Kebra Nagast

The Kebra Nagast is a medieval Ethiopian text that recounts the Queen of Sheba’s meeting with Solomon and the Ark of the Covenant’s transfer to Ethiopia.

Geʽez literature: Literature written in Geʽez, the classical language of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Kebra Nagast’s surviving text belongs to this literary tradition.
Solomonic dynasty: The Ethiopian imperial dynasty that claimed descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The Kebra Nagast presents this lineage as the basis of Ethiopian royal legitimacy.
Yekuno Amlak: An Ethiopian ruler who founded the Solomonic dynasty in the thirteenth century. His dynasty’s claims gave political force to the lineage celebrated by the text.
Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia: The Ethiopian tradition that the Ark of the Covenant is kept at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum. The Kebra Nagast provides the narrative basis for this enduring claim.
1 Kings: A book of the Hebrew Bible that recounts the reigns of Israel’s kings, including Solomon. Its brief visit by Sheba’s queen differs from the elaborate Ethiopian genealogy in the Kebra Nagast.
Old Testament: The collection of ancient Jewish scriptures that forms the first part of the Christian Bible. Its brief account of Solomon and Sheba supplies a foundation the Kebra Nagast expands.
Genealogy: The study or recording of descent and family relationships. Genealogical succession links biblical figures to Ethiopian kings in the text.
Amda Seyon I: An Ethiopian emperor who ruled from 1314 to 1344 and expanded the kingdom’s power. His era preceded the Kebra Nagast’s surviving Geʽez composition.
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion: A church complex in Axum associated with Ethiopia’s tradition that it houses the Ark of the Covenant. The text’s Ark narrative gives this site exceptional religious significance.
2 Chronicles: A book of the Hebrew Bible that retells Israelite history and includes the Queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon. Its parallel account mentions neither Menelik nor an Ethiopian transfer of the Ark.

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