Solomonic dynasty
The
Solomonic dynasty is the traditional
royal house of
Ethiopia, claiming descent from
King Solomon and the
Queen of Sheba, who is said to have given birth to the traditional first king
Menelik I after her Biblically-described visit to Solomon in Jerusalem. The identification of Ethiopia with Biblical
Sheba, and particularly the traditional accounts of the dynasty's founding are not universally acknowledged.
The dynasty, a bastion of
Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, came to rule Ethiopia in
1270 when
Yekuno Amlak overthrew the last ruler of the
Zagwe dynasty. Yekuno Amlak claimed direct male line decent from the old Axumite royal house that the Zagwe's had replaced on the throne. The Solomonics continued to rule Ethiopia with few interuptions until
1974, when the last emperor,
Haile Selassie, was deposed. The royal family is currently in exile but still claims authority.
During much of dynasty's existence, its effective realm was the northwestern quadrant of present-day Ethiopia, the
Ethiopian Highlands. Southern and eastern regions were added during the last two centuries, some by Shewan kings and some by Emperors
Menelek II and Haile Selassie; though much of the central, and southern regions were incorporated into the empire under the Emperors
Amda Seyon I and
Zar'a Ya'iqob but peripheral areas were lost after the invasion of
Ahmad Gragn.
# Taddesse Tamrat,
Church and State in Ethiopia (1270 - 1527) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p 275.
*
History of Ethiopia*
Rulers and Heads of State of Ethiopia
