List Of Legendary Monarchs Of Ethiopia

This is a list of legendary monarchs of Ethiopia, based on a king list provided by Ethiopian prince regent Tafari Makonnen (later known as Emperor Haile Selassie), with reference to multiple Ethiopian traditions and legends. Other Ethiopian king lists are discussed in the Other King Lists section.

Over Ethiopia's long history, multiple kingdoms and states have ruled, with one of the earliest known being Dʿmt from the 10th century BC. The last royal dynasty of Ethiopia was the Solomonic dynasty, who ruled until 1975 when the monarchy was abolished. Numerous king lists are in existence which chronicle the lineage of kings before the Solomonic dynasty, but often with noticeable disagreements between them. An official chronicle of the kings of Ethiopia from the royal family was published in Charles Fernand Rey's book ''In the Country of the Blue Nile'' in 1927, and is the longest Ethiopian king list published in the Western world. However, there is considerable debate on the historicity of this king list, in particular from archeologists such as E. A. Wallis Budge. Many of the claimed ancient monarchs of Ethiopia, such as Ethiopis, Angabo, Makeda, Menelik I and Abreha and Atsbeha are not archeologically attested as of yet, and information on them largely comes from oral traditions within Ethiopia or from texts written centuries after they are claimed to have lived.

Tradition

Ethiopian traditions record a range of different monarchs from earlier times whose existence has not been verified by modern-day archeology. Their stories and legends may have elements of truth but it is unclear to what extent they do.

Notable legendary Ethiopian monarchs include:
*Arwe – Mythical serpent king who ruled for 400 years before being killed by the father of the Queen of Sheba.
*Ethiopis – A king who was said to have inspired the name of the country of Ethiopia.
*Makeda – The biblical queen of Sheba who, according to Ethiopian tradition, is believed to be the mother of Menelik I.
*Menelik I – Son of the queen of Sheba and king Solomon of Israel and founder of the Solomonic dynasty in the 10th century BC. Much information on this king comes from the 14th century text ''Kebra Nagast'', however he remains historically unverified. In reality, the Solomonic dynasty began in 1270 AD with the reign of Yekuno Amlak.
*Abreha and Atsbeha – Two brothers who supposedly brought Christianity to Ethiopia, however their existence is doubted by some historians. Some scholars believe that the story of Abreha and Atsbeha may in fact be based on the Axumite kings Ezana and Saizana.
*Gudit – Legendary queen who supposedly laid waste to the Kingdom of Axum. Her deeds are recorded in oral tradition, but the various stories about her occasionally have differing or conflicting details.

Tafari Makonnen's King List

Background

Charles Fernand Rey's 1927 book ''In the Country of the Blue Nile'' included a 13-page appendix with a list of Ethiopian kings written by the Prince Regent Tafari Makonnen, who later became the emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. Tafari's list stretches back to 4530 BC and ends in 1779 AD, with dates following the Ethiopian Calendar. Tafari's cover letter was written in the town of Addis Ababa on the 11th day of Sane, 1914 (Ethiopian Calendar), which was 19 June 1922 on the Gregorian Calendar according to Rey. Rey himself was awarded Commander of the Order of the Star of Ethiopia by Tafari.

The goal of Tafari's list was to showcase the immense longevity of the Ethiopian monarchy. The list does this by providing precise dates over 6,300 years and drawing upon various historical traditions from both within Ethiopia and outside of Ethiopia (see "Historicity" section below).

The king list includes 312 monarchs divided into eight dynasties:
* Tribe of Aram (4530–3244 BC) (21 monarchs)
* Tribe of Kam (2713–1985 BC) (24 monarchs)
* Agdazyan dynasty (1985–982 BC) (52 monarchs)
* Dynasty of Menelik I (982 BC–493 AD) (132 monarchs)
* Dynasty of Kaleb (493–920) (27 monarchs)
* Zagwe dynasty (920–1253) (11 monarchs)
* Solomonic dynasty (1253–1555) (26 monarchs) and its Gondarian branch (1555–1779) (18 monarchs)

In addition to the above, there is an "Israelitish" dynasty with 8 unnumbered kings from the time of Zagwe rule which did not ascend to the throne of Ethiopia.

The first three dynasties are likely legendary and take various elements from the Bible, as well as Egyptian, Nubian, Greek, Coptic and Arab sources. The monarchs of the Menelik and Kaleb dynasties appear on various other king lists, but these lists often contradict one another and many of the kings themselves have not been archeologically verified, though some of the later kings on Tafari's list are confirmed by Aksumite coinage. Many of the historically verified rulers of the Agdazyan and Menelik dynasties did not rule over Ethiopia but rather over Egypt and/or Nubia. It is only from the dynasty of Kaleb onwards that the monarchs are certainly Ethiopian or Aksumite in origin. The Zagwe and Solomonic dynasties are both historically verified, though only the Solomonic line has a secure dating of 1270 to 1975, which somewhat contradicts Tafari's list.

Because of the length of the Menelik dynasty, Tafari's king list breaks up the line of monarchs into three sub-sections, concerning the time periods 982 BC–9 AD (the monarchs who reigned before the birth of Jesus Christ), 9–306 AD (Pre-Christian monarchs who reigned after the birth of Christ) and 306–493 AD (Monarchs of this line who were Christian themselves). Tafari's list names the kings from Kaleb to Dil Na'od as a separate dynasty, however other Ethiopian king lists do not make the same distinction and the Solomonic dynasty even claimed descent from Menelik I through Dil Na'od.

Each monarch has their respective reign dates and number of years listed. Two columns of reign dates were used in the list. One column uses dates according to the Ethiopian calendar from 4530 BC to 1779 AD. The other column lists the " Year of the World", placing the creation of the world in 5500 BC. Other Ethiopian texts and documents have also placed a similar date for the creation of the world, such as a manuscript in which the year 7260 was equivalent to the Gregorian date 1768, placing the creation of the world at 5492 BC.G.W.B. Huntingford
"'The Wealth of Kings' and the End of the Zāguē Dynasty", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies''
28 (1965), p. 7 Another manuscript in dated to the year 7276 A.M. and is equivalent to 1784 A.D., which would place the beginning of the world in 5492 B.C. as well. Considering that the Ethiopian calender is roughly 7 or 8 years behind the Gregorian calender, this would match very closely with the date given on Tafari's list of 5500 B.C. (Ethiopian calendar). E. A. Wallis Budge noted that the Abyssinians/Ethiopians believed that the world was created "at the autumnal equinox 5500 years before the birth of Christ" and had previously used this as their main dating system. The dating of 5500 BC as the creation of the world on this list is likely influenced by calculations from the Alexandrian and Byzantine eras which placed the world's creation in 5493 BC and 5509 BC respectively.

Response to the King List

Egyptologist E. A. Wallis Budge was dismissive of the claims of great antiquity made by the Abyssinians, whom he described as having a "passionate desire to be considered a very ancient nation", which has been aided by the "vivid imagination of their scribes" who borrowed traditions from the Semites