Ethiopian historiography includes theancient, medieval,early modern, and modern disciplines of recording thehistory of Ethiopia, including both native and foreign sources. The roots ofEthiopian historical writing can be traced back to the ancientKingdom of Aksum (c. AD 100 – c. 940). These early texts were written in either the EthiopianGe'ez script or theGreek alphabet, and included a variety of mediums such asmanuscripts andepigraphic inscriptions on monumentalstelae andobelisks documenting contemporary events. The writing of history became an established genre inEthiopian literature during the earlySolomonic dynasty (1270–1974). In this period, written histories were usually in the form of royal biographies and dynasticchronicles, supplemented byhagiographic literature anduniversal histories in the form ofannals.Christian mythology became a linchpin of medieval Ethiopianhistoriography due to works such as theOrthodoxKebra Nagast. This reinforced thegenealogical traditions of Ethiopia's Solomonic dynastyrulers, which asserted that they were descendants ofSolomon, the legendaryKing of Israel.
Ethiopian historiographic literature has been traditionally dominated byChristian theology and thechronology of the Bible. There was also considerable influence fromMuslim,pagan and foreign elements from within theHorn of Africa and beyond. Diplomatic ties withChristendom were established in theRoman era under Ethiopia's first Christian king,Ezana of Axum, in the 4th century AD, and were renewed in theLate Middle Ages with embassies traveling to and frommedieval Europe. Building on the legacy of ancientGreek andRoman historical writings about Ethiopia, medieval European chroniclers made attempts to describe Ethiopia, its people, and religious faith in connection to the mythicalPrester John, who was viewed as a potential ally againstIslamic powers. Ethiopian history and its peoples were also mentioned in works of medievalIslamic historiography and evenChineseencyclopedias,travel literature, andofficialhistories.
During the 16th century and onset of theearly modern period, military alliances with thePortuguese Empire were made, theJesuitCatholic missionaries arrived, and prolonged warfare withIslamic foes including theAdal Sultanate andOttoman Empire, as well as with thepolytheisticOromo people, threatened the security of theEthiopian Empire. These contacts and conflicts inspired works ofethnography, by authors such as the monk and historianBahrey, which were embedded into the existing historiographic tradition and encouraged a broader view in historicalchronicles forEthiopia's place in the world. TheJesuit missionariesPedro Páez (1564–1622) andManuel de Almeida (1580–1646) also composed a history of Ethiopia, but it remained in manuscript form among Jesuit priests ofPortuguese India and was not published in the West until modern times.
Modern Ethiopian historiography was developed locally by native Ethiopians as well as by foreign historians likeHiob Ludolf. The late 19th and early 20th centuries marked a period where Western historiographic methods were introduced and synthesized with traditionalist practices, embodied by works such as those byHeruy Wolde Selassie (1878–1938). The discipline has since developed new approaches in studying the nation's past and offered criticism of some traditionalSemitic-dominated views that have been prevalent, sometimes at the expense of Ethiopia's traditional ties with theMiddle East.Marxist historiography andAfrican studies have also played significant roles in developing the discipline. Since the 20th century, historians have given greater consideration to issues of class, gender, and ethnicity. Traditions pertaining mainly to otherAfroasiatic-speaking populations have also been accorded more importance, with literary, linguistic, and archaeological analyses reshaping the perception of their roles in historical Ethiopian society. Historiography of the 20th century focused largely on theAbyssinian Crisis of 1935 and theSecond Italo-Ethiopian War, whereas the Ethiopian victory over theKingdom of Italy in the 1896Battle of Adwa played a major role in the historiographic literature of these two countries immediately following theFirst Italo-Ethiopian War.
Writing was introduced to Ethiopiaas far back as the 5th century BC with theancient South Arabian script.[2] ThisSouth Semitic script served as the basis for the creation of Ethiopia'sGe'ez script, the oldest evidence of which was found inMatara, Eritrea, and dated to the 2nd century AD.[2] However, the 1st-century ADRomanPeriplus of the Erythraean Sea asserts that the local ruler of Adulis could speak and writein Greek.[3] This embrace ofHellenism could also be found in thecoinage ofAksumite currency, in which legends were usuallywritten in Greek, much likeancient Greek coinage.[3]
The roots of thehistoriographic tradition in Ethiopia date back to theAksumite period (c. 100 – c. 940 AD) and are found inepigraphic texts commissioned by monarchs to recount the deeds of their reign and royal house. Written in an autobiographical style, in either the nativeGe'ez script, theGreek alphabet, or both, they are preserved onstelae,thrones, andobelisks found in a wide geographical span that includesSudan,Eritrea, and Ethiopia.[4] In commemorating the contemporary ruler or aristocrats and elite members of society, these documents record various historical events such as military campaigns, diplomatic missions, and acts ofphilanthropy. For instance, 4th-century stelae erected byEzana of Axum memorialize his achievements in battle and expansion of the realm in theHorn of Africa, while theMonumentum Adulitanum inscribed on a throne inAdulis, Eritrea, contains descriptions of an Aksumite king's conquests in theRed Sea region during the 3rd century, including parts of theArabian peninsula.[5] It is clear that such texts influenced theepigraphy of later Aksumite rulers who still considered their lost Arabian territories as part of their realm.[6]
InRoman historiography, theecclesiastical history ofTyrannius Rufinus, aLatin translation and extension of the work ofEusebius dated circa 402, offers an account of the Christian conversion of Ethiopia (labeled as "India ulterior") by the missionaryFrumentius ofTyre.[7] The text explains that Frumentius, in order to complete this task, was ordained a bishop byAthanasius of Alexandria (298–373), most likely after 346 during the latter's third tenure asBishop of Alexandria.[8] The mission certainly took place before 357, when Athanasius was deposed, replaced byGeorge of Cappadocia, and forced into flight, during which he wrote an apologetic letter toRoman emperorConstantius II (r. 337–361) that coincidentally preserved anImperial Roman letter to the royal court of Aksum.[9] In this letter, Constantius II addresses two "tyrants" of Ethiopia, Aizanas and Sazanas, who are undoubtedly Ezana and his brother Saiazana, or Sazanan, a military commander.[10] The letter also hints that the ruler of Aksum was already aChristian monarch.[9] From the early inscriptions of Ezana's reign it is clear that he was once apolytheist,[1] who erected bronze, silver, and gold statues toAres,Greek god of war.[2] But the dual Greek andSabaean-style Ge'ez inscriptions on theEzana Stone, commemorating Ezana's conquests of theKingdom of Kush (located inNubia, i.e. modern Sudan), mention hisconversion to Christianity.[1]
Cosmas Indicopleustes, a 6th-centuryEastern Roman monk and former merchant who wrote theChristian Topography (describing theIndian Ocean trade leading all the wayto China),[11] visited the Aksumite port city of Adulis and included eyewitness accounts of it in his book.[12] He copied a Greek inscription detailing the reign of an early 3rd-century polytheistic ruler of Aksum who sent a naval fleet across the Red Sea to conquer theSabaeans in what is nowYemen, along with other parts of western Arabia.[12][13] Ancient Sabaean texts from Yemen confirm that this was the Aksumite rulerGadara, who made alliances with Sabaean kings, leading to eventual Axumite control over western Yemen that would last until theHimyarite rulerShammar Yahri'sh (r. c. 265 – c. 287) expelled the Aksumites from southwestern Arabia.[14] It is only from Sabaean andHimyarite inscriptions that we know the names of several Aksumite kings and princes after Gadara, including the monarchs`DBH andDTWNS.[15] Inscriptions of king Ezana mentionstone-carved thrones near theChurch of Our Lady Mary of Zion inAxum (the platforms of which still exist), and Cosmas described a white-marble throne and stele in Adulis that were both covered in Greek inscriptions.[12]
Aside from epigraphy, Aksumite historiography also includes themanuscript textual tradition. Some of the earliest Ethiopianilluminated manuscripts include translations of theBible into Ge'ez, such as theGarima Gospels that were written between the 4th and 7th centuries and imitated theByzantine style ofmanuscript art.[16][17] The Aksum Collection containing a Ge'ezcodex that provides chronologies for thediocese andepiscopal sees of theCoptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria inRoman Egypt was compiled between the 5th and 7th centuries.[16] These texts reveal how the Aksumites viewed history through the narrow lens ofChristian chronology, but their early historiography was perhaps also influenced by non-Christian works, such as those from the Kingdom of Kush, thePtolemaic dynasty ofHellenistic Egypt, and theYemenite Jews of theHimyarite Kingdom.[6]
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The power of the Aksumite Kingdom declined after the 6th century due to the rise of other regional states in theHorn of Africa.[20] Modern scholars continue to debate the identity and provenance of the legendary or semi-legendary figureGudit (fl. 10th century), a queen who is traditionally believed to have overthrown the Kingdom of Aksum.[21] The legend is found in the 13th-century chronicle of the monkTekle Haymanot, who compiled historical writings gathered from variousEthiopian churches and monasteries.[22] The chronicle alleges that, after being exiled from Axum, she married a Jewish king of Syria and converted toJudaism. The Scottish travel writerJames Bruce (1730–1794) was incredulous about the tale and believed she was simply a Jewish queen.[22]Carlo Conti Rossini (1872–1949) hypothesized that she was an ethnicSidamo fromDamot, whereasSteven Kaplan argues she was a non-Christian invader and historianKnud Tage Andersen contends she was a regular member of the Aksumite royal house who shrewdly seized the throne.[21] The latter is more in line with another legend that claimsDil Na'od, the last king of Aksum, kept his daughter Mesobe Werq in isolation out of fear of a prophecy that her son would overthrow him, yet she eloped with the noblemanMara Takla Haymanot fromLasta who eventually killed the Aksumite king in a duel, took the throne and founded theZagwe dynasty.[23] The latter remains one of the most poorly understood periods of Ethiopia's recorded history.[24] What is known is that the early Zagwe kings were polytheistic, eventually converted to Christianity, and ruled over the northernHighlands of Ethiopia, while Islamic sultanates inhabited thecoastal Ethiopian Lowlands.[20]
When the forces ofYekuno Amlak (r. 1270–1285) toppled the Zagwe dynasty in 1270 he became the firstEmperor of Ethiopia, establishing a line of rulers in theSolomonic dynasty that would last into the 20th century.[20] By this time theGreek language, once pivotal for translation inEthiopian literature, had become marginalized and mixed withCoptic andArabic translations.[26] This contributed to a process by which medieval Ethiopian historians created a new historiographic tradition largely divorced from the ancient Aksumite textual corpus.[26] The Solomonic kings professed a direct link to the kings of Aksum anda lineage traced back toSolomon and theQueen of Sheba in theHebrew Bible.[27][28] These genealogical traditions formed the basis of theKebra Nagast, a seminal work of Ethiopian literature and Ge'ez-language text originally compiled inCopto-Arabic sometime between the 10th and 13th centuries.[27][28] Its current form dates to the 14th century, by which point it included detailed mythological and historical narratives relating to Ethiopia along withtheological discourses on themes in theOld andNew Testament.[29] De Lorenzi compares the tome's mixture ofChristian mythology with historical events to the legend ofKing Arthur that was greatly embellished by the Welsh clericGeoffrey of Monmouth in his chronicleHistoria Regum Britanniae of 1136.[30] Although theKebra Nagast indicates thatthe emperors ofRome orConstantinople and Ethiopia were descended from theIsraelite king Solomon, there is an emphaticallyanti-Jewish sentiment expressed in several passages of the book.[29]
The most common form of written history sponsored by the Solomonic royal court was the biography of contemporary rulers, who were often lauded by their biographers along with the Solomonic dynasty. The royal biographical genre was established during the reign ofAmda Seyon I (r. 1314–1344), whose biography not only recounted the diplomatic exchanges and military conflicts with the rival IslamicIfat Sultanate, but also depicted the Ethiopian ruler as theChristian savior of his nation.[30] The chronicle titled,The Glorious Victories of Amda Seyon, is far more detailed than any previous Ethiopian work of history and is regraded by historianRichard Pankhurst to be a "masterpiece in historical chronicling".[31] The origins of the dynastic history (tarika nagast) are perhaps found in the biographicalchronicle ofBaeda Maryam I (r. 1468–1478), which provides a narrative of his life and that of his children and was most likely written by thepreceptor of the royal court.[30] Teshale Tibebu asserts that Ethiopian court historians were "professional flatterers" of their ruling monarchs, akin to theirByzantine Greek andImperialChinese counterparts.[32] For instance, the anonymously written biography of the emperorGelawdewos (r. 1540–1549) speaks glowingly of the ruler, albeit in anelegiac tone, while attempting to place him and his deeds within a greater moral and historical context.[33]
There are alsohagiographies of previous Zagwe dynastic rulers composed during the Solomonic period. For instance, during the reign ofZara Yaqob (1434–1468) a chronicle focusing onGebre Mesqel Lalibela (r. 1185–1225) portrayed him as aChristian saint who performed miracles. Conveniently for the legitimacy of the Solomonic dynasty, the chronicle stated that Lalibela did not desire for his heirs to inherit his throne.[25]
InGreek historiography,Herodotus (484–425 BC) had written brief descriptions ofancient Ethiopians, who were also mentioned in the New Testament.[34] Although theByzantine Empire maintainedregular relations with Ethiopia during theEarly Middle Ages, theEarly Muslim conquests of the 7th century severed the connection between Ethiopia and the rest ofChristendom.[35] Records of these contacts encouraged medieval Europeans to discover if Ethiopia was still Christian or hadconverted to Islam, an idea bolstered by the presence of Ethiopianpilgrims in theHoly Land andJerusalem during theCrusades.[36] During theHigh Middle Ages, theMongol conquests ofGenghis Khan (r. 1206–1227) led Europeans to speculate about the existence of a priestly, legendary warrior king namedPrester John, who was thought to inhabit distant lands in Asia associated withNestorian Christians and might help to defeat rival Islamic powers. Thetravel literature ofMarco Polo andOdoric of Pordenone regardingtheir separate journeys toYuan-dynastyChina during the 13th and 14th centuries, respectively, and fruitless searches insouthern India, helped to dispel the notion that Prester John's kingdom existed in Asia.[37] A lost treatise bycartographerGiovanni da Carignano (1250–1329), which only survives in a much later work byGiacomo Filippo Foresti (1434–1520), was long presumed to attest to a diplomatic mission sent by Ethiopian emperorWedem Arad (r. 1299–1314) to Latin Europe in 1306;[38] recent research indicates that this mission was unconnected to Solomonic Ethiopia, however.[39]
In his 1324Book of Marvels theDominican missionaryJordan Catala, bishop of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Quilon along theMalabar Coast of India, was the first known author to suggest that Ethiopia was the location of Prester John's kingdom.[40] TheFlorentine merchant Antonio Bartoli visited Ethiopia from the 1390s until about 1402 when he returned to Europe with Ethiopian diplomats.[38] This was followed by the lengthy stay of Pietro Rombuldo in Ethiopia from 1404 to 1444 and Ethiopian diplomats attending theecumenicalCouncil of Florence in 1441, where they expressed some vexation with the European attendees who insisted on addressing their emperor as Prester John.[41] Thanks to the legacy of European medieval historiography, this belief persisted beyond theLate Middle Ages. For instance, thePortuguese missionaryFrancisco Álvares set out for Ethiopia in 1520 believing that he was to visit the homeland of Prester John.[42]
Ethiopia is mentioned in some works ofIslamic historiography, usually in relation to thespread of Islam. Islamic sources state that in 615 the Aksumite kingArmah (r. 614–631) provided refuge for the exiled followers ofMuhammad in Axum, an event known as theFirst Hejira (i.e.Migration to Abyssinia).[43] In hisHistory, the scholaribn Wadîh al-Ya'qûbî (d. 897) of theAbbasid Caliphate identified Abyssinia (al-Habasha) as being located to the north of the territory of theBerber (Somali) as well as the land of theZanj (the "Blacks").[44] TheMamluk-Egyptian historianShihab al-Umari (1300–1349) wrote that the historicalstate of Bale, neighboring theHadiya Sultanate of southern Ethiopia, was part of an IslamicZeila confederacy, although it fell under the control of the Ethiopian Empire in the 1330s, during the reign of Amda Seyon I.[45]Al-Maqrizi (1364–1422), another Mamluk-Egyptian historian, wrote that theIfat sultanSa'ad ad-Din II (r. 1387–1415) won a crushing victory against the ChristianAmhara in Bale, despite the latter's numerical superiority.[46] He described other allegedly significant victories won by theAdal sultanJamal ad-Din II (d. 1433) in Baleand Dawaro, where the Muslim leader was said to have taken enough war booty to provide his poorer subjects with multiple slaves.[46] HistorianUlrich Braukämper states that these works of Islamic historiography, while demonstrating the influence and military presence of the Adal sultanate in southern Ethiopia, tend to overemphasize the importance of military victories that at best led to temporary territorial control in regions such as Bale.[47] In hisDescription of Africa (1555), the historianLeo Africanus (c. 1494–1554) ofAl-Andalus described Abassia (Abyssinia) as the realm of thePrete Ianni (i.e. Prester John), unto whom the Abassins (Abyssinians) were subject. He also identified Abassins as one of five main population groups on the continent alongsideAfricans (Moors),Egyptians,Arabians andCafri (Cafates).[48]
Contacts between the Ethiopian Empire andImperial China seem to have been very limited, if not mostly indirect. There were some attempts in Chinese historiographic andencyclopedic literature to describe parts of Ethiopia or outside areas that it once controlled. Zhang Xiang, a scholar ofAfrica–China relations, asserts that the country ofDou le described in theXiyu juan (i.e.Western Regions) chapter of theBook of Later Han was that of the Aksumite port city of Adulis.[49] It was from this city that an envoy was sent toLuoyang, the capital of China'sHan dynasty, in roughly 100 AD.[49] The 11th-centuryNew Book of Tang and 14th-centuryWenxian Tongkao describe the country of Nubia (previously controlled by the Aksumite Kingdom) as a land of desertssouth of the Byzantine Empire that was infested withmalaria, where the natives of the localMo-lin territory hadblack skin and consumed foods such asPersian dates.[50] In his English translation of this document,Friedrich Hirth identifiedMo-lin (Molin) with the kingdom of'Alwa and neighboringLao-p'o-sa with the kingdom ofMaqurra, both in Nubia.[50]
TheWenxian Tongkao describes themain religions of Nubia, including theDa Qin religion (i.e. Christianity, particularlyNestorian Christianity associated withthe Eastern Roman Empire) and theday of rest occurring every seven days for those following the faith of theDa shi (i.e. theMuslim Arabs).[50] These passages are ultimately derived from theJingxingji ofDu Huan (fl. 8th century),[51] a travel writer during the ChineseTang dynasty (618–907) who was captured byAbbasid forces in the 751Battle of Talas, after which he visited parts ofWest Asia andnortheast Africa.[49] HistorianWolbert Smidt identified the territory ofMolin in Du'sJingxingji (preserved in part by theTongdian ofDu You) as the Christian kingdom ofMuqurra in Nubia. He also associated the territory ofLaobosa (Lao-p'o-sa) depicted therein with Abyssinia, thereby making this the first Chinese text to describe Ethiopia.[52][49] When Du Huan left the region to return home, he did so through the Aksumite port of Adulis.[49] Trade activity between Ethiopia and China during the latter'sSong dynasty (960–1279) seems to be confirmed bySong-Chinese coinage found in the medieval village of Harla, nearDire Dawa, Ethiopia. The ChineseMing dynasty (1368–1644) sent diplomats to Ethiopia, which was also frequented byChinese merchants. Although only private and indirect trade was conducted with African countries during the earlyManchu-ledQing dynasty (1644–1911), the Chinese were able to refer to Chinese-written travel literature and histories about East Africa before diplomatic relations were restored with African countries in the 19th century.[49]
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During the 16th century the Ethiopian biographical tradition became far more complex,intertextual, and broader in its view of the world given Ethiopia's direct involvement inthe conflicts between theOttoman andPortuguese empires in the Red Sea region.[53] The annals ofDawit II (r. 1508–1540) describethe defensive war he waged against ImamAhmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (r. 1527–1543), in anepisodic format quite different from the earlier chronicling tradition.[54] The chronicle of Gelawdewos, perhaps written by theEthiopian Orthodox Church abbotEnbaqom (1470–1560), is far more detailed than any previous Ethiopian work of history.[54] It explains the Ethiopian emperor'smilitary alliance withCristóvão da Gama (1516–1542), son of thePortuguese explorerVasco da Gama, against the Adal Sultan al-Ghazi and his Ottoman allies, and later against theOttoman governor ofYemen,Özdemir Pasha (d. 1560).[53]
The biography of Galawdewos' brother and successorMenas of Ethiopia (r. 1559–1563) is divided into two parts, one dedicated to his life before taking the throne and the other to his troubled reign fighting against rebels.[55] His chronicle was completed by the biographers of his successorSarsa Dengel (r. 1563–1597). The latter's chronicle can be considered anepic cycle for itspreface describing events in previous eras mixed with biblical allusions.[55] It also describes conflicts against rebel nobility allied with the Ottomans as well as a military campaign againstEthiopian Jews.[55]
By the 16th century Ethiopian works began to discuss the profound impact of foreign peoples in their own regional history. The chronicle of Gelawdewos explained the friction between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and theCatholic missionaries fromSpain andPortugal, after the arrival of theJesuits in 1555.[55] With the persuasion of Jesuits in his realm, emperorSusenyos I (r. 1607–1632) became the only Ethiopian ruler toconvert from Orthodox Christianity to Catholicism, perhaps earlier than the accepted date of 1625, after which his attempts to convert his subjects and undermine the Orthodox church led to internal revolts.[56] In 1593 the Ethiopianmonk,historian, andethnographerBahrey published a work ofethnography that provided reasoning for the military success of thepolytheisticOromo people who fought against the Ethiopian Empire.[55] Ethiopian histories of this period also included details of foreignMuslims,Jews,Christians (including those fromWestern Europe),SafavidIranians, and even figures of the fallenByzantine Empire.[55]
Pedro Paez (1564–1622), aSpanish Jesuit at the court of Susenyos I, translated portions of the chronicles of Ethiopian emperors stretching back to the reign of Amda Seyon I in the 14th century AD, as well as the reign of kingKaleb of Axum in the 6th century AD.[57] Some of these fragments were preserved in theHistoria de Ethiopia by the Portuguese JesuitManuel de Almeida (1580–1646),[58] but Paez's original manuscript was largely rewritten to remove polemical passages against the rivalDominican Order.[59] Paez also translated a chapter from an Ethiopian hagiography that covered the life and works of the 13th-century ruler Gebre Mesqel Lalibela.[60] TheHistoria de Ethiopia, which arrived inGoa, India, by the end of 1624, was not published in Europe until the modern era and remained in circulation only among members of theSociety of Jesus inPortuguese India, although Almeida's map of Ethiopia was published byBaltasar Teles in 1660.[61] Following theabdication of Susenyos I, his son and successorFasilides (r. 1632–1667) had the Jesuits expelled from Ethiopia.[43]
At least as far back as the reign of Susenyos I the Ethiopian royal court employed an official court historian known as asahafe te'ezaz, who was usually also a senior scholar within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.[62] Susenyos I had hisconfessor Meherka Dengel and counselor Takla Sellase (d. 1638), nicknamed "Tino", compose his biography.[63] Biographies were written for the emperorsYohannes I (r. 1667–1682),Iyasu I (1682–1706), andBakaffa (r. 1721–1730), the latter employing four separate court historians: Sinoda, Demetros, Arse, and Hawaryat Krestos.[63] The reigns of the emperorsIyasu II (r. 1730–1755) andIyoas I (r. 1755–1769) were included in general dynastic histories, while the last known royal biography in chronicle format prior to the 19th century was written by the church scholar Gabru and covered the first reign ofTekle Giyorgis I (r. 1779–1784), the text ending abruptly just before hisdeposition.[63] "The most common form of written history sponsored by the Solomonic royal court was the biography of contemporary rulers, who were often lauded by their biographers along with the Solomonic dynasty. The royal biographical genre was established during the reign ofAmda Seyon I (r. 1314–1344), whose biography not only recounted the diplomatic exchanges and military conflicts with the rival IslamicIfat Sultanate, but also depicted the Ethiopian ruler as theChristian savior of his nation.[30] The chronicle titled,The Glorious Victories of Amda Seyon, is far more detailed than any previous Ethiopian work of history and is regraded by historianRichard Pankhurst to be a "masterpiece in historical chronicling".[64] The origins of the dynastic history (tarika nagast) are perhaps found in the biographicalchronicle ofBaeda Maryam I (r. 1468–1478), which provides a narrative of his life and that of his children and was most likely written by thepreceptor of the royal court.[30] Teshale Tibebu asserts that Ethiopian court historians were "professional flatterers" of their ruling monarchs, akin to theirByzantine Greek andImperialChinese counterparts.[32] For instance, the anonymously written biography of the emperorGelawdewos (r. 1540–1549) speaks glowingly of the ruler, albeit in anelegiac tone, while attempting to place him and his deeds within a greater moral and historical context.[33]"
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The chaotic period known as theEra of the Princes (Zemene Mesafint) from the mid-18th to mid-19th centuries witnessed political fragmentation, civil war, loss of central authority, and, as a result of these, a complete shift away from the royal biography in favor of dynastic histories.[63] A new genre of dynastic history, known as the "Short Chronicle" according to Lorenzi, was established by a church scholar namedTakla Haymanot, whose work combineduniversal history with Solomonic dynastic history.[63] The "Short Chronicle" genre of historiography continued well into the 20th century.[63] Ge'ez became anextinct language by the 17th century, but it wasn't until the reign ofTewodros II (r. 1855–1868) that royal chronicles werewritten in the vernacularSemitic language of Amharic.[65]
Another genre of history writing produced during the Era of the Princes was the terse Ethiopianannal known asya'alam tarik.[66] These works attempted to list major world events from the time ofthe biblical Genesis until their present time in a universal history.[66] For instance, the translated work ofJohn of Nikiû explaining human history until theMuslim conquest of Egypt in 642 became a canonical text in Ethiopian historiography.[66] There are also chronological andgenealogicallists of rulers andOrthodox Church patriarchs that include some elements of historical narrative.[66]
Various biographies of Ethiopian emperors have been compiled in the modern era. In 1975 theOxford-educated historianZewde Gebre-Sellassie (1926–2008) published a biography on the EmperorYohannes II (r. 1699–1769), with whom he was distantly related.[67] In 1973 and 1974, the EmperorHaile Selassie (r. 1930–1974) published his autobiographyMy Life and Ethiopia's Progress; in 1976 it was translated fromAmharic into English andannotated byEdward Ullendorff in anOxford University Press publication.[68] Hanna Rubinkowska maintains that Emperor Selassie was an active proponent of "historiographic manipulation", especially when it came to concealing historical materials that seemingly contested or contradicted dynastic propaganda andofficial history.[69] For instance, he removed certain chronicles and historical works from the public eye and placed them in his private library, such asaleqaGabra Igziabiher Elyas' (1892–1969) biographical chronicle covering the reigns of Selassie's predecessorsLij Iyasu (r. 1913–1916), a lateconvert to Islam, and the EmpressZewditu (r. 1916–1930).[70][71] The latter work was edited, translated into English and republished byRudolf K. Molvaer in 1994.[72][73]
Edward Ullendorff considered the GermanorientalistHiob Ludolf (1624–1704) to be the founder ofEthiopian studies in Europe, thanks to his efforts in documenting thehistory of Ethiopia and the Ge'ez language, as well as Amharic.[76][77] The Ethiopian monkAbba Gorgoryos (1595–1658), while lobbying thePropaganda Fide in Rome to become bishop of Ethiopia following his Catholic conversion and expulsion of the Jesuits by Ethiopian emperorFasilides, collaborated with Ludolf – who never actually visited Ethiopia – and provided him with critical information for composing hisHistoria Aethiopica and itsCommentaries.[78][79] The ethnically-Ethiopian Portuguese clericAntónio d'Andrade (1610–1670) aided them as a translator,[80] since Abba Gorgoryos was not a fluent speaker of either Latin or Italian.[81] After Ludolf, the 18th-century Scottish travel writer James Bruce, who visited Ethiopia, and German orientalistAugust Dillmann (1823–1894) are also considered pioneers in the field of early Ethiopian studies.[79][82] After spending time at the Ethiopian royal court, Bruce was the first to systematically collect and deposit Ethiopian historical documents into libraries of Europe, in addition to composing a history of Ethiopia based on native Ethiopian sources.[83] Dillmann cataloged a variety of Ethiopian manuscripts, including historical chronicles, and in 1865 published theLexicon Linguae Aethiopicae, the first suchlexicon to be published onlanguages of Ethiopia since Ludolf's work.[84]
Ethiopian historians such asTaddesse Tamrat (1935–2013) and Sergew Hable Sellassie have argued that modern Ethiopian studies were an invention of the 17th century and originated in Europe.[81] Tamrat considered Carlo Conti Rossini's 1928Storia d'Etiopia a groundbreaking work in Ethiopian studies.[81] The philosopherMessay Kebede likewise acknowledged the genuine contributions of Western scholars to the understanding of Ethiopia's past.[85][86] But he also criticized the perceived scientific and institutional bias that he found to be pervasive in Ethiopian-, African-, and Western-made historiographies on Ethiopia.[87] Specifically, Kebede took umbrage atE. A. Wallis Budge's translation of theKebra Nagast, arguing that Budge had assigned aSouth Arabian origin to the Queen of Sheba although theKebra Nagast itself did not indicate such a provenience for this fabled ruler. According to Kebede, a South Arabian extraction was contradicted by biblical exegetes and testimonies from ancient historians, which instead indicated that the Queen was of African origin.[88] Additionally, he chided Budge and Ullendorff for their postulation that the Aksumite civilization was founded bySemitic immigrants from South Arabia. Kebede argued that there is little physical difference between the Semitic-speaking populations in Ethiopia and neighboring Cushitic-speaking groups to validate the notion that the former groups were essentially descendants of South Arabian settlers, with a separate ancestral origin from other local Afroasiatic-speaking populations. He also observed that these Afroasiatic-speaking populations were heterogeneous, having interbred with each other and also assimilated alien elements of both uncertain extraction and negroid origin.[89]
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Ethiopianvernacular historiography became more heavily influenced byWestern methods of historiography, but De Lorenzi contends that these were "indigenized" to suit the cultural sensibilities of traditionalist historians.[90]Gabra Heywat Baykadan, a foreign-educated historian and reformist intellectual during the reign ofMenelik II (r. 1889–1913),[91] was unique among his peers for breaking almost entirely from the traditionalist approach to writing vernacular history and systematically adoptingWestern theoretical methods.[92]Heruy Wolde Selassie (1878–1938),blattengeta andforeign minister of Ethiopia, usedEnglish scholarship and nominally adopted modern Western methods in writing vernacular history, but he was a firmly traditionalist historian.[90] His innovative works include a 1922 historicaldictionary that offered aprosopographic study of Ethiopia's historical figures and contemporary notables, a history of Ethiopian foreign relations, historiographic travel literature, and a traditionalist historical treatise combining narrative histories for the Zagwe and Solomonic dynasties with other parts on church history and biographies of church leaders.[93] Selassie may have also been the author of alist of monarchs of Ethiopia written in 1922 which took its names and information from both native Ethiopian king lists (from manuscripts and oral tradition) and European texts which wrote ofAethiopia in ancient history and legends.[94] Because the termAethiopia was often used in ancient times, as well as some translations of theBible, to refer to ancientNubia, the king list incorporates monarchs who ruled the kingdom ofKush and Egyptian pharaohs who ruled or interacted with Nubia in some significant way.[95] The king list additionally includesAethiopian figures mentioned in theBible andGreek mythology.
Takla Sadeq Makuriya (1913–2000), historian and former head of theNational Archives and Library of Ethiopia, wrote various works in Amharic as well as foreign languages, including a four-volume Amharic-language series on the history of Ethiopia from ancient times until the reign of Selassie, published in the 1950s.[96] During the 1980s he published a three-volume tome exploring the reigns of 19th-century Ethiopian rulers and the theme ofnational unity.[96] He also produced two English chapters on the history of the Horn of Africa forUNESCO'sGeneral History of Africa and several French-language works on Ethiopia's church history and royal genealogies.[97] Some volumes from hisvernacular survey on general Ethiopian history have been edited and circulated as schooltextbooks in Ethiopian classrooms by theMinistry of Education.[98]Kebede Michael (1916–1998), a playwright, historian, editor, anddirector of archaeology at the National Library, wrote works ofworld history, histories ofWestern civilization, and histories of Ethiopia, which, unlike his previous works, formed the central focus of his 1955 world history written in Amharic.[99]
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The decisive victory of the Ethiopian Empire over theKingdom of Italy in the 1896Battle of Adwa, during theFirst Italo-Ethiopian War, made a profound impact on the historiography of Italy and Ethiopia.[100] It was not lost to thecollective memory of Italians, since the Italian capture ofAdwa,Tigray Region, Ethiopia in 1935, during theSecond Italo-Ethiopian War, was hailed as an act that avenged their previous humiliation and defeat.[101] Historiography about Ethiopia throughout much of the 20th century focused primarily on this second invasion and theAbyssinian Crisis that preceded it, in which Ethiopia was depicted as being relegated to the role of a pawn in European diplomacy.[102] The Ethiopiancourtier (i.e.blatta) and historianMarse Hazan Walda Qirqos (1899–1978) was commissioned by the Selassie regime to compile a documentary history of theItalian occupation entitledA Short History of the Five Years of Hardship, composed concurrently with the submission of historical evidence to theUnited Nations War Crimes Commission forFascist Italy's war crimes.[103] Coauthored byBerhanu Denque, this work was one of the first vernacular Amharic histories to cover the Italian colonial period, documenting contemporary newspaper articles and propaganda pieces, events such as the 1936fall of Addis Ababa and the 1941British-Ethiopian reconquest of the country, and speeches by key figures such as Emperor Selassie andRodolfo Graziani (1882–1955),Viceroy ofItalian East Africa.[104]
Modern historians have taken new approaches to analyzing both traditional and modern Ethiopian historiography. For instance,Donald Crummey (1941–2013)[105] investigated instances in Ethiopian historiography dealing with class, ethnicity, and gender.[106] He also criticized earlier approaches made bySylvia Pankhurst (1882–1960) andRichard Pankhurst (1927–2017), who focused primarily on the Ethiopian ruling class while ignoring marginalized peoples and minority groups in Ethiopian historical works.[106] Following the 1974Ethiopian Revolution and overthrow of the Solomonic dynasty with the deposition of Haile Selassie, thehistorical materialism ofMarxist historiography came to dominate the academic landscape and understanding ofNortheast African history.[107] In her 2001 articleWomen in Ethiopian History: A Bibliographic Review,Belete Bizuneh remarks that the impact ofsocial history on African historiography in the 20th century generated an unprecedented focus on the roles ofwomen andgender in historical societies, but that Ethiopian historiography seems to have fallen outside the orbit of these historiographic trends.[108]
By relying on the written works of both Christian and Muslim authors, oral traditions, and modern methods of anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics,Mohammed Hassen, Associate Professor of History at Georgia State University,[109] asserts that the largely non-ChristianOromo people have interacted and lived among theSemitic-speaking ChristianAmhara people since at least the 14th century, not the 16th century as is commonly accepted in both traditional and recent Ethiopian historiography.[110] His work also stresses Ethiopia's need to properly integrate itsOromo population and the fact that theCushitic-speaking Oromo, despite their traditional reputation as invaders, were significantly involved in maintaining the cultural, political, and military institutions of the Christian state.[111]
In his 1992 review ofNaguib Mahfouz'sThe Search (1964), the Ethiopian scholar Mulugeta Gudeta observed that Ethiopian andEgyptian societies bore striking historical resemblances.[112] According toHaggai Erlich, these parallels culminated in the establishment of the Egyptianabun ecclesiastical office, which exemplified Ethiopia's traditional connection toEgypt andthe Middle East.[113] In the earlier part of the 20th century, Egyptian nationalists also propounded the idea of forming aUnity of the Nile Valley, a territorial union that would include Ethiopia. This objective gradually ebbed due to political tension over control of theNile waters.[114] Consequently, after the 1950s, Egyptian scholars adopted a more distant if not apathetic approach to Ethiopian affairs and academic studies.[115] For instance, the Fifth Nile 2002 Conference held inAddis Ababa in 1997 was attended by hundreds of scholars and officials, among whom were 163 Ethiopians and 16 Egyptians.[113] By contrast, there were no Egyptian attendees at the Fourteenth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies later held in Addis Ababa in 2000, similar to all previous ICES conferences since the 1960s.[115]
Erlich argues that, in deference to their training asAfricanists, native and foreign Ethiopianists of the post-1950 generation focused more on historiographic matters pertaining to Ethiopia's place within the African continent.[115] This trend had the effect of marginalizing Ethiopia's traditional bonds with the Middle East in historiographic works.[115] InBahru Zewde's retrospective on Ethiopian historiography published in 2000, he highlighted Ethiopia's ancient tradition of historiography, observing that it dates from at least the fourteenth century and distinguishes the territory from most other areas in Africa.[116] He also noted a shift in emphasis in Ethiopian studies away from the field's traditional fixation on Ethiopia's northern Semitic-speaking groups, with an increasing focus on the territory's otherAfroasiatic-speaking communities. Zewde suggested that this development was made possible by a greater critical usage of oral traditions.[117] He offered no survey of Ethiopia's role inMiddle Eastern studies and made no mention ofEgyptian-Ethiopian historical relations.[118] Zewde also observed that historiographic studies in Africa were centered on methods and schools that were primarily developed inNigeria andTanzania, and concluded that "the integration of Ethiopian historiography into the African mainstream, a perennial concern, is still far from being achieved to a satisfactory degree."[118]
