Saga za Ab, often known in contemporary Europe as Sagazabo or Zaga Zabo, was an Ethiopian ambassador who visited Europe in 1527–33. Saga za Ab was sent to Portugal by the Ethiopian king Lebna Dengel in 1527. He accompanied a Portuguese mission to Ethiopia led by Francisco Álvares, which had been sent in 1520 by the king of Portugal following a 1507 request for help by Queen Eleni of Ethiopia against the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s in the Red Sea. The mission returned to Portugal in 1527. Saga za Ab was interrogated quite harshly by Iberian religious authorities

Diogo Ortiz de Villegas D. Diogo Ortiz de Villegas "Calzadilla" was a Castilian priest, theologian and astronomer at the service of the Portuguese monarchs. He was born in Calzadilla, Castile, ca. 1457 and died in Almeirim (Portugal), in 1519. Ortiz came to Portugal ...

and Pedro Margalho about what was perceived as Ethiopian "deviations" from the Christian faith, especially the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...

and circumcision, leading to accusations of Ethiopians being ''Judaeos and Mahometanos'', but he courageously endeavoured to defend his creed. Saga za Ab wrote an account of the situation of the Christian religion in Ethiopia, which was published by Damião de Góis under the title ''Fides, Religio Moresque Aethiopium'' in 1540: Other early Ethiopian embassies to Europe are known, such as the 1441 embassy of four Ethiopians to the

Council of Florence The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1449. It was convoked as the Council of Basel by Pope Martin V shortly before his death in February 1431 and took place in ...

, the 1481 embassy to

Pope Sixtus IV Pope Sixtus IV ( it, Sisto IV: 21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484), born Francesco della Rovere, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 to his death in August 1484. His accomplishments as pope include ...

by Antonio, the Ethiopian chaplain of the Emperor of Ethiopia, or the Portuguese chaplain Francisco Álvares, who was Ethiopian ambassador to Pope Clement VII in 1533. There was a large Ethiopian community in Rome from the 15th century, and Pope Sixtus IV granted them a church in 1476, renaming it ''Santo Stefani degli Abissini'' ("St Stephan of the Abyssins").''Scripture and scholarship in early modern England'' by Ariel Hessayon, p.23

Notes

Sources

* Kate Lowe ''Representing Africa: Ambassadors and Princes from Christian Africa to Renaissance Italy and Portugal 1402-1608'' Transactions of the Royal Historic Society 2007 * Verena Böll, Steven Kaplan, Andreu Martinez D'Alos-Moner ''Ethiopia and the missions: historical and anthropological insights'' LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster, 2005 {{ISBN, 3-8258-7792-2 Ethiopian diplomats