The Kebra Nagast

Kebra Nagast recounts the incredible life of Queen Makeda and her son Menelik. It presents a mix of historical events and biblical myths relating to the origin of the House of Solomon, the Ethiopian dynasty that came to power in the 13th century. According to the book's plot, Queen Makeda visited King Solomon after the fame of his wisdom had reached her lands. She and King Solomon met in Jerusalem, and being enchanted by his knowledge, spent a night with him. King Solomon gave her a ring, by which their future child should identify himself as a son of Solomon. Makeda gives birth to her only child Menelik and raises him by herself by the age of 22 when he decides to reunite with his father. Solomon was pleased to meet his son and offered to stay with him and become his heir to the throne. Yet, Menelik decided to return home. So Solomon gave him a guard of the first-born sons of the first men of his land. However, the young people didn't want to leave the kingdom and secretly stole the Ark of Covenant, with the help of which they were mysteriously transferred to Ethiopia before king Solomon left the borders of his land chasing them. The story is written in the form of a debate between the 318 priests of the First Council of Nicaea.

Auteur

The author of this work is unknown. Based on the analysis of the earliest texts, their language, and the sources, it is possible that the author of this book was a Coptic priest, as the resources used for compiling this story were popular and accepted by the Coptic Church in the first four centuries of Christianity. Hence, some scholars presume that the anonymous author lived somewhere in Egypt.