar.
Customs
Patrilineal tribes (meela, kisho) and clans; disputes over water, pasture and land settled at an assembly (rahbe) where advocates (madarre) plead before the elders (ukal), with mediators (shimagale) for quarrels between individuals.
Assemblies
The rahbe of the tribe or clan.
Overlord claims
None known in 1200.
Where the sources disagree
- Their arrival 'between the ninth and twelfth centuries' is a reconstruction; they may already be in place well before 1200.
Evidence: No contemporary mention; later chronicles and ethnography.
On the map: A narrow strip of steep country; the drawing is coarse.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia: Saho people
- Wikipedia: Medri Bahri (after Taddesse Tamrat and the Debre Libanos documents)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.