Good Day :Two Chapters from the Ethiopian History (1)
I read a lot of articles about the history of Ethiopia and era of ancient Sudan and Abyssinia, these two names appear together in many references; some times in Arabic and Eastern references, the names (Sudan and Abyssinia “Habasha”) replace each others. Also, the name Kush refers to the all area that South of Egypt including “Nubia of Sudan” and “Aksum of Ethiopia”. I read about two eras in the Ethiopian history with more interest; the era of establishing the Aksumite Kingdom as a Christian kingdom and nation in the 4th century and the era of the collapse and disintegration of the united political system into several small temporary kingdoms which is “Zemene Mesafint” or the “Age of Princes” The first era of establishing the first Christian Kingdom in the world has really shaped the history of Ethiopia for 16 centuries. This is part about this era from Encyclopedia: (After the fall of D’mt in the 4th century BC, the plateau came to be dominated by smaller successor kingdoms. In the first century AD the Aksumite Empire emerged in what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, at times extending its rule into Yemen on the other side of the Red Sea. The Persian religious figure Mani listed Aksum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his time.
In about 316 AD, Frumentius and his brother Edesius from Tyre accompanied their uncle on a voyage to Ethiopia. When the vessel stopped at a Red Sea port, the natives killed all the travelers except the two brothers, who were taken to the court as slaves. They were given positions of trust by the monarch, and converted members of the royal court to Christianity. Frumentius became the first bishop of Aksum. A coin dated to 324 shows that Ethiopia was the second country to officially adopt Christianity (after Armenia), although the religion may have been at first confined to court circles) What we get from other long eras of national Christian government and kingdoms is not just the “religious loyalty” but the concept of central powerful government with strong cultural influence which is very ancient and deep rooted in Ethiopia. This concept turned to a national secular doctrine. The only exception of this situation in the Ethiopian history was “Zemene Mesafint” or the “Age of Princes”.