Nothing on events, but the ideology that unmade the Zagwe: the story that Ethiopia's rightful kings descend from Solomon and Menelik, compiled a century after 1200 to justify Yekuno Amlak's seizure of the throne in 1270 and to brand the Zagwe as usurpers. Its colophon says the book was turned from Coptic into Arabic in 1225, in the reign of Lalibela (Gabra Masqal), which, if true, puts the Solomonic claim in circulation in his last years. Use it for what the Ethiopian church came to believe and for the texture of court and clergy; not for the Zagwe as they were.
About this source
- Title
- Kebra Nagast
- Author
- Yeshaq of Aksum (compiler)
- Author's dates
- nebura'ed of Aksum, active 1314 to 1322
- Written
- 1314 to 1322 in Ge'ez; the colophon claims an Arabic version of 1225
- Language
- Ge'ez
- Covers
- legendary: Solomon, the Queen of Sheba and Menelik, with the Solomonic claim to Ethiopia's throne
- Kind
- History
Budge's translation is public domain but dated. Scholars doubt that a Coptic original ever existed. The colophon's reference to Lalibela is one of the few contemporary-looking Zagwe datings and is itself debated.
Where to read it
Editions
- C. Bezold (ed. and tr.), Kebra Nagast: die Herrlichkeit der Könige (Munich, 1905), Ge'ez text with German translation (not freely online)
Translations
- E. A. W. Budge (tr.), The Queen of Sheba and her only son Menyelek (London, 1922), English
- E. A. W. Budge (tr.), The Kebra Nagast, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1932), English, transcribed at sacred-texts.com