Isaac of Aksum (Yeshaq)
Aksum churchman credited with compiling the Kebra Nagast
- Title
- Nebura'ed (church official) of Aksum
- Work
- Kebra Nagast, in Ge'ez
- Date
- c. 1314–1322
- Claimed source
- An Arabic text of 1225, itself from Coptic
- Context
- Rise of the Solomonic dynasty
The Aksum churchman whom the colophon of the Kebra Nagast names as leader of its translation into Ge'ez in the early 14th century.
What is Isaac of Aksum known for?
Yeshaq, or Isaac, was a nebura'ed, a senior church official, of Aksum in northern Ethiopia. He is known almost entirely from the colophon, the closing note, attached to manuscripts of the Kebra Nagast ('Glory of the Kings').
The colophon says that the book was first written in Coptic, translated into Arabic in 1225, and then put into Ge'ez by Yeshaq and a team of clerics. Scholars such as Conti Rossini, Littmann and Cerulli date this work to about 1314 to 1322. Many think the claim of an Arabic original is partly a literary device and that Yeshaq's team did much of the composing, drawing on biblical, apocryphal, Coptic and Arabic material.
The book tells how Makeda, Queen of Sheba, bore Solomon a son, Menelik, who brought the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia. It appeared soon after the Solomonic dynasty took power in 1270 and gave that dynasty its claim to descent from Solomon.
He is credited with compiling the Kebra Nagast, the source of the story that the Ark of the Covenant went to Ethiopia.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeKebra Nagast
- PassageSolomon's flying wagon (Kebra Nagast, chapters on the Ark's journey)
- PlaceAksum
Sources
- Wikipedia, 'Kebra Nagast'Reference
- E. A. Wallis Budge (tr.), The Kebra Nagast (1922), sacred-texts.comPrimary text
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