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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 2004-04 > 1081264188


From: "Chris Bennett" <>
Subject: Re: POSSIBLE GATEWAY: FROM AFRICA TO EUROPE
Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 15:09:48 GMT
References: <c57e4f24.0403141731.5b931209@posting.google.com> <00f601c40aee$508f9da0$9b0d0043@hppav> <010401c40af0$dd3b5b20$9b0d0043@hppav> <7004aa4b.0403161328.2409e930@posting.google.com> <40582A2C.1070409@interfold.com> <7004aa4b.0403171315.e1450fe@posting.google.com> <40591FC1.6080000@interfold.com> <ac1a3786.0404051920.56e6a1f6@posting.google.com>


Unfortunately, the version of the kinglist that this comes from is reported
by a career British diplomat who obtained it by making a request to the
government of Ras Tafari (later Haile Selassie I). It's provenance is
otherwise unknown. Given the date and circumstance, it probably represents
the best of Ethiopian scholarship of the 1920s, which no doubt drew in turn
on the latest European scholarship available to it. In other words, its
useless.

Before someone jumps on that word "probably", the point is that there is no
way, given the information available about tihs kinglist, to show that these
names are derived from earlier kinglists uncontaminated by European contact.

Chris



"Jared Linn Olar" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Regarding the excerpt below, it's worth noting that at least some of
> the names in the traditional Ethiopian kinglist were real. For
> example, if I remember correctly, the kinglist names the Kushite kings
> Piankiy, Shabaka, Shebitku, Taharka, and Tanuatamon, who also reigned
> in Egypt. Classical history remembered Shabaka and Taharka (who is
> also named in the Bible), but knowledge of Pianki, Shebitku, and
> Tanuatamon was lost -- until they were rediscovered by Egyptologists
> -- forgotten, that is, except in Ethiopia, which appropriated some of
> the history of the Kingdom of Kush in modern Sudan and claimed it as
> its own history.
>
> That's not to say that the Ethiopian kinglist is a reliable,
> historical document -- but at least some of the ancient, legendary
> kings it names were real (though they may not have been kings in
> Ethiopia proper).
>
> Jared L. Olar
>
> > The real events in Ethiopia's history before the present two
> > millenia are lost in the mists of antiquity, 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. The king lists they developed (all those now surviving are
> > of comparatively recent date), name a long line of rulers,
> > covering the whole span from Menelik through the Aksumite period
> > and on to the later Zagw and `Solomonic' dynasties (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."


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