Ancient, Enduring Æthiopia

This Noble Land Forgot By Time

Æthiopia, as the Greeks and Romans named it, or Kush (or Sheba), as the Hebrew language has it, is the source of the Blue Nile and a part of the original site of the Garden of Eden. Here dwelt the folk called in the Hebrew language "Am Harrar" -- the people of the mountains. According to ancient tradition, the first King of Ethiopia, Menelik, was the founding patriarch of Ethiopia. He was the son of Solomon king of Israel and Judah by the Queen of Sheba, or Ethiopia. By the time of Saint Philip, Ethiopia comprised Tigré in the north and Nubia (southern Sudan), as well the Sabæans (Sheba). Its capital was Aksum or Axum. A dynasty of warrior Queens ruled out of mighty Meroë, with the title of Kandake, or Candace. The conversion of the minister of the treasury of one of these, who himself was clearly a man of learning and a love of Judaism, is told in Acts 8:26

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Ethiopia apparently became, through this encounter, the first nation, as a nation, to convert to Christianity. It was one Frumentius of Tyre, Christian, consecrated bishop by the patriarch of Alexandria, to whom history gives credit (outside what the Bible says about Saint Philip's role) for the conversion of Ethiopia. But the biblical ties to Ethiopia were already long established. Moses was married to an Ethiopian woman, much to the dismay of his older siblings. Moses perhaps refused to defend himself in the matter, but God, we are told, came to his defense, smiting Aaron and Miriam with leprosy.

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Linguistically, the languages of Ethiopia are related to similar languages in the Shemitic-Hamitic-Cushitic family. The Queen of Sheba, hearing of the wisdom of Solomon, journeyed to Jerusalem to conference with him, taking back with her not only biblical and Judaic influences, but perhaps even more. The Ethiopian tradition tells us that Menelik is the name of the child born to the Queen of Sheba, a child, sired by Solomon, who later became a great King, founder of the Solomonian line in Ethiopia.

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The spread of this archaic form of Torah Judaism has been shrouded in historical obscurity, but speculations naturally focus on early contacts such as that of the Queen of Sheba, and even Bath Sheba, in the story of King David of Bethlehem. Even more intriguing is the fertile soil this ancient Judaism found in the isolated (to us) land of Ethiopia. Ephraim Isaac's investigations indicated that by the time Christianity first appeared there, "half of the population was Jewish and ... most of them converted to Christianity." (see Rodney Stark, page 70)

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The Falashas, or Beta Israel, were Mosaic-observant Jews (no knowledge of the Talmud or later Judaism) living in the region north of Tana lake, the source of the Blue Nile. The Solomonian line, said to have been restored around 1270 AD, sparked a literary revival, with many works written in the fields of scholarship dear to Ethiopian savants : hagiology, biblical exegesis (based upon the Geez translation of the Septuagint), history and annals. Other arts, including illumination and church architecture, flourished. In modern times, Jacques Faitlovitch labored for many years to end Falasha isolation, and to ease the way for eventual re-integration with world Judaism.

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Throughout history, the destinies of Ethiopia and Egypt have intertwined. Coptic is almost unique among written languages, because it employs Greek characters (with additions) in writing an Egyptian language. In fact, Coptic has been called "colloquial Egyptian." By the end of the 3rd century, a tradition of the New Testament in Coptic was fairly widespread. Coptic manuscripts exist in seven different dialects, although two of these dialects Sahidic and Bohairic are considered "major" dialects for the purpose of NT study. Sahidic Coptic is an older dialect and is often referred to as "classical" Coptic; Bohairic Coptic was more widespread in the Coptic Church and was the language of the Upper Nile delta.

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W.E.B. DuBois writes: "Color was never a badge of slavery in the ancient or medieval world, nor has it been in the modern world outside of Christian states. Homer sings of a black man, a "reverend herald"

Of visage solemn, sad, but sable hue,
Short, woolly curls, o’erfleeced his bending head, . . .
Eurybiates, in whose large soul alone,
Ulysses viewed an image of his own.

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Homer, Herodotus, Pliny, Diodorus, and other classical writers repeatedly praised the Ethiopians. "The annals of all the great early nations of Asia Minor are full of them," writes Lady Flora Louisa Lugard. "The Mosaic records allude to them frequently; but while they are described as the most powerful, the most ju[st, and the most beautiful of the human race, they are constantly spoken of as black, and there seems to be no other conclusion to be drawn, than that at that remote period of history the leading race of the Western World was a black race. [Lerone Bennett]

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The Ethiopians claimed to be the spiritual fathers of Egyptian civilization. Diodorus Siculus, the Greek historian who wrote in the first century BC, said
"The Ethiopians conceived themselves to be of greater antiquity than any other nation, and it is probable that, born under the sun's path, its warmth may have ripened them earlier than other men. They supposed themselves to be the inventors of worship, of festivals, of solemn assemblies, of sacrifice, and every religious practice."

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In the Middle Ages, reports of a great Christian monarch in a remote country excited the belief in Europe that Ethiopia (ie, Abyssinia) was the land of the wonderful Prester John. In Orlando Furioso (Book 17), he is called by his subjects Senapus, King of Ethiopia. He was blind. He was the richest monarch in the world, and is said to have sent 100,000 Nubians to the aid of Charlemagne. They were transported to France on horses magically provided by Astolpho. European legends of the time could not get enough of this exotic story, though details varied.

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Modern history has witnessed violent strife and recurring civil wars in Ethiopia and the horn of Africa. At times, Moslem invaders sought to wipe out ancient Coptic Christianity. Another time, European missionaries, notably one Pedro Paez got the emperor to try to impose European Christianity, which rankled the Am Harrar, people of the mountains. The place of Fasilidas in Ethiopia's history is assured due to his successful re-establishment of the ancient Ethiopian church beloved by the populace.

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In the twentieth century (1916), Judith or Zauditu, a daughter of the Solomonic line of central Ethiopia (Shoa) reclaimed her country for the Amharic tribe after a period of Muslim power. Her cousin Ras Tafari Mahonnen, also of the House Royal, became regent for Judith. When she died in 1930, Ras Tafari ascended the throne to become emperor, taking as his name Haile Selassie.

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Isolated in their mountain realm, this noble ancient people has scarce asked for either help or favor from the rest of the world. Yet to them we owe whatever we have to give. Modern linguists identify their languages as belonging to the great language family called Hamitic-Cushitic-Shemitic. Their Amharic and Himyaritic languages are off-branches of the language of Abraham, and related to ancient Egyptian, as well as the Arabic of the Quran.