La réponse courte
- What it is: Ethiopia's national epic, conventionally translated as Glory of the Kings, linking Makeda, Solomon, Menelik and the Ark of the Covenant.
- Compilation: Its present form is usually dated to the early fourteenth century and draws on older traditions and sources.
- Language: Geʽez, the classical literary and liturgical language of Ethiopian Christianity.
- Biblical status: A Christian work of religious and cultural authority, but not a book of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon.
The Kebra Nagast is Ethiopia's national epic, a Christian account of Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, King Solomon, their son Menelik, and the Ark of the Covenant's transfer to Ethiopia. Its title is conventionally translated as Glory of the Kings. Usually dated to the early fourteenth century in its present form, it draws on older material. Written in Geʽez, it helped legitimate Ethiopian kingship and later influenced Rastafari, but it is not part of the Ethiopian Orthodox biblical canon.
This guide explains the work's identity, its likely period of compilation and its principal stories, before distinguishing its authority from biblical status. It then addresses manuscript survival and the limits of historical verification, and closes with related guides and the site's edition.
What is the Kebra Nagast?
Commonly described as Ethiopia's national epic, the work connects royal descent with sacred geography. Ethiopian royal authority is traced through Menelik to Solomon, while Ethiopia's place in religious history is established through the Ark. These connections helped legitimate the dynasty conventionally called Solomonic. That dynasty came to power in 1270, before the period usually assigned to the work's present form.
Its influence also extends to Rastafari understandings of Ethiopia's sacred significance. The account of Solomonic descent contributes to the background of Rastafari reverence for Haile Selassie I. The work itself predates Rastafari's emergence in twentieth-century Jamaica. Its place in that later tradition is therefore a history of influence, rather than evidence that it originated as a Rastafari text or was composed for that movement.
When, where and by whom was it written?
The present form is usually dated to the early fourteenth century, within Ethiopian Christian culture. This dates the compilation, not every tradition it contains: the work incorporates older sources and material. The year 1320 should not be treated as a securely established year of composition. A cautious date therefore describes a stage in the work's formation rather than a precisely documented moment when an author completed it.
The work is attributed to Ethiopian scribes. Its language is Geʽez, the classical literary and liturgical language of Ethiopian Christianity. That linguistic setting belongs alongside the distinction between compilation and earlier source material: the work as it stands brings inherited traditions into an Ethiopian Christian account of kingship, biblical history and religious teaching.
What does the work contain?
Conventionally divided into 117 chapters, the work combines biblical retelling, royal genealogy, religious instruction and prophecy. Makeda is identified as a queen of Ethiopia who travels to Jerusalem to encounter Solomon and his wisdom. They are presented as Menelik's parents; his name also appears as Menyelek. Menelik later travels from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to meet his father, then returns accompanied by sons of Israel's leading men.
The removal of the Ark from Jerusalem to Ethiopia is central to this narrative. Menelik's companions take it without his initial knowledge, but the work interprets the transfer as divinely sanctioned rather than merely a successful theft. Within its sacred geography, the Ark establishes Ethiopia as a new Zion. The work is Christian despite its prominent Hebrew Bible figures, connecting Old Testament persons and events with Christ and Christian salvation history.
Why is it not in most Bibles?
The distinction is more specific than its absence from most Bibles: the work is not a book of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon either. Its religious and cultural authority is distinct from the canonical status of scripture. The Ethiopian Orthodox canon is commonly described as containing 81 books, although both its enumeration and its scope require qualification. The epic's importance does not give it a place within that canon.
The biblical accounts of the Queen of Sheba's visit appear in 1 Kings 10 and 2 Chronicles 9. Neither names her Makeda, identifies her and Solomon as Menelik's parents, or recounts the Ark's journey to Ethiopia. These differences distinguish the epic's narrative from the biblical visit. They also explain why its fuller account of Ethiopian royal origins cannot simply be treated as information contained in those biblical accounts.
How does it survive, and what can it establish?
The work survives through a manuscript tradition, not an identifiable author's original copy. Its transmission therefore provides the basis for studying a received work rather than consulting an original authorial document. Scholars study it as evidence for medieval Ethiopian political theology and the construction of royal legitimacy. They also examine how it transforms biblical traditions within Ethiopian Christian culture, rather than treating it solely as a record of royal ancestry.
Its claims about royal origins are sacred legitimating traditions, not independently verified accounts of the tenth century BCE. Its identification of Makeda with Ethiopia cannot by itself establish the historical location of the Queen of Sheba's kingdom. Ethiopian Orthodox tradition associates the Ark with Aksum, but the claimed survival of the biblical Ark there has not been independently verified. The narrative's religious interpretation and independent historical verification remain separate matters.
Where to go next
The related guide to the Ethiopian Bible addresses the scriptural tradition from which this epic's canonical status must be distinguished. The guide to the 88 books of the Ethiopian Bible addresses the broader canon question, whose enumeration requires qualification. The edition on this site is titled The Kebra Nagast and presents the sacred account of Ethiopian royal origins through Makeda, Solomon, Menelik and the Ark.
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Questions about the Kebra Nagast
What is the Kebra Nagast?
The Kebra Nagast is Ethiopia's national epic, conventionally translated as Glory of the Kings. It brings together the story of Makeda and Solomon, Menelik's royal descent, and the Ark's transfer to Ethiopia. Its contents combine genealogy and biblical retelling with Christian instruction and prophecy, giving Ethiopian kingship a sacred origin.
Who wrote the Kebra Nagast?
Ethiopian scribes are credited with the Kebra Nagast. The compilation as it stands is generally placed in the early fourteenth century, drawing on traditions and sources from earlier periods. A precise composition date of 1320 remains uncertain. Manuscripts preserve the work, rather than a surviving original copy by its author.
What does the Kebra Nagast say about the Ark of the Covenant?
It describes the Ark's removal from Jerusalem to Ethiopia by Menelik's companions, initially without his knowledge. The narrative interprets this transfer as divinely sanctioned and makes Ethiopia a new Zion. This is the work's sacred account; the claimed survival of the biblical Ark in Aksum has not been independently verified.
Is the Kebra Nagast part of the Ethiopian Bible?
No. It is not a book of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon, despite its religious and cultural importance. It is a Christian work that reshapes biblical traditions, but its authority differs from the canonical status of scripture. Its account of Menelik and the Ark is not contained in the biblical accounts of Sheba's visit.
What language was the Kebra Nagast written in?
The work is written in Geʽez, the classical literary and liturgical language of Ethiopian Christianity. Its present form belongs to the early fourteenth century according to the usual scholarly dating, while its traditions and source material are older. The language identifies its literary setting, not a securely known individual author.