Books with title The Kebra Nagast-The Queen of Sheba

This volume contains a complete English translation of the famous Ethiopian work, The Kebra Nagast, i.e. the Glory of the Kings [of Ethiopia]. This work has been held in peculiar honour in Abyssinia for several centuries, and throughout that country it has been, and still is, venerated by the people as containing the final proof of their descent from the Hebrew Patriarchs, and of the kinship of their kings of the Solomonic line with Christ, the Son of God.

Book Description: "The KEBRA NAGAST, or the Book of the Glory of Kings of Ethiopia, has been in existence for at least a thousand years, and contains the true history of the origin of the Solomonic line of kings in Ethiopia. It is regarded as the ultimate authority on the history of the conversion of the Ethiopians from the worship of the sun, moon, and stars to that of the Lord God of Israel." (Quote from moonchild.ch)Table of Contents: Publisher’s Preface; Preface To The Present Edition; Preface To The First Edition; Introduction; The Glory Of Kings; Concerning The Glory Of Kings; Concerning The Greatness Of Kings; Concerning The Kingdom Of Adam; Concerning Envy; Concerning The Kingdom Of Seth; Concerning The Sin Of Cain; Concerning Noah; Concerning The Flood; Concerning The Covenant Of Noah; Concerning Zion; The Unanimous Declaration Of The Three Hundred And Eighteen Orthodox Fathers; Concerning Canaan; Concerning Abraham; Concerning The Covenant Of Abraham; Concerning Isaac And Jacob; Concerning RÔbÊl (reuben); Concerning The Glory Of Zion; How The Orthodox Fathers And Bishops Agreed; How This Book Came To Be Found; Concerning The Division Of The Earth; Concerning The Queen Of The South; Concerning TÂmrÎn, The Merchant; How The Merchant Returned To Ethiopia; How The Queen Made Ready To Set Out On Her Journey; How The Queen Came To Solomon The King; How The King Held Converse With The Queen; Concerning The Labourer; How Solomon Gave Commandments To The Queen; Concerning The Three Hundred And Eighteen [patriarchs]; Concerning How King Solomon Swore To The Queen; Concerning The Sign Which Solomon Gave The Queen; How The Queen Brought Forth And Came To Her Own Country; How The King Of Ethiopia Travelled; How The Young Man Arrived In His Mother's Country; How King Solomon Sent To His Son The Commander Of His Army; How King Solomon Held Intercourse With His Son; How Solomon Asked His Son Questions; How The King Planned To Send Away His Son With The Children Of The Nobles; How They Made The Son Of Solomon King; How Zadok The Priest Gave Commands To David The King; Concerning The Blessing Of Kings; Concerning The Ten Commandments; How The Men Of The Army Of Israel Received [their] Orders; How It Is Not A Seemly Thing To Revile The King; How Those Who Were Sent Away Wept And Made A Plan; How They Made A Plan Concerning Zion; Concerning The Offering Of AzÂryÂs (azariah) And The King; How They Carried Away Zion; How His Father Blessed His Son; How They Bade Farewell To His Father And How The City Mourned; How He Said Unto Zadok The Priest, "go And Bring The Covering (or, Clothing) Which Is Upon It (i.e., Zion)"; How Zadok The Priest Departed; How The Wagon Was Given To Ethiopia; How David [the King Of Ethiopia] Prophesied And Saluted Zion; How The People Of Ethiopia Rejoiced; Of The Return Of Zadok The Priest, And The Giving Of The Gift; Concerning The Fall Of Zadok The Priest; How Solomon Rose Up To Slay Them; How The King Questioned An Egyptian, The Servant Of Pharaoh; How Solomon Lamented For Zion; How Solomon Returned To Jerusalem; Concerning The Answer Which Solomon Made To Them; How The Nobles Of Israel Agreed [with The King]; How The Daughter Of Pharaoh Seduced Solomon; Concerning The Sin Of Solomon; Concerning The Prophecy Of Christ; Concerning The Lamentation Of Solomon; Concerning Mary, Our Lady Of Salvation; Concerning The Question Of Solomon; How Rehoboam Reigned; Concerning Mary, The Daughter Of David; Concerning The King Of RÔmÊ (constantinople); Concerning The First Judgment Of ’adrÂmÎ, King Of RÔmÊ; Concerning The King Of MedyÂm; Concerning The King Of Babylon; Concerning Lying Witnesses; Concerning The King Of Persia; Concerning The King Of Moab; Concerning The King Of Amalek; Concerning The King Of The Philistines; How The Son Of Samson Slew The Son Of The King Of The Philistines; Co

This volume contains a complete English translation of the famous Ethiopian work, The "Kebra Nagast", i.e. the "Glory of the Kings [of Ethiopia]". This work has been held in peculiar honour in Abyssinia for several centuries, and throughout that country it has been, and still is, venerated by the people as containing the final proof of their descent from the Hebrew Patriarchs, and of the kinship of their kings of the Solomonic line with Christ, the Son of God. The Kebra Nagast is a great storehouse of legends and traditions, some historical and some of a purely folk-lore character, derived from the Old Testament and the later Rabbinic writings, and from Egyptian (both pagan and Christian), Arabian, and Ethiopian sources.

What did Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley and Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia have in common? A love for the Kebra Negast, holy book of Ethiopian Christians and Jamaican Rastafarians. Contemporary scholars date the Kebra Negast to the 14th century, but it retells the stories of much earlier Biblical times, one very important story in particular. According to the Kebra Negast, the Israelites' Ark of the Covenant was spirited away to the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia by wise King Solomon's own son, offspring of the union between Solomon and the exotic Queen Makeda of Ethiopia (a.k.a. the Queen of Sheba). Gerald Hausman, a consummate storyteller of native traditions, presents the core narrative of the Kebra Negast, from Adam to the rise of the Ethiopian Solomonid dynasty. On top of this, he injects his own encounters with Rastafarians during his travels in Jamaica--dreadlocked Rastas as modern-day Samsons, their unwavering faith in Jah, and a rare outsider's glimpse at the Nyabinghi ceremony. The Kebra Nagast, or the Book of the Glory of Kings, is an account written in Ge'ez of the origins of the Solomonic line of the Emperors of Ethiopia. The text, in its existing form, is at least seven hundred years old, and is considered by many Ethiopian Christians and Rastafarians to be an inspired and a reliable account. Not only does it contain an account of how the Queen of Sheba met Solomon, and about how the Ark of the Covenant came to Ethiopia with Menelik I, but contains an account of the conversion of the Ethiopians from the worship of the sun, moon, and stars to that of the "Lord God of Israel". As Edward Ullendorff explained in the 1967 Schweich Lectures, "The Kebra Nagast is not merely a literary work, but it is the repository of Ethiopian national and religious feelings." According to the colophon attached to most of the existing copies, the Kebra Nagast originally was written in Coptic, then translated into Arabic in the Year of Mercy 409 (dated to AD 1225) by a team of Ethiopian clerics during the office of Abuna Abba Giyorgis, and finally into Ge'ez at the command of the governor of Enderta province Ya'ibika Igzi'. Based on the testimony of this colophon, "Conti Rossini, Littmann, and Cerulli, inter alios, have marked off the period 1314 to 1321-1322 for the composition of the book.". Marcus, (1994), indicated that the religious epic story was conflated in the fourteenth century by six Tigrayan scribes. Other sources put it as a work of the fourteenth century Nebura’ed Yeshaq of Aksum. Careful study of the text has revealed traces of Arabic, possibly pointing to an Arabic vorlage, but no clear evidence of a previous Coptic version. Many scholars doubt that a Coptic version ever existed, and that the history of the text goes back no further than the Arabic vorlage. On the other hand, the numerous quotations in the text from the Bible were not translated from this hypothetical Arabic vorlage, but were copied from the Ethiopian translation of the Bible, either directly or from memory, and in their use and interpretation shows the influence of patristic sources such as Gregory of Nyssa. Hubbard details the many sources that the compiler of the Kebra Nagast drew on in creating this work. They include not only both Testaments of the Bible (although heavier use is made of the Old Testament than the New), but he detects evidence of Rabbinical sources, influence from apocryphal works (especially the Book of Enoch and Book of Jubilees, and such Syriac works as the Book of the Cave of Treasures, and its derivatives the Book of Adam and Eve and the Book of the Bee. Marcus thus describes it as "a pastiche of legends ... [that] blended local and regional oral traditions and style and substance derived from the Old and New Testaments, various apocryphal texts, Jewish and Islamic commentaries, and Patristic writings"

THIS volume contains a complete English translation of the famous Ethiopian work, The "Kebra Nagast," i.e. the "Glory of the Kings [of Ethiopia]." This work has been held in peculiar honour in Abyssinia for several centuries, and throughout that country it has been, and still is, venerated by the people as containing the final proof of their descent from the Hebrew Patriarchs, and of the kinship of their kings of the Solomonic line with Christ, the Son of God. The importance of the book, both for the kings and the people of Abyssinia, is clearly shown by the letter that King John of Ethiopia wrote to the late Lord Granville in August, 1872. The king says: "There is a book called 'Kivera Negust' which contains the Law of the whole of Ethiopia, and the names of the Shûms [i.e. Chiefs], and Churches, and Provinces are in this book. I pray you find out who has got this book, and send it to me, for in my country my people will not obey my orders without it." (See infra, p. xxvii.) The first summary of the contents of the Kebra Nagast was published by Bruce as far back as 1813, but little interest was roused by his somewhat bald précis. And, in spite of the labours of Prætorius, Bezold, and Hugues le Roux, the contents of the work are still practically unknown to the general reader in England. It is hoped that the translation given in the following pages will be of use to those who have not the time or opportunity for perusing the Ethiopic original.The Kebra Nagast is a great storehouse of legends and traditions, some historical and some of a purely folk-lore character, derived from the Old Testament and the later Rabbinic writings, and from Egyptian (both pagan and Christian), Arabian, and Ethiopian sources. Of the early history of the compilation and its maker, and of its subsequent editors we know nothing, but the principal groundwork of its earliest form was the traditions that were current in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, and Egypt during the first four centuries of the Christian era. Weighing carefully all that has been written by Dillmann, Trump, Zotenberg, Wright, and Bezold, and taking into account the probabilities of the matter, it seems to me that we shall not be far wrong if we assign the composition of the earliest form of the Kebra Nagast to the sixth century A.D. Its compiler was probably a Coptic priest, for the books he used were writings that were accepted by the Coptic Church. Whether he lived in Egypt, or in Aksûm, or in some other part of Ethiopia matters little, but the colophons of the extant Ethiopic MSS. of the Kebra Nagast suggest that he wrote in Coptic.

THIS volume contains a complete English translation of the famous Ethiopian work, The "Kebra Nagast," i.e. the "Glory of the Kings [of Ethiopia]." This work has been held in peculiar honour in Abyssinia for several centuries, and throughout that country it has been, and still is, venerated by the people as containing the final proof of their descent from the Hebrew Patriarchs, and of the kinship of their kings of the Solomonic line with Christ, the Son of God.

What did Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley and Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia have in common? A love for the Kebra Negast, holy book of Ethiopian Christians and Jamaican Rastafarians. Contemporary scholars date the Kebra Negast to the 14th century, but it retells the stories of much earlier Biblical times, one very important story in particular. According to the Kebra Negast, the Israelites' Ark of the Covenant was spirited away to the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia by wise King Solomon's own son, offspring of the union between Solomon and the exotic Queen Makeda of Ethiopia (a.k.a. the Queen of Sheba). Gerald Hausman, a consummate storyteller of native traditions, presents the core narrative of the Kebra Negast, from Adam to the rise of the Ethiopian Solomonid dynasty. On top of this, he injects his own encounters with Rastafarians during his travels in Jamaica--dreadlocked Rastas as modern-day Samsons, their unwavering faith in Jah, and a rare outsider's glimpse at the Nyabinghi ceremony. The Kebra Nagast, or the Book of the Glory of Kings, is an account written in Ge'ez of the origins of the Solomonic line of the Emperors of Ethiopia. The text, in its existing form, is at least seven hundred years old, and is considered by many Ethiopian Christians and Rastafarians to be an inspired and a reliable account. Not only does it contain an account of how the Queen of Sheba met Solomon, and about how the Ark of the Covenant came to Ethiopia with Menelik I, but contains an account of the conversion of the Ethiopians from the worship of the sun, moon, and stars to that of the "Lord God of Israel". As Edward Ullendorff explained in the 1967 Schweich Lectures, "The Kebra Nagast is not merely a literary work, but it is the repository of Ethiopian national and religious feelings." According to the colophon attached to most of the existing copies, the Kebra Nagast originally was written in Coptic, then translated into Arabic in the Year of Mercy 409 (dated to AD 1225) by a team of Ethiopian clerics during the office of Abuna Abba Giyorgis, and finally into Ge'ez at the command of the governor of Enderta province Ya'ibika Igzi'. Based on the testimony of this colophon, "Conti Rossini, Littmann, and Cerulli, inter alios, have marked off the period 1314 to 1321-1322 for the composition of the book.". Marcus, (1994), indicated that the religious epic story was conflated in the fourteenth century by six Tigrayan scribes. Other sources put it as a work of the fourteenth century Nebura’ed Yeshaq of Aksum. Careful study of the text has revealed traces of Arabic, possibly pointing to an Arabic vorlage, but no clear evidence of a previous Coptic version. Many scholars doubt that a Coptic version ever existed, and that the history of the text goes back no further than the Arabic vorlage. On the other hand, the numerous quotations in the text from the Bible were not translated from this hypothetical Arabic vorlage, but were copied from the Ethiopian translation of the Bible, either directly or from memory, and in their use and interpretation shows the influence of patristic sources such as Gregory of Nyssa. Hubbard details the many sources that the compiler of the Kebra Nagast drew on in creating this work. They include not only both Testaments of the Bible (although heavier use is made of the Old Testament than the New), but he detects evidence of Rabbinical sources, influence from apocryphal works (especially the Book of Enoch and Book of Jubilees, and such Syriac works as the Book of the Cave of Treasures, and its derivatives the Book of Adam and Eve and the Book of the Bee. Marcus thus describes it as "a pastiche of legends ... [that] blended local and regional oral traditions and style and substance derived from the Old and New Testaments, various apocryphal texts, Jewish and Islamic commentaries, and Patristic writings"

The Kebra Negast is the holy book of Ethiopian Christians and Jamaican Rastafarians.According to this ancient text, the kings of Ethiopia were descended from Solomon, King of Israel, and the Queen of Sheba; the Ark of the Covenant had been brought from Jerusalem to Aksum by Meyelek, the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; and the God of Israel had transferred his place of abode on earth from Jerusalem to Aksum, the ecclesiastical and political capital of Ethiopia.