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OT: Settling the issues on "Ethio-Sabean" connections, "Habashat", and the related
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Supercar: [QB] The missing pieces in the Pre-Aksumite "Dark ages" may bear some answers to Aksumite legends: "Aksumite origins are still uncertain, but a strong South Arabian (Sabaean) influence in architecture, religion, and cultural features can be detected in the pre-Aksumite period from about the fifth century BC, and it is clear that contacts across the Red Sea were at one time very close (Ch. 4: 1). A kingdom called D`MT (perhaps to be read Da`mot or Di`amat) is attested in Ethiopian inscriptions at this early date, and, though the period between this and the development of Aksum around the [b]beginning of the Christian era is an Ethiopian `Dark Age' for us at present[/b], it may be [b]surmised that the D`MT monarchy and its successors, and other Ethiopian chiefdoms, continued something of the same *`[i]Ethio-Sabaean'[/i]* civilisation until eventually subordinated by Aksum.[/b] "A certain linguistic and religious [b]continuity may be observed[/b] between the two periods, [b]though many features of Aksumite civilisation **differ considerably** from the earlier material.[/b]" - S. Munro-Hay The [b]"Dark age"[/b] here is of note, as is the "beginning of the Christian era"! Is that a coincidence or what? Perhaps, it was this transitional and mysterious period, that has facilitated the later Aksumite elites and Christian priets to tie their country's history to Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and hence, the sustainance of this interpretation through to the last Ethiopian monarchy, Haile Selassie. More on the "Dark Age"... "At the moment, however, the early history of Aksum is almost unknown and there is little evidence available relating to the formation of the Aksumite state." - S. Munro-Hay "In the present state of our knowledge, it is unclear how much of Aksumite civilisation was a direct continuation of a cultural heritage from pre-Aksumite times, or how much any South Arabian aspects might be better attributed to a renewal of overseas contacts in the period after the consolidation of Aksum as an independent polity in the first and second centuries AD. [b]No clear evidence of connexions between the pre-Aksumite, Sabaean-influenced, period, and the earliest Aksumite period is at the moment available[/b], though it seems [b][i]intrinsically more likely that Aksum in some way was able to draw directly on part of the experience of its predecessors.[/i][/b] At Matara, the archaeological evidence [b]implies that there was a clear break between the two periods[/b] (Anfray and Annequin 1965), but this [b]need not have been the case everywhere in the country[/b]. The solution to these questions can only await further clarification from archaeology. " - S. Munro-Hay And now according to the Ethiopian legend... "The [b]origins of these legends hark back to some unknown time after the conversion of the kingdom to [i]Christianity[/i] in the reign of king Ezana of Aksum in the fourth century AD[/b], or in some cases perhaps to an [b][i]even earlier period[/i][/b] when some [b][i]Jewish traditions[/i][/b] had entered the country. Such legends had their political use in providing pedigrees for national institutions. It was believed in later times that the [b]state offices from the king downwards [/b]were descended from the company which had brought the [b]Ark to Aksum from Jerusalem [/b](Budge 1922: 61). [b][i]Doubtless the Christian priests, searching for a longer pedigree for their religion to impress pagans and unbelievers, would have been interested in developing these tales which connected Ethiopia with Solomon and Sheba.[/i][/b] [b][i]The Ethiopian kings themselves, anxious to acquire the prestige of ancient and venerable dynastic ancestors, could scarcely have hoped for a more august couple as their reputed progenitors. Even in the official Ethiopian Constitution, up to the time of the end of the reign of emperor Haile Selassie, the dynasty was held to have descended directly from Solomon and the queen of Sheba through their **mythical** son, the emperor Menelik I.[/i][/b] The real events in [b]Ethiopia's history before the present two millenia are [i]lost in the mists of antiquity[/i][/b], but valiant attempts were made by Ethiopian chroniclers to fill in the immense gap between the reign of Menelik I and the time of the kings of Aksum. [b][i]The king lists they developed[/i] [/b](all those now surviving are of comparatively recent date), [i][b]name a long line of rulers, covering the whole span from Menelik through the Aksumite period and on to the later Zagwé and `Solomonic' dynasties [/b][/i](Conti Rossini 1909). There is little point in reciting the majority of these names, but some of the most important of the reputed successors of Menelik I are worth noting for their importance in Ethiopian tradition." - S. Munro-Hay Menelik I, Lengend says of him... "Tradition says that he was the son of king Solomon of Israel and the queen of Sheba conceived during the queen's famous visit to Jerusalem. Although no information survives in the legends about the ancient Aksumite rulers who really built the palaces and erected the giant stone obelisks or stelae which still stand in several places around the town, these monuments are locally attributed in many instances to Menelik or to Makeda, the queen of Sheba or queen of Azab (the South). Such legends are still a living force at Aksum today; for example, the mansion recently excavated in the district of Dungur, west of Aksum, has immediately been absorbed into local legends as the `palace of the queen of Sheba' (Chittick 1974: 192, n. 28)." - Stuart Munro-Hay It would appear that, what we are witnessing here, in terms of a portion of Ethiopia's history prior to the formation of its new State, i.e., Aksum, is a transition from a [b]mythological period to the historical period[/b] of Aksum, as exemplified by the King list personalities. Those "Dark Ages" may harbor some answers to this development. Note that I've used the term "a portion", since we are aware of the precursors of Aksum, not to mention its relatively more immediate precursor of the centralized polity of Da'amat (D`MT). Of note: It may well be these legends linking Ethiopian elites with Isrealite ruling elites that Jacqueline Pirenne was trying to reconcile with her findings in the theorey she had formulated back in 1987, as per Stuart Munro-Hay: [b]Jacqueline Pirenne's most recent (1987) proposal[/b] results in a radically different view of the Ethiopian/South Arabian contacts. Weighing up the evidence from all sides, particularly aspects of material culture and linguistic/palaeographic information, she suggests that "[i]il est donc vraisemblable que l'expansion ne s'est pas faite du Yémen vers l'Ethiopie, mais bien en sens inverse: de l'Ethiopie vers le Yémen[/i]". [b]According to this theory[/b], [1]one group of Sabaeans would have left north Arabia (where they were then established) for Ethiopia in about the eighth or seventh century BC under pressure from the Assyrians; [*]they then continued on into south Arabia. A second wave of emigrants, in the sixth and fifth century, would reign over the kingdom of Da'amat (D`MT), [*]and would have been accompanied by Hebrews fleeing after Nebuchadnezzar's capture of Jerusalem; [b]an explanation[/b] for the [b]later Ethiopian traditions with their Jewish and Biblical flavour[/b], and [b]for the Falashas or black Jews of Ethiopia.[/b] [*]These Sabaeans too, in their turn would have departed for the Yemen, [b]taking there the writing and architecture which they had first perfected in Tigray.[/b] [*] In the fourth and third century BC the remaining Sabaean emigrés would have left Ethiopia for the Yemen, leaving elements of their civilisation and traditions firmly embedded in the Ethiopian's way of life. This ingenious mise en scène, so far only briefly noted in a conference paper, must await complete publication before it can be fully discussed; Source for the excerpt above: Stuart Munro-Hay Discussion on the Legends of MÂKĔDÂ (Queen of Sheba), Solomon, and Menelik I: http://phpbb-host.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=714&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30&mforum=thenile [/QB][/QUOTE]
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