Dil Na'od was the last

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Aksum Axum, or Aksum (pronounced: ), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire, a naval and trading power that ruled the whole regio ...

before the

Zagwe dynasty The Zagwe dynasty ( Ge'ez: ዛጔ ሥርወ መንግሥት) was an Agaw medieval dynasty that ruled the northern parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea, after the historical name of the Lasta province. Centered at Lalibela, it ruled large parts of the t ...

. He lived in either the 9th or 10th century. Dil Na'od was the younger son of Ged'a Jan (or

Degna Djan Degna Djan was an Emperor of the Kingdom of Aksum (9th or 10th centuries). Paul B. Henze states that his throne name was " 'Anbasa Wedem", which tradition states was his oldest son's name. His younger son was Dil Na'od. E. A. Wallis Budge provide ...

), and succeeded his older brother 'Anbasa Wedem as ''negus''. According to E. A. Wallis Budge, "The reign of Delna'ad was short, perhaps about ten years." However,

James Bruce James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia and in 1770 became the first Eur ...

has recorded another tradition, that Dil Na'od was an infant when

Gudit Gudit ( gez, ጉዲት) is the Classical Ethiopic name for a personage also known as Yodit in Tigray, and Amharic, but also Isato in Amharic and Ga'wa in Ţilţal. The personage behind these various alternative names is portrayed as a power ...

slaughtered the princes imprisoned at

Debre Damo Debre Damo (), also spelled Debre Dammo, Dabra Dāmmo or Däbrä Dammo), is the name of a flat-topped mountain, or amba, and a 6th-century monastery in Tigray Region of Ethiopia. The mountain is a steeply rising plateau of trapezoidal shape, abou ...

, his relatives, and forced some of his nobles to take him out of his kingdom to save his life. Dil Na'od is recorded as both campaigning in the

Ethiopian Highlands The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , while the summits reach heights of up to . ...

south of Axum, and sending missionaries into that region. With Abuna Salama I, he helped to build the church of

Debre Igziabher Debar ( mk, Дебaр ; Albanian: ''Dibër''/''Dibra'' or ''Dibra e Madhe;'' ) is a city in the western part of North Macedonia, near the border with Albania, off the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municipality. Debar ha ...

overlooking Lake Hayq.Paul B. Henze, ''Layers of Time'' (New York: Palgrave, 2000), pp. 47f. According to one tradition, he was defeated by

Mara Takla Haymanot Mara Takla Haymanot was King and the founder of Zagwe dynasty. Some king lists give his name simply as "Mararah", and other King Lists as "Takla Haymanot". Regnal controversy According to one tradition, Mara was born in the province of Lasta, wh ...

, a prince from Lasta province, who married Dil Na'od's daughter, Masaba Warq. According to tradition, a son of Dil Na'od was carried to Amhara, where he was harbored until his descendants overthrew the Zagwe, and re-established the

Solomonic dynasty The Solomonic dynasty, also known as the House of Solomon, was the ruling dynasty of the Ethiopian Empire formed in the thirteenth century. Its members claim lineal descent from the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Tradition asserts ...

. Dil'Naod is credited with building and establishing the original structures for both the church of Debre Egzi-'abhēr &

Istifanos Monastery Istifanos Monastery (or St Stephen Monastery) is a monastery in Ethiopia, located in Lake Hayq. (The Stephen commemorated at the monastery is not the Saint Stephen of Acts.) The church structure was built around the 9th century by the Aksumite k ...

at Lake Hayq.

References

External links

* This article was previously published in B. Michael, S. Chojnacki and R. Pankhurst (eds.), ''The Dictionary of Ethiopian Biography, Vol. 1: From Early Times to the End of the Zagwé Dynasty c. 1270 A.D'' (Addis Ababa, 1975). Kings of Axum 10th-century monarchs in Africa {{Ethiopia-royal-stub