Ancient
Sidama from Kush 8th century BC
to 4th century AD,
Mulugeta B. Daye
Introduction
Historical documents, particularly that can cast light on the origins of
subjugated nations in present Ethiopia is scarce. This is because the historiography on Ethiopia and Horn of Africa had
little or no room to accommodate the documentation, and promotion politically
non- dominant people and their cultures.
Politically, dominant groups have a tendency to discourage the
indigenous knowledge production and dissemination, as if conquered and defeated
people have hove no knowledge, culture, the way of life. The combination of
these factors aggravated vagueness about the past and uncertainty about the
roots of present settings. Those
bottlenecks have not prepared the ground for comprehensive historical analysis,
in the words of Shack “distorted the human achievements of conquered peoples
including transformations of their social, cultural and political institutions”
quoted in Assefa Jaleta(1995:95).
Hence, the
use of ethnological and the analysis of oral tradition, as reported by oral
historians of the nations may help to substantiate or else challenge
available meagre historical documentation and reconstruct the lost truth,
liberating it from distortion. This
approach can be applied for the conquered nations situated in the South, West
and East of present Ethiopia including the Sidama of Southern Ethiopia.
This thesis
divided to give birds eye view into three Historical periods of the ancient
Sidama. First deals with from Kush 8thcentury to the establishment of the Sidama
Kingdom in 4th century. Second deals with 4th century
to Sidama queen Furra 850 AD the third
deals with the Sidama Agew Dynasty from 850-1270.
Finally informed
by then Sidama Oral history and consulting written historiography of the time, this work cast light on that Queen Furra was
strong woman with vision and
ability to rule not only the Sidama but
also entire Ethiopia and founded Zagwe
dynasty that lasted to 1270.
Those oral historians narrate origins of the
Sidama can be divided in to three main groups.
1) Those,
locate its Origin to Daawa, situated to South East of present Sidama Land:- ( Ninke Daawanni Dangoomo) which
means we came from Dawa. Most probably the area located in the along the
northern bank of Dawa river present Guji land in Oromiya.
2) Those, establish
Bale and mount Garamba, as their original home land:- Both
are located on the Eastern sides of present Sidama- land:- Ninke
tenne gobba fullamora albaanni Baalenni Dange Garamba keeshine tenne gobba
hoofu ledo xaande tenne gobba amandoomo. Means we had been in Bale and stayed
for short while at Garamba before we encounter with Hofa in this land.
3) Those refute above assertions, as arrival to Daawa and Garamba are very recent
past (muli-yanna) prefer to trace it
back to ancient time (birre- birqiiqa)
and also change the direction of
movement from South East and East to North.
From the third groups of Sidama
oral historians Gujo No’ora traces
original home land of the Sidama to Southern Egypt. In his succinct words:- “Sidaamu
birre-birqiiqa Gibixet woroonni heeranohu
hakkichchinni lowo yanna gedensaanni tyiishsu tyiishunni kawa hige dayiino”. Means, in ancient times, the
Sidama used to live in southern Egypt from where they left times, in group, and
it took them too long times to arrive this land. His assertion may shed light to trace the origin of present . His account of the
origin of the Sidama people is backed today by several ethnographical and anthropological
evidences. “Gibixe” is Egypt and “Birqiqi Sidaamu dhage” refers to the history
of the ancient Egypt and the role of the Kushitic (Cushitic) peoples in the
ancient Egyptian civilization, as well as the Kushitic civilization of the
present day Northern Sudan. If any one of you has any chance to visit Northern
Sudan today, you observe among the ruins of the ancient Kushitic kingdom, more
pyramids built by the ancient Kushites than the number of pyramids you can find
in today’s Egypt.
Gujo No’ora’s account of the
Sidama’s origin has Linguistically, anthropologically and historically heavy
weight. Archeological evidences shows that southern Egypt had been the sources
of most of Kushitic peoples that lives
in Africa general in East Africa in particular.
what history has in store about the
origin of Sidama and other Kushites. The first known ancient Kushitic state was
the kingdom of Kerma that appeared around 2600 BC and that ruled all of
Northern Sudan and parts of Egypt. Incidentally, both Pharoanic Egypt and Kush
excreted significant influences on one another to the extent that the 25th
Pharoanic Egyptian dynasty was purely Kushitic
Linguistically, and anthropologically, when we explore different terms
given by different ancient Middle eastern languages for the same people may be
help full: Temporally, to trace its origin back earlier than documented so far;
Spatially, to locate its original homeland and the direction it had followed
before it arrived present location through long processes of movements of
assimilation, keeping identity, continuity and changes in the time and space.
Linguistically and anthropologically; to identify its ancestors and siblings
where it, belongs in the family of the languages, the
highland kushites like the
Sidamas, the Agew, the Hadiya, the Kambata,
the Maraqo, the Qewena, the
Xambaro, the Burji Gedeo, th Konso etce…
The Low Land Kushites the Saho, the Billen, Bejas of Eritrea, the Afars ,the Somalis and
the Oromos of Ethiopia, (most Somalis) in Somalia, (Rendille and Sakuye) in Kenya. to evaluate the authenticity of oral
history in the context of available scanty historical evidences, to push little
steps beyond skeptical speculation.
In this regard ancient Greeks,
Arabs, and Hebrew, for instance ancient Greeks used to call people living south
of Egypt Aethiopia (Αιθιοπία); the same people called by Arabs; Sudan (
Blad al Sudan). the same people called by Hebrew; Kush.
Greeks’ term Aethiopia Αιθιοπία),
Arabic word Sudan ‘Bilad-al-Sudan’
With regards to the name Sudan,
originally it comes from the term `Bilad -al-Sudan` which means Land of Blacks.
So the term is a mere derivation from the Arabic word ` Sauod` meaning Blacks as an indication to the skin colour of
the inhabitants living in the region. The term is said to be used by Arab
travelers, geographers and historians who first wrote the history of the
region. In course of the African part known as Sudan, ancient history indicates
to the area lying from Ethiopia and Eritrea on the Eastern Coast of Africa
stretching to Ghana, Guinea and Mali on the Western Coast of Africa. On such
basis, ancient history divides the region into three divisions: Eastern Sudan,
Central Sudan and Western Sudan. Eastern Sudan is referred to the area lying
from Ethiopia in the East where the Kingdom of Aksum used to dominate,
stretching to the region of the current Republic of Sudan where the Nubian
Kingdom used to dominate. On other hand, the area encompasses the broad expanse
of savannah stretching between the vast Sahara Desert to the North and the
tropical rain forests of Guinea Coast to the south and north to Ghana and Mali
is said to be known as Western Sudan.
Hebrew
term Kush
In Hebrew, Ham the father of Kush means ("hot"
or "burnt"), the characteristics of color. Brown between white and black. Kush, Biblical כּוּשׁ Kûš)
was, according to the Holy Bible, old testament
the eldest son of Ham, brother
of Mizraim (Egypt), Canaan and the father of the Biblical characters Nimrod, and Raamah, mentioned in the "Table of Nations" in the Genesis 10:6 and I Chronicles 1:8. He is traditionally
considered the ancestor of the people of Cush,
a dark-skinned people inhabiting the country surrounded by the River Gihon,
(Abbay or particularly the Upper Blue Nile). This shed light on genealogically and
who was communal ancestor of kusites of Hon of Africa, whom the ancient Greeks, particularly ancient
historians describe the people who lived around South of ancient Egypt and
Northern Sudan people with black skin, and curly hair exactly like
preferred to call the Aithiopians
Ethiopians, In fact present highland kushites like the Sidamas,
the Agew, the Hadiya, the
Kambata, theMaraqo, the Qewena, the Xambaro, the Burji Gedeo, th Konso etce… and The Low Land Kushites the Saho, the
Billen, the Afars ,the Somalis and the Oromos etc…
Following the reassertion of Kushite
independence in 1000 BC, the Kushites moved their capital city farther up the
Nile to Napata. The Kushites then invaded and conquered Egypt and formed the
twenty-fifth Pharaonic dynasty in the eighth century BC. Kushitic Kings Kashata
and Piye (or Piankhi) were the first two Kushitic Pharaohs at the helm of the
25th Egyptian dynasty. With five successive kings from Kush. The 25th Egyptian
Kushitic dynasty lasted for about one century and there were five Kushitic
Pharaohs at its helm
The Rise and fall of the kingdom of Kush and
the emergence of Sidama Kingdom.
Kingdom of Kush before 656 BC- 4th
century AD: from which the sidama kingdom emerged 4th century AD.
While Kashta ruled Nubia
from Napata, which is 400 km north of Khartoum, the modern capital of Sudan, he also exercised a strong degree of control over Upper Egypt by managing to install his daughter, Amenirdis I, as the presumptive God's
Wife of Amun in Thebes in line to succeed the serving Divine
Adoratrice of Amun, Shepenupet
I, Osorkon III's daughter. This development was
"the key moment in the process of the extension of Kushite power over
Egyptian territories" under Kashta's rule since it officially legitimized
the Kushite takeover of the Thebaid region.(Török 1997:18-149)The
Hungarian Kushite scholar László Török
notes that there were probably already Kushite garrisons stationed in Thebes
itself during Kashta's reign both to protect this king's authority over Upper
Egypt and to thwart a possible future invasion of this region from Lower Egypt
(Ibid:150).
Török observes that
Kashta's appearance as King of Upper and Lower Egypt and peaceful takeover of
Upper Egypt is suggested both "by the fact that the descendants of Osorkon
III, Takelot III and Rudamun continued to enjoy a high social
status in Thebes in the second half of the 8th and in the first half of the 7th
century" [BCE] as is shown by their burials in this city as well as the
joint activity between the Divine Adoratrice Shepenupet I and the God's Wife of
Amun Elect Amenirdis I, Kashta's daughter (Ibid:149).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nhkRkx2cnv0#t=135s
A stelea from Kashta's reign has been found in Elephantine (modern day Aswan)--at the local temple dedicated to the God Khnum—which attests to his control of this region (Grimal, 1992:335). It bears his royal name or
prenomen: Nimaatre. Egyptologists today believe that either he or more
likely Piye was the Year 12 Nubian king mentioned in a
well-known inscription at Wadi Gasus which associates the Adopted God's
Adoratice of Amun, Amenirdis, Kashta's daughter together with Year 19 of the
serving God's Wife of Amun, Shepenupet. (John,1982:
570) Kashta's reign length is unknown. Some
sources credit Kashta as the founder of the 25th dynasty since he was the first Kushite king known to have expanded his
kingdom's influence into Upper Egypt. (The New
Encyclopædia Britannica, 2003: 817) Under Kashta's reign, the native
Kushite population of his kingdom, situated between the third and fourth Cataracts of the
Nile, became rapidly 'Egyptianized' and adopted Egyptian traditions,
religion and culture. Ibid: p.817 Kashta's
successor was Piye. Kashta was the 25th dynasty of Egypt.
The
Kushitic dynasty in Egypt came to an end with the Assyrian invasion of Egypt in
671 BC. The Assyrians, and later the Persians, forced the Kushites to retreat
farther south. This retreat south eventually closed off much of the contact
that the Kushites had with Egypt, the Middle East, and Europe. When Napata was
conquered in 591, the Kushites moved their capital to Meroe right in the heart
of the Kushite kingdom. Because of their relative isolation from the Egyptian
world, the Meroitic Empire turned its attention to the sub-Saharan world.
The majority of the remaining Kushitic peoples are believed to have left
Sudan since the decline of the Meroitic Kush civilisation in the 4th century AD
and began to live along with already existing smaller Kushitic groups
throughout North East Africa. The North East African Kushitic peoples live
currently in Sudan (Beja), Eritrea (Saho, Bilen, and Afar), the present day
Ethiopia (Sidama, Oromo, Afar, Agaw, Ogadeni Somalis, etc,), Somalia.
The
Kushite kingdom with its capital at Meroe persisted until the 4th century AD,
when it weakened and disintegrated due to internal rebellion. The Kushite
capital was subsequently captured by the Beja Dynasty, who tried to revive the
empire. The Kushite capital was eventually captured and destroyed by the kingdom
of Axum. After the collapse of the Kushite empire several states and
kingdoms emerged in its former territories, among them Sidama kingdom is
located south of Blue Nile.
I have said that, the Sidama kingdom evolved
from the Kushitic kingdom in the fourth century AD South of Blue Nile. In order to understand
what will happen in the following centuries it is important to have some clue
what kind of civilization and kingdom at the Red sea coast during the peak of
Kushitc Civilization. At the Red sea coast
there was indigenous kingdom of D’mt with its scripts which some writers called
wrongly Sabian inscriptions, that is evolved into Geez letters.
D’mt Kingdom of
Yeha, the peer of Kushite of Napata in the Red Sea coast.
Dʿmt
(kingdom
located in Eritrea
and northern Ethiopia
that existed during the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Few inscriptions by or about
this kingdom exist, as very little archaeological work has taken place. As a
result, it is not known whether Dʿmt ended as a civilization before Aksum's early stages,
evolved into the Aksumite state, or was one of the smaller states united in the
Aksumite
kingdom possibly around the beginning of the Common Era.( Uhlig,
Siegbert 2005:185)
The capital
of D'mt is thought to have been Yeha, although some archaeologists like Peter Schmidt believe
the site is insufficient to qualify as a capital site. He states, "It may
have been a major ritual centre and, without question, was an important necropolis. But
certainly not a capital The kingdom developed irrigation
schemes, used plows,
grew millet,
and made iron
tools and weapons. The true identity of the kingdom of D’mt is a matter of
strong debate among the scholars between those who assert a mix of Sabean Civilization
and those who contend it was purely indigenous kushitc civilization.Some modern
historians like Stuart Munro-Hay, Rodolfo Fattovich, Ayele Bekerie, Cain Felder, and Ephraim Isaac consider this civilization to be indigenous,
although Sabaean-influenced
due to the latter's dominance of the Red Sea, while others like Joseph Michels, Henri de Contenson,
Tekle-Tsadik Mekouria, and Stanley Burstein view Dʿmt as the result of a mixture of Sabaeans and indigenous
peoples. (Stuart Munro-Hay, 1991:57, Nadia 2005:121) The most recent research, however, shows that Ge'ez,
the ancient Semitic language spoken in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea in ancient
times, is not derived from Sabaean.
(Nadia 2005:121) There is evidence of a
Semitic-speaking presence in Ethiopia and Eritrea at least as early as 2000 BC.
(Munro-Hay 1991:121, Kitchen et al : 2009). It continues to be
debated whether Sabaean influence was minor, limited to a few localities, and disappeared after a few
decades or a century, perhaps representing a trading or military colony in some
sort of symbiosis or military alliance with the civilization of Dʿmt
or some other
proto-Aksumite
state.( Herausgegeben von Uhlig, Siegbert 2005:72)
After
the fall of Dʿmt in the 5th century BC, the plateau came to be dominated by
smaller successor kingdoms. This lasted until the rise of one of these kingdoms
during the first century, the Aksumite
Kingdom, the ancestor of medieval and
modern Ethiopia and Eritrea, which was able to reunite the area. ( Munro-Hay
1991: 57)
Aksum the
successor of D’mt .
The Sidama Kingdom form 4th century
to rise of Queen Furra 850-890
AD and her Ze’Agwe dynasty.
It is established that the Sidama
kingdom was one of several states emerged from the disintegration of Kushite
Empire, in the fourth century. In other words the conquest of expansion of the
Aksumite empire, laid foundation for collapse of the Kushite empire. However
there is no historical evidence that the Sidama kingdom was incorporated
into Aksumite empire. However there are several indications that the Sidama
kingdom existed as southern neighbour and preserved its kushitc identity with
its highland brothers Agew. Both written
historical documents and the Sidama Oral
suggest that the Sidama and Agew launched conscious struggle to restore
kusitc hegemony under the Leadership of the Sidama queen Furra, who
successfully defeated the last king of Aksum and reigned for forty solid years
before she transferred the power to Zagew dynsty.
The following
section argues that the tenth-century Queen Furra
of the Sidama known as Gudit, by Abyssinian historiography
, was not a pagan vassal who conquered the Abyssinian
throne, destroyed Aksum, the capital, persecuted priests and ruined churches as
some writers suggest. Neither was she,
as Abysinian tradition has it, a poor but beautiful prostitute in Aksum, who
slept with a priest and was exiled for having tempted him, married a Syrian Jew
and became a Jewess herself, burned Aksum, destroyed churches and persecuted
the priests and the people. Rather, she was a legitimate Queen of the Sidama
Kingdom; who consciously organised military campaign against the Aksumite
empire; primarily, to block any further
Aksumite expansion south of Blue Nil; secondly, she was retaliator of kushitic
empire that was destroyed five hundred years earlier by Aksumite expansionist
policy; hers was to restore lost glory
of Kushitic civilization. Fourthly, she was also so genius woman, according to
Sidama oral history, not only warrior queen, but also who fought to reverse
male domination. Fifthly, she captured the throne, restored peace and order,
ruled Ethiopia with authority for 40 years and founded a new, strong Christianised
kushitc Agewu dynasty which was to last for about 300 years. Demising and
negative view of the queen Furra in Ethiopian historiography was only the
result of a later aversion to accepting the leader who belongs to Kushitc
ethnicity, who used to practice monotheist non-Christian religion, and hate against the woman with vision and
action towards justice for woman on the throne, that was mostly occupied by
men.
In the light of this development, it is imperative to look at
closely what it looked like the situation that led to the victory of the Sidama
queen over strongest empire in the world at a time. In this regard Ethiopian
historiography from the decline of Aksum until the early sixteenth century can
be divided into three periods.
The period begins with the Arab occupation of
the Aksumite port of Adulis c. 640 AD and
ends with the establishment of the Zagwe Dynasty in the end of the tenth
century or, according to other sources, in the middle of the twelfth century.
The Aksumite kingdom, known after the capital city Aksum in northern Ethiopia,
was at the climax of its power.
Primarily, it was recognized as one of the powerful states of the
ancient world. Secondly, it coined its
own currency of gold, copper and silver. Thirdly Aksum had diplomatic relations with
the Roman Empire and could able to undertake military and colonization
expeditions across the Red Sea such as Yemen.
The second period is the history of
the Zagwe Dynasty proper. The Zagwe kings had their capital at Ad„ffa, about
200 km southeast of Aksum. The Zagwe kings were further distinguished from the
Aksumite kings in that they did not belong to the same ethnic and linguistic
group as the Aksumites. These kings were, therefore, perceived and
depicted in Ethiopian historiography as usurpers and
their dynasty (the Zagwe Dynasty) as illegal.
The third period begins with what is
commonly known as the period of the ‘Restored Solomonic Dynasty’, i.e. 1270.
According to a well developed myth, few survivors from warrior Sidama queen Furra. In Ehtiopian historiography known by the name of Gudit Judith, had migrated
to the country of the Amharas from which they continued secretly to challenge the Zagwe rulers. (Bruce 1790;
Pankhurst 1961: 61; Bairu 1987).
The study on the Sidma kingdom seems
deliberately ignored, even the Zagwe period is by far the least studied compared to the Aksumite period and the first three centuries
of the ‘Restored Solomonic Dynasty’. Ethiopian history after the fall of Aksum
and until the rise of the Solomonic Dynasty has even been identified by some historians
as the ‘Dark Ages’, despite flourished kushitic civilization; to mention few the
rock-hewn churches at Lalibela, the main town of the Zagwe kings and the majesty
of which is reluctantly acknowledged, are mentioned briefly as monuments
constructed by foreign (Egyptian or Syrian) Christian exiles.
Combinations
of different ideological strings appear to have been in play in formulation, in
the reproduction and perpetuation of such unashamedly prejudiced historical
writing. Main ideological attack undoubtedly comes from the “Solomonic” rulers
and their chroniclers (Amhara as well
as Amharised others and Tigrai monks)
who fabricated the expression of written
chronicles to present themselves in a better light than the Sidama and Zagwes, in particular Kusites in
general. Remaining ideological School
was foreign writers that represented by Conti Rossini, whose writing in the
early decades of this century did not hesitate to call attention to the foreign (south Arabian,
Syrian, Egyptian) footprints in nearly every dimension of indigenous African civilization.
While the
latter school of taught on Aksum as the Semitic colony in Africa have been
defeated, the few but sharp statements on the Sidama, Zagwe and the rest of
Kushites on their historical architectural achievements still retain their
force as authoritative sources, at least among historians (Conti Rossini 1928; Tamrat
1972; Bahru 1991).
The dearth
of archaeological research and the entrenched bias of the historians has fortunately
been offset by some of the excellent studies carried out by art historians, The
Lalibela rock churches, art historians argue, were a result of a long period of
political and social stability offered combined
dynasty of Kush:- the Sidma and the zagewu; 40 years of the Sidama queen Furra and 300
years of Zagew dynasty. a period that
has been hardly outshined in the country’s history since the so-called
‘restoration’ of the Solomonic Dynasty in 1270 AD (Gerster 1969; Buxton 1970).
Prime aim of this section is to emphasise the
need for authentic research on the immediate post-Aksumite period that is
glorious victory of Sidamas queen Furra. In addition to this two hundred years
preceding the construction of the rock churches at Lalibela in particular.
Lasta, the core region of the Zagwe rulers, has so far not been archaeologically
mapped. Secondly, to substantiate the
view that the architectural achievements of the Sidma and Zagwe rulers were a result of their capability
to offer distinct indigenous
civilisation; their deliberately hidden but vivid leadership skills to offer long
period of political stability;
Further farsightedness of the
rulers of the time to conserve, perpetuate earlier heritage, unlike they were
depicted by discriminatory biased historians.
Sidamas Queen Furra; Ruled
Ethiopia (850-890 AD): Egyptian and Ethiopian sources.
Tracing back the history of glorious queen
like Furra, is clouded by hate. Hate of those resented the rise of ordinary
woman to power, the rise of Kushite to the Abyssinian throne with descent and
articulation of their own in the realm of religion, architecture, preservation
of history, culture with out discrimination. Any way authenticity of history
depends on the sources. Therefore let us explore various sources. It can be
condense them into three broad categories.
The first
ones are the Royal Chronicles, written by monks or priests attached to
the court. Most of them were written during the life of the king, but rarely
deal with the entire period of the king’s rule. They tend to concentrate on
particular aspects as well as specific years of the reign. The second type of
sources consists of the lives of saints, especially of the Ethiopian
missionaries who were closely associated with the expansion and consolidation
of the Church from the beginning of the fourteenth century until early
sixteenth century. In contrast to the Royal Chronicles, these
hagiographies were written up to two centuries after the death of the subject
they deal with and are only marginally interested in matters outside of the
spiritual accomplishments of the saintly hero.
The Coptic sources consist primarily of the
biographies of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church. Ever since the introduction
of Christianity to Aksum in the second quarter of the fourth century, the Ethiopian
Church had been under the spiritual sphere of the Coptic Church. The head of the Ethiopian Church
has always come from Egypt. This dependence created the ground for the development of
wide-ranging relations between Egypt, the Coptic Patriarchate in Cairo and Ethiopia. The
Coptic sources are unfortunately of a general nature but have proved useful in lending
credibility to the Ethiopian sources, most of which were compiled after the fourteenth century.
From the
ninth until the sixteenth centuries we have a number of Arab works of
historical and geographical nature with extremely varying degrees of
reliability. While none of the Arab writers appear to have visited Ethiopia,
some of them, notably Al Yaqubi and Al Masudi, appear to have had highly
reliable sources of information. Arab sources have been used to corroborate the
chronology handed down to us by the members of the Ethiopian Church.
Writers on the decline of Aksum trace
different reasons that caused for deterioration of Aksumaite kingdom. Primarily,
some associate it with the rise of Islam. The Arab occupation of the Red Sea
coast and the spread of Islam into the northern boundaries of the Aksumite
empire were considered as the main factors in the decline of Aksum and its
eventual demise as a capital city. As an hypothesis, the Arab factor appears to
be very likely but it does not explain a great deal. The Dahlak islands, and
the ports of Suakim were open to Aksum. The Arabs might have had a different
religion, but they were equally interested in trade. Although it could be
argued that the spread of Islam and the occupation of the northern territories
of the Aksumite state by the Beja tribes from northern Sudan
(Paul 1971) might have disrupted trade, the evidence for such argumentation
appears to be greatly
lacking. The Beja expansion appears to have been largely peaceful and,
therefore, may not
have been a significant factor in explaining the decline of Aksum. I contend that Islam in Ethiopia has at its
inception has no intention to destroy the Kingdom, But a religion of asylum
seekers that enjoyed the hospitality of King Nagash has a tendency of more
cohesive and peaceful coexistence than causing harm for benevolent kingdom that
gave it a refuge, therefore this hypothesises does not hold the grain of truth.
The
interpretation that the decline of Aksum was caused by ‘the sudden change in
the value of the Red Sea Coast trade with the eastern Mediterranean’ (Tamrat
1972: 45), rather than by anti-Christian activities of the Arabs, goes a long
way in providing an explanation for the role of trade on the destiny of
political states. A similar view has also been put forward by Graham Connah in
his extremely readable book on African civilizations (Connah 1987: 93). However,
it should be added that the crucial cause for the decline of Aksum might indeed
have been the emergence of a regional power in the proximity of valuable raw
materials, and a more secure export outlet via the port of Zayla. The shift of
the centre of political gravity appears therefore to have been motivated by the
need to come closer to the sources of the raw materials essential for existence
of long-distance trade, such as slaves, gold, and ivory.
Aksum,
according to the Ethiopian sources, ceased to be the capital only from the late
ninth century, a few decades before the city was captured, by Queen Furra of
the Sidama. (Yodit in Tigringna). The reign of Judith lasted, according
to Ethiopian chronicles, between 850 and 890 AD. This appears to reckon quite
well with the first account of the Arab sources which mention a capital other
than Aksum. Al Ya'qubi (872–891) was the first one to mention Ka’bar, or
Ku’bar, as the capital of the kingdom of the Najashi (Munro-Hay 1991: 96). Very
little is written about the name of Queen Furra who captured Aksum towards the
third quarter of the ninth century.
According
to the interpretation first proposed by Conti Rossini and later supported by Taddesse
Tamrat, and myself believe that Queen Judith or Furra for Sidama originated form the region
around Lake Hayq which by this period was inhabited by the Sidama people (Conti
Rossini 1928). Not only is Zayla much closer to the Sidama region of Queen
Furra but, also, contemporary sources state clearly that the female ruler of
Ethiopia had contacts with the states in Yemen through the port of Zayla. The Egyptian Coptic and Arab sources first mention
the existence of a queen during the second half of the tenth century in
connection to a letter from the Nubian king on behalf of the king of Abyssinia
(Ethiopia). Whereas the existence of a powerful queen that overthrew the
reigning king of Ethiopia is confirmed both by the Coptic and Ethiopian
sources, there remains a wide discrepancy as to chronology.
The text
which has been the main source for the chronology of Ethiopian history during
the ninth and tenth centuries, appears to me to be a condensed text dealing
with events that occurred at least a century earlier. It is, therefore,
worthwhile to quote the entire passage from the History of the Patriarchs to
clarify the problem of its usefulness as a reliable sign-post for the
ascertainment of the chronology of Ethiopian history. In his days [Philoteus,
970-1003], the king of Abyssinia sent a letter to the king of Nubia, a youth
whose name was George, and made known to him how the Lord had chastened, he and
the inhabitants of his land. It was that a woman, a queen of Banin al-Hamwiyah
had revolted against him and against his country. She took captive from it many
people and burned many cities and destroyed churches and drove him [the king]
from place to place. That which befell him was a retribution for what the king
who [was] before him had done to the metropolitan in the days of the father
Abba Cosmas, [922–35] as we have explained earlier through his falsification
and his fraud. He [the Ethiopian king] said to him [George, the Nubian king] in
the letter which he sent to him: ‘I
desire that thou should help me and partake with me in the fatigue, for the
sake of God and for the sake of the unity of the Faith, and that thou should
write a letter
on thy part to the father, the Patriarch in [Egypt] to beg him to absolve us and to absolve our lands and to
pray for us, that God may remove from us and from our country this trial, and may grant to us that he
[the Patriarch] may consecrate
for us a metropolitan, as was the custom of our fathers, and that he may pray for us, that God may remove
his wrath from us. I have mentioned this to thee, O brother, for fear lest the Christian religion pass a way
and cease among us, for, six patriarchs have sat [on the throne] and have not
paid attention to our lands, but they [the lands] are abandoned without a shepherd, and
our bishops and our priests
are dead, and the churches are ruined, and we have learned that this trial has come down upon us as a just
judgement in return for what we did to the metropolitan.’
When the letter reached George,
the king of Nubia, and he had learned of their contents, he sent on his part
letters and messengers to the Patriarch Philoteus, and he explained to him in
them all that the king of Abyssinia had mentioned to him, and he begged him to
have compassion on his people. He [Philoteus] acceded and he consecrated for
them a monk from the Monastery of Abba Macaruius. (Sawirus 1948: 171–2)
It is not at all clear from the History
of the Patriarchs that it was the Ethiopian king who informed the
Patriarchate about the revolt of the queen. The reason why the Ethiopian king
felt obliged to ask the mediation of the Nubian king was because of the dispute
between the Patriarchate in Alexandria and the Ethiopian king which began
during the era of Patriarch Cosmas (922–35).
The Ethiopian king, who was
contemporary of the Egyptian metropolitan Cosmas, had decided to keep an
unconsecrated monk from Egypt as the head of the Ethiopian Church to which the
Patriarchate responded by excommunication.
In so far as the History of
the Patriarchs of Alexanderia can be relied, we learn that the unconsecrated
bishop appear to have had a very long life since he was alive when the
Patriarch Philoteus (979–1003) assumed leadership (Sawirus 1948: 121). We can
also be certain that it was not an Ethiopian king in exile who requested Nubian
mediation, but a reigning king who wanted to settle a conflict that began
nearly half a century earlier.
History of the Patriarchs was written down in 1692 by
Sawirus and the author might have had access to written sources, but we have no
way of knowing the nature of such sources. It is most likely that the History
of the Patriarchs was based both on written and oral sources. The text
quoted above appears to contain two separate events: the rise of the queen and
the final resolution of a serious conflict between Ethiopia and the
Patriarchate. The information about the rise of the queen doesn’t, however, fit
at all with the main motive of the story.
It appears as if the chronicler threw in the
information to add effect to the spiritual role of the Patriarchate in
Ethiopia. The Arab historian Ibn-Hawqal, active in the 970’s, wrote: ‘as
regards Abyssinia, for many years it has had a woman as its ruler ... and
continues to this day to dominate her own country and the neighbouring regions
of the land of the hadani.’ (quoted in Trimingham 1952: 52). The wide chronological
discrepancy that exists between traditional Ethiopian sources and the account
written down in the History of the Patriarchs has given rise to the
opinion that more than one queen may have ruled over the country after the fall
of Aksum (Huntingford 1965:6). The precise dating of the reign of Queen Judith
( Furra of the Sidama) would most probably remain unknown, but the wide
chronological discrepancy could indeed be narrowed by more rigorous source criticism.
Arab and Coptic sources confirm that the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia was
ruled by a pagan or Jewish queen. From the translations that are available,
however, it is virtually impossible to build a reliable chronology. Both the
Patriarchate and Ibn Hawkal could have been referring to the memorable turn of
events in Ethiopia – so important that they might have been recorded in the
present tense even more than half a century after the death of the queen. The History
of the Patriarchs of Alexanderia in fact appears to lend further support to
this interpretation.
Ku’bar – Queen Furra’s capital
Between 872 and 891, Al Ya’qubi,
one of the earliest Arab geographers to describe Ethiopia, wrote that the
kingdom of the Najashi had a capital town called Ku’bar (quoted in Trimingham
1952: 51). Al Ya’qubi's report appears to be trustworthy because he quite
correctly locates the Beja kingdoms and the Nubian Christian kingdom which
bordered on Abyssinia.
Acceptance of the reliability of
Al Ya’qubi is shared by several researchers. Although Ethiopian sources mention
that Aksum was abandoned after its destruction by Queen Judith, they do not
mention a specific place as the capital of the kingdom. Another author who mentions
Ku’bar as the Ethiopian capital is the Arab geographer Al Mas’udi. Writing
shortly before his death in 956, Al Mas’udi stated that from Ku’bar, the
capital town, the Abyssinian empire extended to the coasts opposite Yemen and
possessed such towns as Zayla, Dahlak (Munro-Hay 1991: 97).
On the basis of the
aforementioned Arab sources, attempts have been made to identify the location
of Ku’bar; whereas some authors, notably Conti Rossini, decided to adhere to
the view that Ka’bar was an incorrect rendering of Aksum. Taddesse Tamrat
suggested that it might be located in southern Tigrai or Angot. Munro-Hay also
held a view that a capital by that name might have existed (Munro-Hay 1989).
The opinion of this writer is that there might indeed have been a capital town
called Ku’bar somewhere between Aksum and Roha (Lalibela) and might have been
the capital of the queen known to Ethiopian sources by the name of Judith. This
would mean that the capital would be located in the region around Lake Hayk, quite
close to Zayla in the southeast of Aksum rather than in the southwest.
There is a wide discrepancy as
to when Aksum might have been abandoned. According to most recent
archaeological research, Aksum might have ceased to function as the capital as
early as mid seventh century. On the other hand, the Ethiopian sources, though
written on the basis of oral tradition, state that Aksum remained the capital
until its destruction by Judith around 850 AD. Whereas Arab writers of the late
ninth century mention a successor capital by the name of Ku’bar, no mention of
such capital town is to be found in the Ethiopian sources. There could be an
explanation as to why Ku’bar is not mentioned by Ethiopian sources.
Established by Queen Judith
(Queen Furra around 850 AD, Ku’bar might
have ceased to exist when the Zagwe took over and began to administer the
country from Ad„fa, their capital, c. 930 AD. Therefore, the close
association of Ku’bar with Queen Judith, presentation of her
reign as destructive instead of glorious
by biased historian and the abrupt replacement of Ku’bar by Ad„fa,
the Zagwe capital, might have led to the collective loss of memory. However, it
needs to be stressed that such speculative interpretation is based on the
assumption that the Zagwe Dynasty came to power in the mid tenth century, and
not in the first half of the twelfth century. Without sustained and systematic archaeological
research into the Lasta region, many important aspects of the history of Ethiopian
culture will remain unknown.
The combined Sidama and Zagwe Dynasty: (850-1270)
According to Ethiopian sources,
most of which were compiled from the late fifteenth century onwards, the Zagwe
Dynasty began in the first half of the tenth century, i.e. c. 930 AD.
The Zagwe are therefore supposed to have ruled the country for a period of
three centuries. The long period of the Zagwe is contested on two important
grounds. Firstly, the number of kings, all in all eleven, would each of them
had to rule an average of over thirty years. This is extremely high compared to
comparable lists in Ethiopia and elsewhere. Secondly, there are some Ethiopian
sources which put the number of kings to five, thereby supporting the argument
put forward by Conti Rossini that the Zagwe could not have ruled more than a century
and a half. One of the earliest writers to comment on the reign of the Zagwe
was the chaplain of the Portuguese Diplomatic Mission, Francisco Alvarez, in
the early 1520’s. After being shown a short list of five Zagwe kings, Alvarez
commented that those who know said that the Zagwe kings were more than those on
the list he was shown (Alvarez 1960).
Basing his argument on two types
of sources, Conti Rossini wrote that the first Zagwe king came to power between
1135 and 1137. The first, and by far the most decisive, was an account in the History
of Patriarchs of Alexanderia. During the reign of Patriarch John (1147–67),
an Ethiopian king wrote a letter to the Alexandrian see asking for a
replacement of a metropolitan, since the incumbent had become too old to carry
out his duties. The reason for the Ethiopian king’s request for a replacement, Conti Rossini argued, was not the old age of the
metropolitan but that the metropolitan had refused to recognise the seizure of
power by a strong man who did not belong to the royal dynasty (Conti Rossini
1928: 303). The second type of sources was the short list of Zagwe kings (made
up of five kings) which was made available to the Portuguese Chaplian Francisco
Alvarez in the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Sergew Hable-Sellassie, partly
relying on Ethiopian sources and partly on the fragmented Coptic and Arabic
sources, has argued that the Zagwe probably came to power between 1030 and 1050
AD. This would reduce the Zagwe period from the maximum 375 years to slightly over
200 years. As we have pointed out earlier, however, the Coptic and Arabic
sources on the rise of Queen Judith (first mentioned in the second half of the
tenth century) do not seem reliable enough as indicators for setting the
chronology of the Zague. History of the Patriarchsof the Egyptian Church by
Sawirus which has been the key sources
for Conti Rossini’s reconstruction of the Zagwe chronology, was composed
towards the end of the seventeenth century and most probably on the basis of
oral tradition.
According to another Ethiopian
historian, the Zagwe came to power in the first half of the tenth century
(Tekle Tsadik 1968: 350). Adhering strictly to Ethiopian chronicles, Tekle Tsadik
refuted the interpretation of Conti Rossini arguing that it was not the first
time that the Patriarchate at Cairo had refused to recognize the Zagwe
assumption of power. As early as mid-eleventh century, the Patriarchate had,
according to Ethiopian hagiographies, refused to send a bishop to Ethiopia
ruled by non-Solomonites (Tekel Tsadik 1965 : 351).
The argument that the Zagwe
might indeed have ruled since the first half of the tenth century has most
recently been raised in an exhaustive study of chronography in Ethiopian
sources. Due to the discovery of the duplication of Ethiopian chronology,
involving an amount of 456 years, it has been argued that those sources which
assign the Zagwe Dynasty 133 years might have been based on an account which
eliminated 456 years from actual history (Neugebauer 1989, 55–6). This cutting
down of intervals, writes Neugebauer, must affect the time before 1270,
therefore, lending credibility to the argument that the Zagwe period could have
been longer than suggested by authors such as Conti Rossini.
Did the Zagwe rule for over
three centuries, as some Ethiopian sources claim, or did they only rule slightly
over a century? Was Ad„ffa the Zagwe’s fixed capital throughout their dynastic
rule, or was it one of the precursors of the moving capitals given the mark of permanence
because it happened to be the capital when the Arab and Coptic interests were momentarily
focused on the country? Many questions of pure interest for the historians
would undoubtedly remain obscure, only an archaeological excavation of the
Zagwe capital Ad„ffa would greatly enhance our knowledge of the Zagwe period.
Zagwe architecture
Our knowledge as to when the
Zagwe Dynasty first came to power will have to wait at least until such time as
their capital Ad„ffa is archaeologically studied. However, we know a great deal
about the Zague’s cultural achievements. In terms of architecture, the rock
churches constructed during the Zagwe Dynasty were not only a refinement of the
Aksumite heritage but also express the zenith of Ethiopian culture (see figs). The
construction of the rock churches at Lalibela have been attributed by Ethiopian
chroniclers and hagiographers to Christian exiles from Egypt (Hable-Sellassie
1972: Conti Rossini 1928). Conti Rossini, writing as he did in the late 1920’s,
was even more categorical: the rock churches were no doubt constructed by
foreigners (Conti Rossini 1928).
Although available research is
by no means exhaustive, it appears to be overwhelmingly convincing that the
rock churches were reproductions of traditional Aksumite style (Buxton 1949 :
31; Buxton 1970; Pankhurst 1955). Not only have the rock churches few
similarities with those in Egypt and India, the Ethiopian churches in Lalibela
are only a few of at least two hundred similar rock churches in other parts of
Tigrai and Lasta.
The continuity of style,
extending from the zenith of the Aksumite period (fourth to fifth centuries),
up to the height of the Zagwe period (late twelfth and early thirteenth
centuries) as the illustrations amply show, appears to virtually rule out the
employment of foreigners in the construction of the rock churches. For David
Buxton, who studied in detail the architectural history of both the Aksumite
and the Zagwe periods these ‘Ethiopian churches belong to an indigenous style
of a very marked and unmistakable character’ (in Gerster 1969 :
59).Furthermore, Buxton remarked that the Zagwe kings attained ‘a degree of
stability and technical advancement seldom equalled in Abyssinian history’
(Buxton 1970, p. 45–6). ‘Yet’, Buxton further stated, ‘all objective record of
these vast undertakings is lost’, – an unintended challenge to African
archaeology.
Architecturally, the best of the
rock-hewn churches at Lalibela (see illustration ) followed, ‘with great
fidelity of detail, the tradition represented by Dabra Damo (early seventh
century)’ (Buxton 1972 : 108–9). The rock churches followed the style of the
‘local built-up prototypes, which themselves retain clear evidence of their
basically Aksumite origin’ (Buxton1970: 104).
The attention paid to the
Lalibela rock churches is partly due to their early discovery by the members of
the Portuguese diplomatic mission in the first half of the sixteenth century
and partly due to their concentration (eleven churches) in an area not
exceeding one square kilometre. Since the 1960’s, it has, however, according to
Buxton, become clear that ‘there is another, perhaps even more important
concentration of rock-hewn churches further north in the province of Tigrai’
(Buxton 1970: 103).
The Zagwe Dynasty had its core
in the Lasta region which has been a stronghold of Agew- (Cushitic-) speaking
people of Ethiopia. Their main outlet to the sea for purposes of trade appears
to have been Zayla rather than the coast near Massawa (Hable Sellassie 1972 :
263). The Zagwe rulers appear to have either retained their Agew language or
used it for purposes of administration. Although the Zagwe rulers were, on the
whole, much more religiously inspired than the ‘Solomonic’ rulers, they appear
not to have succeeded to gain ideological legitimacy. They were accused of
being usurpers of royal power which belonged to the Tigrinya- (Semitic-)
speaking peoples, and ‘descendents of the Queen of Sheba and KingSolomon’.
Ever since the introduction of
Christianity in the fourth century, the church has been closely related to the
state. The former was dependent on the kings for its material needs, while the ruling
elite needed the church to legitimate its rule. This intimate collaboration
between state and church was to a great extent the reason for the evolution and
maintenance of the national saga of the ‘Solomonic origins’ of the Ethiopian
ruling house and of the ‘Jewish origin of the Ethiopian population’.
First developed in the first half of the sixth
century (Sahid 1979), the myth of Ethiopia as the country of the legendary
Queen of Sheba was well known by the end of the ninth century at the
Patriarchate in Cairo, where the country was described as ‘the kingdom of Saba
from which the queen of the south came to Solomon’ (Sawirus 1948:118). This
saga was put into writing in the beginning of the fourteenth century (Sahid
1979;Budge 1928).
Aware of their precarious
ideological position, the Zagwe rulers had made it known that they were, as
well, descendants from Israel but from the house of Moses (Hable-Selassie 1972).
It is rather tempting to argue that the commitment of the Zagwe rulers to the construction
of churches and their strict adherence to the Orthodox faith were a response to
those contesting their legitimacy to rule. Three of the four kingly saints
canonized by the Ethiopian Church were from the Zagwe Dynasty. It is probable
that the Zagwe were challenged not so much by the Ethiopian Church, but more by
the Tigrean ruling elite, who evolved and developed the myth of the Solomonic
Dynasty.
From the historian’s
perspective, the intriguing issue is rather the persistence of the view that
the rock churches were not the accomplishments of the Ethiopian society of the
period. The motive appears to be ideological as well as the rather drastic
decline of urban culture in the country. The victory of the Semitic-speaking
Amhara and Tigrai over the Agew- (Cushitic-) speaking Zagwe was accompanied by
a well-developed ideological campaign with the theme of the ‘restoration of the
Solomonic Dynasty’.
The Solomonic rulers, it
appears, were active in presenting themselves in a better light than their
Zagwe predecessors, not so much through the patronization of art and
architecture, but through the authorization of their royal chronicles:
the earliest royal chronicle,
that of Emperor Amda Tsion, composed only half a century after the downfall of
the Zagwe. Another reason could well be the negative impact of the ‘Solomonic
state’ on urbanism.
The post-Zagwe Ethiopia was
ruled by those who, though claiming Solomonic connection, had no fixed capital.
By the sixteenth century, when the Portuguese visited Ethiopia, the country was
devoid of towns. Although the country maintained its independence as well as
cultural and ideological continuity, the centuries following the fall of Zagwe
witnessed the decline of urban life. The construction of public buildings, as
carried out by Zagwe kings, appeared to have been beyond the means, both
materially and technically, of the Solomonic rulers.
The reluctance, especially on
the part of the Ethiopian chroniclers, to recognise the construction of the
Lalibela churches as a further development of the Aksumite culture has probably
distorted the periodization of Ethiopian history. On the basis of few and
essentially self-glorifying royal chronicles, the post-Zagwe period (1270–1527)
has been described as the era of cultural and literary revival (Hable-Sellassie
1972), when in reality this period witnessed the disappearance of a permanent
capital and, as a consequence, a decline of urban culture. Job Ludolphus, the
seventeenth century German Ethiopianist, was much nearer the truth, when on the
basis of the Portuguese Ethiopian travel accounts and his Ethiopian informant
(the monk Abba Gregory) wrote: ‘After the kings of Habessinia left Axuma they
never had any constant mansion, nor Palaces, but contented themselves to live
in tents.’ Formerly they had practiced the art of architecture as was evident
from the ruins of Aksum and the magnificent temples cut out of the live stone
rocks of Lalibela (Pankhurst 1961: 145).
Economic and political
structures of the Zagwe state.
The Ethiopian documents which
mainly deal with the allocation of ‘gult’ (land grants) were written several
centuries after the fall of the Zagwe Dynasty. However, there appears to be a consensus
of opinion that the economic and political structures of the state were those
developed during the Aksumite period. The most salient aspects of the Ethiopian
state system were the division of the country into semi-independent regions and
the prerogative of the king to dispose of land grants known by the term ‘gult’
for services rendered in lieu of payments. The gult, one of the unique features
of the Ethiopian political system, was probably developed during the Aksumite
period and kept in use until the early 1970’s.
Bestowed by the emperor, the gult holder
enjoyed certain ‘rights in relation to the peasants living on the land’(Tamrat
1972: 100). These rights were mainly limited to the collection of monthly or
annual tributes from the peasants. The gult holder was different from the land
owner in that he did not possess the rights to the land, but only to the
services of the peasants or a certain amount of the produce from the land. In
return, the gult holder undertook to maintain law and order as well as to make
himself and his followers available for military duties.
The evidence that the Zagwe
kings provided the monasteries with gult lands is of a much later date. Since
the practice of granting gult to civilians was widespread by the fourteenth century,
it could be argued that the Zagwe kings might as well have resorted to similar
praxis. The hagiography of the Zagwe king Lalibela, composed in the fifteenth
century, contains a paragraph allegedly written by the king himself where he
donated gult to the monastery at Aksum and at Debra Libanos in Schimezana in
present-day Eritrea.
Politically, the Ethiopian state
was divided into five regions ruled by local leaders with considerable internal
autonomy. On the structure of the early post-Zagwe state (early fourteenth
century), Tamrat wrote that it was a loose confederation of regional
princedoms. Each region represented the basic unit of the whole political and
military structure (Tamrat 1972 : 95) of the Aksumite and later the Zagwe
state. Since each region vied for supremacy, the military resources available
to the king were essential for keeping the country together.
Long-distance trade and foreign
relations
Notwithstanding that Lasta, the
core region of the Zagwe kings, has not yet been archaeologically surveyed, it
is not likely that more towns other than those mentioned in contemporary
literature will be discovered. The impact of the diminishing role of the Red
Sea coast trade to the eastern Mediterranean probably led to the decline of
urbanism and, as an important consequence, to the shrinking of the upper middle
classes. Although the only written description of the capital city of Zagwe, by
an Egyptian envoy of the Coptic Church in the twelfth century, does indeed give
a strong impression of a lively and impressive town, we can hardly draw any
general conclusion in the absence of other corroborating evidence. The contribution
of archaeological research in and around the Zagwe capital Ad„ffa would no doubt
be of invaluable relevance.
Like its predecessor, the Zagwe
state was no doubt engaged in long-distance trade. Its main outlet, was,
however, Zayla rather the Red Sea ports. Contemporary Arab sources appear to be
clear on this point. For Al-Yaqubi, writing in the middle of the ninth century,
Zayla was the main outlet, although the Dahlak islands on the Red Sea remained
important as well. By the end of the eleventh century, Ethiopian traders may
have joined the Karimi corporation – a trading network involving merchants from
Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. The evidence derived from the Geniza documents,
commercial notes from the eleventh century found in the Geniza
(annex) of the synagogue in
Cairo, is however of too fragmentary nature (Goitein1958; Hable-Selassie
1972).It appears that the Zagwe state did not engage in long-distance trade to
the same extent as Aksum.
The period between the mid-ninth
century and the end of the tenth century appears to have witnessed a series of
major social, economic and political dislocations. The destruction unleashed by
Queen Judith and the nearly half century of her rule could have affected the established
trade links. The rise of the Zagwe Dynasty and the establishment of a new
capital town could also have introduced a period of uncertainty in foreign and
diplomatic relations. In sharp contrast to Aksum, the Zagwe state had much
closer relations with the Ethiopian
Church.
Three of the Zagwe kings were
canonized saints by the Ethiopian Church. One of the Zagwe kings appeared to
have been an ordained priest. This close and intimate relation between church
and state could very well have resulted in a more theocratic society where trade
and conspicuous consumption of imported goods were of less significance.
Ethiopia’s relations with the
outside world were limited first to Egypt and later from the end of the twelfth
century to Jerusalem. In both cases, the motive behind such a diplomatic drive could
well have been religious rather than political or commercial. Without the
physical presence of the Egyptian metropolitan the Ethiopian Church could not
reproduce itself. For most of the period, relations between Ethiopia and Egypt
functioned well.
While Egypt made itself an
extremely valuable factor for stability in Ethiopia, the Ethiopians lost no
opportunity in making it known that they controlled the Nile, the life-line of
Egypt. In contrast to the widely known Aksum, the Zagwe state was virtually
unknown to the Mediterranean states. Trading largely with the Gulf states, the
Zagwe state appeared oblivious of the world outside Egypt and Jerusalem. The
strenuous and continuous efforts on the part of the Zagwe state to establish a
foothold in the Holy City of Jerusalem was no doubt based more on the religious
climate in Ethiopia than on trade. The sources available on early relations between
Ethiopia and the Holy City of Jerusalem seem to indicate, however, that
Ethiopia had a considerable presence in Jerusalem. By the end of the twelfth
century, the Ethiopian community in Jerusalem succeeded in acquiring
proprietorship of certain sites in the Church of Resurrection and in the Church
of the Invention of the Holy Cross (Meinardus, 1970:117).The famous king
Lalbela, canonized as a saint by the Ethiopian Church, is alleged to have visited
the Holy Land before his assumption of power.
From 1268 until the end of our
period, i.e. the beginning of the sixteenth century, Ethiopia was ruled by the
so-called ‘Restored Solomonic Dynasty’, an Amhara- (Semitic-) speaking group from
the province of Shewa. The shift of the centre of power from Lalibela to the
district of Tegulet in Shewa was different from the earlier shift, i.e. from
Aksum to Lalibela.
The main distinction was that
the victors over the Zagwe rulers had mobile capitals rather than fixed
ones. The Solomonic kings were
continuously on the move during the most part of dry season and returned to
their favourite spots during the rainy seasons. The sixteenth century Portuguese
sources state that the king of kings had between 20,000 and 40,000 people following
him during the dry seasons.
After the beginning of the
fourteenth century, the Ethiopian state had no fixed capital. Its emperors were
compelled to move from one region to the other, either defending the borders from
infringements by the Islamic states of Ifat and Adal or bringing ambitious and
recalcitrant regional chiefs into the fold. The replacement of a permanent
capital by the so-called moving capitals can be interpreted as a response to
the inherent power rivalry between virtually
independent provinces. It is
argued here that in contrast to the Solomonic Dynasty (post-1270 AD), the Zagwe
Dynasty was more stable.
Explaining the transition from
permanent to mobile (roving) capitals, Hovrath has argued that the transition
was primarily in response to military considerations. A series of threats from Islam,
from the concerted and vigorous expansion of the Oromos from their base area in
the Ethio-Kenyan border and from Europe had forced the Christian Ethiopian
state to introduce profound changes in the structure of the state ‘where fixed
capitals were replaced by the mobile capitals or guerrilla cities’ (Hovrath
1969 : 215). Although Hovrath conceded the relevance of other secondary
factors, it is to the military hypothesis that he devotes the major part of his
study.
Before we proceed to assess
Hovrath’s hypothesis on the transition from fixed to mobile (or wandering, or
nomadic) capitals, it needs to be stated that the transition meant the decline
of urbanism and urban culture. In contrast to the Aksumite and Zagwe rulers,
the Amhara kings were in no position to patronize the construction of secular
and sacral buildings as well as other arts and crafts.
A notable exception is that of
the revival of literature, a development that has more to do with the growth of
monasteries and monastic orders. Moreover, with the exception of the writings
of the philosopher-king Zaraya Yaqob (1433–68), the bulk of the literature
consisted mainly of royal chronicles and hagiographies. It is only towards the
end of the sixteenth century that the wandering kings began to replace their
tents with stone houses – a practice probably associated with the arrival and
settlement of a couple of hundred Portuguese. (A contingent of four hundred
soldiers led by the younger brother of the Vasco da Gama had fought beside the
Ethiopians against the Ottoman supported army of Idal and Ifat between 1541 and
1543.)
Since the publication of
Hovrath’s study we know more about the political history of the country between
the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries. The military hypothesis, plausible as
it might appear, does not really explain the transition. Ethiopian
confrontations against Islam from Ifat and Adal were the exception rather than
the rule. The main task of the Ethiopian state, as Taddesse Tamrat’s work
(1972) shows clearly, was the consolidation of royal power within the country’s
boundaries. For the most part of the fourteenth and the entire fifteenth centuries,
Ethiopia had no external enemies. By the time Adal and Ifat armies under the leadership
of Ahmed Gran, in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, posed a real
Islamic threat, the transition from fixed to mobile capitals was already over
two centuries old.
I argue that a factor which
Hovrath might have found useful was that the post-Zagwe Ethiopian kingdom was
too big to be ruled from a fixed capital. A country extending from the Tigrean
highlands in the north up to the edges of river Bashillo in the south, (roughly
about 1000 km) and 400 km from east to west could hardly be administered from a
fixed capital. The Ethiopian political machinery of the period lacked the
technology as well as the bureaucratic basis. Although the Ethiopians, in
contrast to their west African counterparts, had access to horses, the rugged
terrain and the well articulated regional sentiments appear to have made imperial
rule from a fixed centre very difficult.
In addition to this structural
dimension arising from the problem of scale, the geography and landscape of the
country, which Hovrath considered as secondary factors, militated against the
tradition of fixed capital. Geographically, the country was divided into five
regions with distinct boundaries. Some regions such as Gojjam and Begemedir
surrounded by the Blue Nile were virtually isolated from the rest of the country
during the rainy seasons. As regionalism has always been very strong, loyalty
to the king of kings demanded the presence of the sovereign in the region whose
loyalty may be suspected. The exigency of ensuring loyalty from recalcitrant
regional chiefs, who would otherwise lose
no opportunity to engage in power struggle, subsequently led
to the evolution of a state that can be described both as warrior and military.
Military services to the king of kings remained virtually the only means for
those aspiring high political office.
Bibliography.
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relation of the lands of the Prester
John being the narrative of the
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