Emperors of Ethiopia,
ኢትዮጵያ, Abyssinia

Kingdom of Aksum
Menelik I	204-179 BC
Legendary son of Solomon & the Queen of Sheba
Handadyo	179-178
Auda Amat	178-167
Auseyo	167-164
Tzaue	164-133
Gasyo	133
Mawat	133-125
Bahas	125-116
Qawda	116-114
Qanaz	114-104
Haduna	104-95
Wazba	95-94
Hadir	94-92
Kalas	92-85
Satyo	85-68
Filya	68-42
Aglebu	42-39
Ausena	39-38
Beriwas	38-9
Mahsi	9-8
Besebazen	8 BC-8 AD
Sartu	8-35
Laas	35-45
Masenh	45-52
Setwa	52-61
Adgala	61-71
Agba	71-73
Masis	73-77
Hakla	77-90
Demahe	90-100
Autet	100-102
Ella Auda	102-132
Zagan	132-136
Rema	132-136
Gafale	136-137
Bese Zarq	137-141
Ella Azguagua	141-218
Ela Herka	218-239
Bese Tzawetza	239-240
Wakana	240
Hadaus	240
Ella Sagal	240-242
Ella Asfeha I	242-256
Ezanas I	c.250 AD
Ella Tzegab	256-279
Ella Samara	279-282
Ella Aiba	282-298
Ella Eskendi	298-334
Ella Tzaham I	334-343
Ella San	343-356
Ella Aiga	356-374
Ella Amida I	374-404
Ezanas II Bisi Halen	325-356
Frumentius first Coptic Bishop of Ethiopia, c.305; stela erected at juncture of Nile & Atbara, 350; Kush overthrown? 355
Shizana	328-356
Ella Abreha	356-370
Ella Asfeha	356-370
Arfed	370-374
Adhana I	374-379
Rete'a	379-380
Asfeh	380-381
Asbeha	381-386
Ameda I	386-401
Abreha I	401
Ella Shahel I	401-402
Gobaz I	402-404
Suhal	404-408
Abreha II	408-418
Adhana II	418-424
Yo'ab	424-434
Sahan	434-436
Ameda II	436-446
Shahel II	446-448
Sabah	448-451
Sahem	451-463
Gobaz II	463-474
Agabe	474-475
Levi	474-475
Ella Amida (IV?)	475-486
Jacob I	486-489
David	486-489
Armah I	489-504
Zitana	504-505
Jacob II	505-514
Caleb, Ella Asbeha, el-Eshaba	514-542
At Roman urging, Ethiopians install a Christian king in Yemen, 523-525
Beta Israel	542-550
Gabra Masqal	550-564
Constantine	564-578
Wasan Sagad	578-591
Feresanay	591-601
Adreaz	601-623
Eklewudem	623-633
Armah II, Ella Sahem, Ashama ibn Abjar	615-630
traditional King who welcomed Muslim refugees from Mecca
Germa Safar	633-648
Zergaz	648-656
Michael	656-677
Baher Ikela	677-696
Hezba Seyon	696-720
Asagum	720-725
Latem	725-741
Tulatem	741-762
Adegos	762-775
Ayzur	775
Dedem Almaz	775-780
Wedemdem	780-790
Demawedem	790-820
Rema Armah III	820-825
Degnajan	825-845
Gedajan	845-846
Judith	846-885
Degnajan II	885-905
Del Nead	905-c.950
Jewish Queen Gudit, or Yodit, sacks Axum, lays waste countryside, c.960
Zagwe Dynasty
Mara Tekle Haimanot	916-919?
Tatadim	919-959?
Jan Seiyoum	959-999?
Germa Seiyoum	999-1039?
St. Yemrehana Christos	1039-1079?
St. Harbe	1079-1119?
St. Gebra Maskal Lalibela	1119-1159/ 1181-1221
Rock Cut Churches, city of Lalibela
St. Na'akuto Le'Ab	1159-1207
Yetbarek	1207-1247
Mairari	1247-1262
Harbe II	1262-1270
Solomonic Dynasty
Yekuno Amlak, Tasfa Iyasus, or St. Tekle Haimanot	1270-1285
Solomon I	1285-1294
Bahr Asgad	1294-1297
Senfa Asgad	1294-1297
Senfa Ared IV	1294-1295
Hezba Asgad	1295-1296
Qedma Asgad	1296-1297
Jin Asgad	1297-1298
Saba Asgad	1298-1299
Wedem Arad	1299-1314
Amda Siyon (Seyoi) I	1314-1344
Newaya Krestos	1344-1372
Newaya Maryam	1372-1382
Dawit (David) I	1382-1411
Mission to Venice, 1401; missions to Rome, 1403, 1403
Tewodros (Theodore) I	1411-1414
Killed by ʿAdāl Muslims, 1414
Isaac (Yeshaq)	1414-1429
Three Ethiopians attested at Council of Constance, receive Safe Passage document from Martin V, 1416-1418; mission to Aragón, 1427-1428; Persian agent executed in Egypt, 1429; killed by ʿAdāl Muslims, 1429
Andrew	1429-1430
Takla Maryam	1430-1433
Monks from Jerusalem attend the Council of Florence, 1441
Sarwe Iyasus	1433
Amda Iyasus (Jesus)	1433-1434
Zara Yakob (Constantine I)	1434-1468
Defeated ʿAdāl Muslims, Battle of Gomit, 1445
Baeda Mariam I	1468-1478
Eskender (Alexander), Kwestantinos (Constantine) II	1478-1484
Embassy to the Mamlūks to arrange for a new Abuna, two were sent, 1480-1481
Amda Seyon II	1494
Na'od	1494-1508
Killed by ʿAdāl Muslims, 1508
Eleni	Regent, 1507-1516
Mission to Portugal, 1509-1515; Portuguese Embassy to Ethiopia, 1515-1520
Lebna Dengel, David II	1508-1540
Defeated by ʿAdāl Muslims, Battle of Shimbra Kure, 1529; Ethiopia overrun & occupied, 1531-1535, Lebna Dengel becomes fugitive
Galawedos, Claudius	1540-1559
Portuguese landing, 1541; Portuguese defeated, Battle of Wofla, 1542; Muslims defeated, Battle of Wayna Daga, or Lake Ṭana, Muslim army destroyed, 1543; Jesuits in Ethiopia, 1557-1633, expelled
Menas	1560-1564
Sarsa Dengel	1564-1597
Jacob	1597-1603, 1604-1607
Za Dengel	1603-1604
Susneyos, Sissinios	1607-1632
Fasilidas, Basilides	1632-1667
Yohannes, John I	1667-1682
Iyasu, Jesus I the Great	1682-1706
Tekle Haimanot I	1706-1708
Na'od II	1708, d.1722
Tewoflos, Theophilus	1708-1711
Yostos. Justus	1711-1716
Dawit, David III	1716-1721
Walda George	1721
Asma George, Bekaffa	1721-1730
Iyasu II	1730-1755
Iyoas, Joas)	1755-1769
Yohannes II	1769
Tekle Haimanot II	1769-1777
Salomon, Solomon II	1777-1779
Tekle Giorgis, George I	1779-1784, 1788-1789, 1794-1795, 1795-1796, 1797-1799, 1800, d.1817
Jesus III	1784-1788
Ba'eda Maryam I	1788
Hezekiah	1789-1794
Ba'eda Maryam II	1795
Solomon III	1796-1797, 1799
Jonah	1797-1798, d. 1832
Demetrius	1799-1800, 1800-1801, d.1803
Egwala Seyon	1801-1818
Joas II	1818-1821
Gigar	1821-1826, 1826-1830, d.1831
Ba'eda Maryam III	1826
Jesus IV	1830-1832
Gabra Krestos	1832, 1832
Sahla Dengel	1832, 1832-1840, 1841-1845, 1845-1850, 1851-1855
Yohannes III	1840-1841, 1845, 1850-1851, d.1868
Ali Alula	1851-1853
Webe Haile Mariam	1853-1855
Tewodros, Theodore II	1855-1868
takes diplomats hostage; British Expedition, defeat & suicide of Tewodros, 1868
Tekle Giorgis II of Zagwe	1868-1871
Yohannes IV of Tigre	1871-1889
Egyptians defeated, driven out of Eritrea, Battle of Gundet, 1875, Battle of Gura, 1876
Menelik (Menilek) II	1868, 1889-1913
Italians defeated, Battle of Adwa, 1896
Etege T'aytu Bet'ul	regent, 1910
Ras Tesemma	regent, 1910-1911
Lij Iyasu, Joshua, Jesus V	regent 1912-1913, Emperor 1913-1916, d. 1935
Zawditu	Empress 1916-1930
Haile Selassie (Sellassie), Ras Tafari Makonnen	regent 1916-1930, Emperor, 1930-1936
Italian Occupation, 1935-1941
Victor Emmanuel (III, of Italy)	"Emperor of Ethiopia" 1936-1941
Emilio de Bono	High Commissioner 1935
Pietro Badoglio	1935-1936
Rodolfo Graziani	Governor-General 1936-1937
Amadeo, Amadeus II Duke of Aosta	1937-1941, surrendered & died in custody, 1942
Haile Selassie (restored)	1941-1974, d.1975
Asfa Wossen, Amha Selassie	1974-1975, d.1997
Aman Mikael Andom	Head of State, 1974
Tafari Benti	1974-1977
Mengistu Haile Mariam	1977-1987 President, 1987-1991
Meles Zenawi	1991-1995
Negasso Gidada	1995-2001
Girma Wolde-Giorgis	2001-2013
Mulatu Teshome Wirtu	2013-2018
Sahle-Work Zewde	2018-present

A significant traditional empire that fits only imperfectly into the system of Empires discussed in the Index to Lists of Rulers is Ethiopia -- Latin Aethiopia (Æthiopia), from Greek Αἰθιοπία, Aithiopía, now Amharic ኢትዮጵያ, ʾĪtyōṗṗyā.

This state had few pretentions to universality, but it was in the Middle Eastern tradition of universalist titles, since the Ethiopian emperor was styled the Negus Negast, ንጉሠ ነገሥት, Nəgušä Nägäšt, the "King of Kings," as were the Kings of Assyria (Šar Šarim) and the Shāhs of Persia and Iran (Xšayathiya Xšayaθiyanam, شَاهَنْشَاه, Šāhanšāh).

Ethiopia was its own kind of cultural island universe for centuries, a beleaguered bastion of Christianity in an isolating sea of Islām, a successor, not just to the Middle Eastern traditions through Yemen, but to the original Ethiopia of the Greeks, the sub-Egyptian kingdom of Kush, , which began with the Egyptian 25th Dynasty (751-656 BC), from Piankhy to Tanuatamun, and which, although driven out of Egypt by the Assyrians, flourished at Napata (where pyramids were actually built) and Meroë for many centuries.

Indeed, the highland Ethiopia, or Abyssinia, itself may have brought the kingdom of Meroë to an end, around 355 AD. The term "Abyssinia" itself goes all the way back to Old South Arabian, where we see Ḥbśt or Ḥbšt. This then continues in Arabic as أَلْحَبَش, ʾal-Ḥabaš for the country or أَلْأَحْبَاش, ʾal-ʾAḥbāš, a "broken" (i.e. irregular) plural, for Abyssinians. The country can also be in the feminine, as أَلْحَبَشَة, ʾal-Ḥabašah. While "Abyssinia" is said to be an "exonym," i.e. a name used by others than its inhabitants, it is not clear that another name even existed for the place, before "Ethiopia" was adopted from Greek. Thus, Ḥabaš may in effect be an "endonym," having been brought, with the South Arabian alphabet and other culture, along from Yemen.

The Abyssinian kingdom of Aksum (or Axum) had already existed for some time. It left enduring monuments in the obelisk-like stone stelae, with Stela 3 (at left, and in background photograph) still standing at 67 feet tall, which reproduce the "skyscraper" architecture of ancient Yemen. A few kings of Aksum are barely known from their coins, as is also the case with ancient Yemen.

As Kush came to an end, Abyssinia had recently converted to Christianity, in communion with the Coptic Egyptian Church. It is not hard to see the reign of the Emperor Ezanas II, under whom this all happened, as the real beginning of classic Ethiopian civilization. The torch of Meroë had been passed, but since the Meroë writing has not been deciphered, Ethiopia becomes the first sub-Saharan African civilization fully open, despite all its uncertainties, to the light of history. Indeed, the ancient language of Axum, Ethiopic or Ge'ez, ግዕዝ (Gəʽəz or Gəʽz), is still actively used in the Ethiopian Church.

The Latins, in turn had heard rumors of a mythical Christian kingdom, in India, Asia, or Africa, ruled by the saintly "Prester John," surrounded and isolated by enemies of Christianity. One possible source of this story was the Empire of Black Cathay (the Qara-Khitaï or Western Liao Dynasty) in Central Asia, whose rulers, with names like "David" and "Elias," for a time were Nestorian Christians.

But when Ethiopians began showing up in Italy, they could only have been from the Kingdom of the actual Prester John. This created a bit of a sensation, especially when three Ethiopian monks attended the Council of Constance in 1417. They would be painted, with their images included in one illustration, "The Exaltation of the Cross," from the Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, of 1416. They are distinguished, not just by their color, but by the iron crosses that they habitually carry in hand. The monks and their party traveled around on the safe passage given by Pope Martin V.

The patron of the Heures, Jean Duc de Berry (1360–1416), one of the Valois Dukes who so bedeviled the dynasty, perhaps out of curiosity for these Ethiopians, whom he may actually have met, is supposed to have sent a mission to Ethiopia in 1416. But none of the mission ever returned to France.

Over the years, the Latins often kept referring to Ethiopia as "India" or as ruled by "Prester John," despite the Ethiopians trying to correct them and expressing bewilderment about who this "Prester John" was supposed to be. They never heard of him. When the Portuguese finally got to India, this helped some.

A mission to Aragón in 1427 ran into difficulties on the way home. A separate return mission sent by the King of Aragón, Alfonso V, seems to have failed when all its principals died on the way. The returning Ethiopian mission ran into trouble in Egypt, when their guide and agent, the Persian merchant Nūr ad-Dīn ʿAlī at-Tabrīzī, was arrested by the Mamlūks and executed for running weapons to Ethiopia and, apparently, for just being too friendly with the Christians. This may be have been the result of personal disputes, for the Ethiopians were unmolested and their merchandise retrurned to them; although whether they successfully made it back home with everything is unknown.

In 1430, five Ethiopians arrived in Spain to go on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Alfonso V had to advise them that there was a war going on with Castile (1429-1430) and that the route was presently too dangerous for them.

The missions in the 15th Century were mainly for religious purposes -- David himself wanted a piece of the True Cross -- but when the Portuguese arrived in East Africa, this came at a critical moment. Portuguese influence stimulated and aided Ethiopia when it was under serious threat from the triumphant Ottoman Empire, whose control extended all the way to Yemen and whose powerful influence crossed the Strait to Africa.

This had begun, ironically, with the Portuguese being threatened by Mamlūk Egypt, which kept a fleet at Aden and defeated the Portuguese at the Battle of Chaul in 1508, near Bombay on the coast of India. The Portuguese thus wanted Ethiopian help. However, soon the Mamlūks were conquered by the Ottomans, and this became more of a threat to Ethiopia than to Portugal. The Regent, Empress Dowager Eleni, sent a mission to Portugal in 1509, under the first circumstances. After various misadventures, the Portuguese returned in 1520, by way of India, with a full ambassadorial party, the first such European embassy in Ethiopia. By then, the Ottomans were in Egypt.

Portuguese firearms and even 400 soldiers were delivered after an appeal for help by the Emperor Lebna Dengel in 1535. The defense of Ethiopia had collapsed against the invasion of the Imām of Harar, or Sulṭān of ʿAdāl, عَدَال,ʾAḥmad ibn ʾIbrāhīm al-Ghāzī, supported by the Ottomans. The peripatetic Court of the Emperor had become almost a government in exile, as the Muslims ravaged the nation, looting and destroying churches and monasteries.

After some severe setbacks, the Portuguese relief force enabled the Emperor Galawedos to defeat the Muslims. The Imām was killed in a great battle at Lake Ṭana in 1543. The ʿAdāl occupation of Ethiopia disintegrated, as did its original state.

As it happened, the Ottomans never developed a naval presence in the Indian Ocean, despite appeals for help from as far away as Indonesia. Thus, the pressure on both Ethiopia and Portugal faded away. Many of the Portuguese soldiers actually stayed in Ethiopia and intermarried with the Ethiopians.

The Portuguese presence in Ethiopia included attempts to convert the country to Roman Catholicism, and for a time there were rival Metropolitans of Ethiopia. Portuguese influence, however, was ultimately rejected, since Ethiopia was religiously Coptic and Monophysite, not Roman Catholic; and the Catholic challenge stimulated a literary and theological response.

There had already been a meeting of the Ethiopian church and Catholicism, when four monks from Jerusalem attended the Council of Florence in 1441. It was explained that the monks had no authority to negotiate doctrine or commit the Ethiopian Church to anything; but, for a while, the Popes were under the impression that Ethiopia would accept Catholic doctrine and supremacy. But this has no impact on Ethiopia at the time.

Of passing interest are features of Krebs' book that reflect the pecularities of present academic culture, with its Leninist preoccupation with "colonialism," etc. Thus, a particular emphasis in the book is to correct the impression of previous scholarship that Ethiopian diplomatic missions in the 15th Century included solicitations for "technological" and military assistance. This seems to have been wrong. The Emperors of Ethiopia were looking for things that would contribute to their projects of religious architecture: The construction, decorating, and fitting out churches and monasteries. As such, they were seeking religious artifacts, decorations, and vestments, as well as skilled workers who could do painting, building, and the production of needful items for the buildings, including carpets and draperies.

The errors of previous scholarship Krebs consistently attributes to "colonialism," without much explanation for how that works. Instead, Krebs must admit that the invasions of Ethiopia in the 16th century called for actual appeals for military aid from the Portuguese. Considering Ethiopia's situation, earlier scholars could not avoid the sense that Ethiopian diplomacy had always been sensible of the country's danger and had always solicited military aid. The Ethiopians, however, seem to have usually been confident enough in their military power that it took serious defeats to raise the alarm. In hindsight, they might indeed have started earlier. However, there really was no practical way for European states to deliver such aid to Ethiopia until the Portuguese had arrived in the Indian Ocean. Then it was just in the nick of time.

Thus, Krebs performs a valuable service in correcting the impression promoted by the earlier scholarship. And eventually she admitted that it wasn't all "colonialism":

It must be said that the above ideas floated by twentieth-century scholars were not drawn entirely from thin air or based entirely on inadvertent holdovers from colonial belief. [p.212]

The idea of "colonial belief," to the extent that we ever get its content explained, sometimes seems based on confused ideas about economic development. Thus, Krebs refers to "an allegedly technologically superior Europe" [p.189], or "an underlying Eurocentric narrative of Latin Christian artistic and technological superiority, rooted in the colonialist history of the field" [p.188]. However, there can be little doubt that Europe, at the time, would have been technologically superior to an isolated country in Africa. That the Portuguese circumnavigated Africa and arrived in the Red Sea with advanced weaponry would only be one indication of that. Only China could have matched such an achievement, as Admiral Hé had recently led Chinese fleets into the same waters. But the Chinese surrendered their own superiority and swiftly fell behind Europe.

Thus, we might detect in Krebs an ideology that the very idea of European civilization being "superior" or "advanced" in any way is a "colonialist" delusion. But the delusion is more to fail to recognize the disadvantages of a place like Ethiopia, not just in relation to Latin Europe, but in relation to the Ottoman Empire, whose support enabled local Muslims to overcome the strength with which Ethiopia had always defended itself.

Considering that Ethiopia is still one of the poorest countries in the world, as we will see below, it is not much of a leap to suspect that Renaissance Europe was already on the commercial path that led to greater wealth in the West. The "Progressives" who like the idea, no better than Cargo Cult economics, that Western wealth has all been "stolen," have the ruination of one economy after another, from Russia to Cuba to Venezuela, to show for their ideology. Krebs herself displays an inclination to substitute such ideology for obvious truths about Ethiopia's mediaeval economic condition.

Fortunately, as history caught up to Ethiopia, the Portuguese were there to help out. On the other hand, the brief Muslim occupation of Ethiopia resulted in the destruction of much of the architecture and art that many Emperors had spend the previous century creating. An awkward question, never considered by Krebs, is why subsequent Emperors were unwilling or unable to restore what had been destroyed. Much of the great beauty we hear about, whose creation involved such help as had previously been solicited from Europe, has simply lain in ruins ever since. Why could the damage not have been made good? We might wonder if Ethiopia had simply already exhausted her wealth.

Fully awake and informed, Menelik attacked first, at 5:30 AM, and killed, wounded, or captured fully 70% of the Italian army. This preserved Ethiopia from foreign conquest until, in the 1930's, the confused Allies of World War I determined to appease Fascism rather than oppose it.

In the face of Italian aggression, France abandoned its diplomatic and material support of Ethiopia. France and Britain decided that an arms embargo on "all belligerents" was the moral response to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia; and the Italians, who of course made their own arms, actually used poison gas against Ethiopian forces. Thus, Ethiopia fell to Mussolini, not because it was backward, like the Congo (although it was pretty backward relative to Italy), but because it was abandoned, like Czechoslovakia.

After Italy entered World War II, however, the liberation of Ethiopia was set in motion, and the Italians, who had committed many atrocities against the constant resistance of the Ethiopian people during the occupation, were easily defeated by the British in 1941, but with some resistance continuing until 1943. William Slim, who later drove the Japanese out of Burma, commanded Indian troops in that operation and was wounded.

Although Magdala was then looted, Theodore's body was buried with dignity (unlike Lord Kitchener's later treatment of the body of the Sudanese Mahdī, in 1898). His son, Alemayehu, was sent into comfortable exile in England, where he unfortunately died, despite the care of Queen Victoria, aged 19. The similar exile of the defeated Zulu King Cetshwayo (c.1826-1884) seems to have been altogether more enjoyable (1879-1883), as he was fêted as a noble adversary by English society. Returning to South Africa, however, Cetshwayo was wounded, perhaps fatally, in inter-tribal conflict. His cause of death is disputed.

We might have expected Napier to then occupy and annex Ethiopia. It was, after all, the height of Imperialism. However, the British at the time were often reluctant to take on such responsibilities. They cost money, which meant more to Victorian England than imperialism. All colonies were expected to pay their own way. So Napier left the Ethiopians to their own devices, went home, and simply abandoned the railroad that had been built. The Ethiopians did not keep it up.

Napier was then made Baron Napier of Magdala.

Some of Theodore's European hostages had actually rather liked it in Ethiopia. Theodore had not been cruel to them. Although Napier forcefully deported them, some made their way back and returned to their Ethiopian life.

This whole business is nicely recounted by Alan Moorehead in his The Blue Nile [1962]. As is common now, the politically correct seem to be unhappy with the English equivalent, "Theodore," of the Emperor's name. See discussion of this kind of quibble over the names of Roman Emperors, which, one might think, would be uncontroversial.

The list of Emperors and Primates of Ethiopia is largely based on Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies, with some modification based on lists at Wikipedia. Some alternative dates and Ethiopian readings of names are gleaned from A History of Ethiopia, by Harold G. Marcus [University of California Press, 1994], from Ancient Ethiopia, by David W. Phillipson [British Museum Press, 1998], and from a History of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church website.

The photographs of Aksum Stela 3 are from Phillipson. With so many uncertainties in the chronology, very different lists of Emperors, with different dates, may be seen. Gordon gave no less than three lists on his webpage, and one is left with the impession that these may actually reflect different lineages at different locations. I have mixed the lists, beginning with the traditional one that starts with Menelik I but then shifting away when that list doesn't feature Ezanas II.

Lists exist that trace the genealogy of the Emperors all the way back to Adam and Eve, with a span of 6500 years. Many pious people take this sort of thing seriously, and one correspondent has objected to the characterization of Menelik I as "legendary." However, Adam and Eve are not historical persons and much of Ethiopian history even since Ezanas II is not well attested or dated. Even with Melelik I, traditional dates, e.g. 204-179 BC, are far too late for him to have been a son of King Solomon, who now is dated to 970-931 BC.

Ethiopia is certainly interesting and important enough without giving credence to pious or nationalistic exaggerations. The uncertainties and gaps are as great with the Primates as with many of the Emperors of Ethiopia. On the other hand, I don't think that reinforcing Ethiopian Christian piety is a bad thing. The country is still surrounded by the often hostile forces of ʾIslām, and the Western apologetic for Islāmic extremism conveniently overlooks attacks on Christians, which are not unusual in, say, Pakistan, but are now not unheard of in America. The Ethiopian claim to hold the Ark of the Covenant, if nothing else, attracts the attention of people who otherwise might ignore Ethiopian Christianity.

If Ras Tafarianism might have seemed confused to Ethiopians, the popularity of ʾIslām among black nationalists in the United States and elsewhere must be positively galling. While Ethiopia had preserved its independence and Christian religion for centuries against ʾIslām, constantly enduring the depredations of Arab slavers, many, or most, of whose male victims were castrated, many foreign blacks now blame and reject Christianity for the Atlantic slave trade which took their ancestors to the New World.

Bill Clinton's attempt on a trip to Africa to even apologize for the slave trade was actually rebuked by the President of Uganda, who said that the African chiefs who sold their people to the slavers were really the ones at fault (and still at fault, since it turns out that the West African slave trade still exists, at least in children). The television series Roots [1977] showed white slavers raiding into the interior of Africa. That never happened. The weather and diseases of Africa there were deadly to Europeans, and local rulers wanted all the business for themselves. Indeed, the Atlantic slave trade simply meant that native West African slavers sold their wares south to the coast rather than north to the trans-Saharan trade, which had already been going on for centuries, probably exacting as great a human toll as the Atlantic trade and noticeably leaving few suriviving blacks, of all those imported, in the Middle East.

Although himself a political radical of a harsh, Marxist sort, it is noteworthy that Princeton/Harvard professor Cornell West (advisor of Democrat Presidential hopeful Bill Bradley in the 2000 campaign and now an independent candidate himself for 2024) retains his own Christianity, was (briefly) married to an Ethiopian woman, and avoids the pro-Islāmic idealizations (and anti-Semitism) of many other American black radicals. Ethiopia and her religion thus receive some respect from a source that, in general, one might have expected to be relatively unaware of the country and relatively hostile to the religion.

One irony of Ethiopia's isolation and poverty is that it has contributed to world culture one of the principal, indeed signature, products of modernity:  coffee. The legend is that in the 9th-century a goatherder named Kaldi noticed that his goats became excited after eating the beans of the Coffea arabica plant. This account, however, is not attested before 1671; and no evidence appears to exist for coffee drinking until the 15th century in Yemen, whence the beans had been brought from Ethiopia. We know that coffee was in Mecca in 1511, because an attempt was made to ban it, as an intoxicant. That didn't last long, and the drink spread throughout the Ottoman Empire.

We get the name of the substance from Yemen, قَهْوَة, qahwah. This is of uncertain etymology, and may be of African or purely Arabic origin. As the Arabic "w" becomes a "v" in Turkish (to modern kahve), and the syllable final "h's" become silent, the pronunciation begins to approach what is familiar in European languages, such as caffè in Italian or "coffee" in English. From Yemen, ground coffee and then beans were exported (initially smuggled) to India, Turkey, and finally Europe. The first reference in English to coffee is from 1598. In 1610, the poet George Sanys said that coffee was "blacke as soote, and tasting not much unlike it"; but then the oldest coffee house in London was established in 1654. In 1657, Court historian James Howell said that morning coffee made workers "play the good-fellows."

Coffee represented the first non-alcoholic processed beverage intoduced in English culture. Since coffee (like tea, introduced later) involved boiling water, this was also the first non-alcoholic beverage that involved the regular consumption of sterilized water. When people, including Prince Albert, were still dying of water-born diseases in the mid-19th century, a preference for coffee or tea was salutary. This was missed by Benjamin Franklin, who told his co-workers to drink water rather than alcohol when he was a young man in London. This was because the ale they otherwise drank might render them, as Howell had said, "unfit for business." But Franklin did not realize the danger he faced, and was recommending, from unboiled water.

The best coffees are still grown in tropical highlands that mimic the climate of Ethiopia and Yemen, namely places like Indonesia, Hispaniola, Columbia, Hawaii, etc. This is therefore an area where Ethiopia can devote effort in its economic development, with the chance to advance its claim as the original coffee producer and to cultivate and market the best coffees that can be made.

There is a nice recent testimony to Ethiopian coffee, from the chef and restauranteur Wolfgang Puck:

My wife imports Ethiopian beans. After they're roasted and ground, the pour-over coffee drip for 20 minutes into a pot. The result is unbelievable. [The Wall Stree Journal, April 12, 2019, p.M16]

Surely this will start a tremendous demand for Ethiopian coffee.

As it happens, Ethiopia is the world's fifth largest producer of coffee, after Brazil and Columbia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Vietnam may be the surprising presence there, but it is actually the second largest producer in the world.

Primates and Patriarchs of Ethiopia
Abune Selama I Kesatay Birhan, Abba Sälama Käsaté-Berhan, Frumentius	c.305, 328/346-c.383
Minas	4th-5th century
Abreham = Petros?
Abba Afse, of the Nine Sages	5th-6th century
Qozmos	6th century
Euprepius
Metropolitan See of the Coptic church
Qerellos, Kerlos	620's-?
Yohannes	c.820-840
Ya'eqob I	9th century
Sälama Zä-'Azéb
Bärtäloméwos	10th century
Petros
deposed, c.950
Minas
Fiqtor
Daniel
Fiqtor	11th century
Sawiros	1077-1092
Giyorgis I	1090's
Mikael I	12th century
Ya'eqob II
Gabra Krestos
Atnatewos
Mikael II of Fuwa	1206-1209
Hirun	rival
Yeshaq	1210-?
Giyorgis II	c.1225
St. Tekle Haimanot	13th century
Yohannes XIII	c.1300
Yaqob III	c.1337-1344
Salama II	1348-1388
Bartalomewos	1398/9-1436
Mikael	1438-1458
Gabriel	1438-1458
Embassy to the Mamlūks to arrange for a new Abuna, two were sent, 1480-1481
Yeshaq	1481-c.1520
Marqos VIII	1481-c.1530
Portuguese presence, rival Metropolitans
John Bermudez, João Bermudes	Catholic, c.1536-c.1545
Endyras	c.1545-?
Andre de Oviedo	Catholic, 1557-1577
Marqos VII?	c.1565
Krestodolos I	c.1590
Petros VI	1599?-1606
Simon	1607-1622, d.1624
Afonzo Mendes	Catholic, 1622-1632
Rezek	c.1634
Marqos IX/VIII?	c.1635-1672
Krestodolos II	c.1640-1672
Sinoda	1672-1687
Marqos IX	1689-?
Abba Mikael	1640-1699
Marqos X	1694-1716
Krestodolos III	c.1718-1745
Yohannese XIV	c.1747-1770
Yosab III	1770-1803
Makarios	c.1808
Kyrillos III	1816-1829
Selama III	1841-1866
Atanasios, Atnatewos II	1868-1876
Petros VII	1876-1889, d.1918
Mattheos X	1889-1926
Abuna Kerlos, Kyrllos, Qerellos IV	1926-1936, 1945-1950
Italian Occupation, 1936-1941
Abuna Abraham	1936-1939
Abuna Yohannis XV	1939-1945
Abuna Basilos, Basil	1948-1951
	Primate, 1951-1959
	Patriarch, 1959-1970
Abuna Tewophilos	1971-1976, executed, 1979
Abuna Tekle Haimanot	1976-1988, imprisoned, 1986
Abuna Merkorios	1988-1991, deposed
Abuna Poulos, Paul	1992-2012
Abune Mathias, Mattias	2013-present

One traditional duty of the Coptic Patriarchs of Alexandria was appointing the Archbishop, Metropolitan, and Primate of Ethiopia, the Abune, Abuna, or Abun (Arabic for "Our Father").

The first such appointee was Frumentius (Abune Selama I Kesatay Birhan), a Syrian who had been living at the Ethiopian court for some time and journeyed to Alexandria in order to ask for a Bishop to be appointed. Traditionally, it is supposed to have been St. Athanasius himself who then appointed Frumentius to the post. However, the known dates of Athanasius (328-373) are a bit late for a traditonal date of Frumentius's trip (c. 305 AD), although all the dating of the period is very uncertain; and we also see a chronology where Frumentius did not journey to Ethiopia until after 316 AD and was not consecrated, by Athanasius, until between 340 and 346, dying around 383.

Given such uncertainties, it is possible that Ethiopia, rather than Armenia, which is often given the credit, was the first officially Christian country in the world. Or it may simply be that Constantine's Rome was, after all, the first Christian country. But Ethiopia, despite its apparent remoteness, is definitely part of the ferment of the times.

The Ethiopian practice of carving churches out of the living volcanic rock produced monuments that are close to unique in the world. There is a fair amount of this done in India, but nothing like it elsewhere in Christendom.

After the advent of Islām, communication between the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria and Ethiopia was unreliable and often interrupted; but in the 12th century, regular appointments were resumed. Also, the See was often vacant at least because of the time necessary to procure an appointment from the Patriarch. I have not indicated these gaps because of their frequency, but they can be inferred once the dating becomes more definite.

It was always an Egyptian Coptic monk who was appointed; and by the 20th century, Ethiopians were beginning to think that maybe it was time for an Ethiopian to be Primate of Ethiopia. Negotiations over this in 1929 still resulted in an Egyptian monk as Archbishop and Primate, the Abuna Kerlos (Kyrllos, Qerellos), but with four Ethiopians concecrated as Bishops. A full transition would be delayed until after World War II.

In the table, Primates appointed under the authority of the Coptic Patriarch are in green. The Abuna Kerlos (Qerellos IV) was deposed by the Italians after he fled to Egypt and denounced the Italian occupation. However, previous to that he had negotiated with the Italians, even in Rome, and many people thought of him as compromised and a collaborator because of this. His successor, appointed by the Italians, Abuna Abraham, was excommunicated by the Coptic Patriarch.

When Haile Selassie returned to Ethiopia he was not accompanied by Kerlos, who remained in exile in Egypt, but by Gebre Giyorgis, who would be consecrated Abuna Basilos in 1948. After Kerlos died in 1950, Basilos became the Primate. In 1959 the Ethiopian Church was reestablished as an autocephalous Patriarchate, although still in communion, of course, with Alexandria.

The next problem for the Church was the dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam. In 1976 the Patriarch was arrested and then executed. The Church was disestablished as the State Religion and, like in the Soviet Union, the government began its propaganda campaign against all religion. A quiet monk, Abba Melaku, was made the new Patriarch, as Abuna Tekle Haimanot, and he ended up resisting the regime as much as he could, with the result that he was well thought of despite his official position. His successor, however, Abuna Merkorios, was deposed once the dictatorship ended in 1991. Unfortunately, this resulted in a schism, with Merkorios founding his own Church in exile, while the new Abuna Poulos (at left) reigned in Ethiopia. With all the political upheaval in the recent history of Ethiopia, it is perhaps surprising that something like this hadn't happened already.

The period of the strongest Portuguese presence in Ethiopia also meant that there were attempts by the Portuguese to convert the country to Catholicism. The result was at least three Portuguese Catholic Primates, either, briefly, in undisputed possession of the See or as rivals to Coptic Primates. As the immediate threat of the Turks began to pass, both the help and the interference of the Portuguese could be rejected.

There has long been a presence of the Ethiopian Church in Jerusalem. This includes a monastery on the actual roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Ethiopian institution is called the Ethiopian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, but there have never been actual Ethiopian Patriarchs in residence.

Another feature of Ethiopian religion is the claim that the Church possesses the actual Ark of the Covenant, which is kept in a small sanctuary in Axum. The traditional story is that the Queen of Sheba took the true Ark from Jerusalem, leaving behind a replica. Menelik I then transferred the Ark to Abyssinia. Because of the problems of chronology and believability that go with this story, some modern writers have helpfully supplied alternative explanations. Reports of Greek historians of a Jewish community at Elephantine Island (Aswan) in Egypt have led to the suggestion that the Priesthood of Jerusalem sent the Ark to them for safekeeping. But Jewish mercenaries then subsequently left for Kush, taking the Ark with them.

I am not clear what is then supposed to have happened, since the account seems to jump directly to keeping the Ark on an island in Lake Ṭana. But the possession of the Ark by the Kings of Kush is one thing, its sudden appearance in the heart of pre-Christian Abyssinia is something else. I sometimes wonder if there is an awareness of the deep historical, cultural, and political differences between Kushite Ethiopia and Abyssinian Ethiopia. Of course, anyone is free to speculate that the Emperor Ezanas fetched the Ark when he invaded and perhaps overthrew Kush around 355 AD, but this adds no more than another speculative element to an entirely speculative fantasy. Since the Ark in Axum has been been inspected by no outsiders, and in fact is closed to all except its particular guardian, there is no way of knowing if it matches Biblical descriptions of the Ark or if it is composed of materials that can be dated to the appropriate era. It is remarkable that such an object is given as much credit as it has by enthusiastic, or credulous, Europeans.

In its long isolation, Ethiopia produced from the old South Arabian alphabet a unique and beautiful syllabary, which is still used to write modern languages like Amharic. This contributed one rich aspect to the island universe of Ethiopian civilization.

Since there are now "afrocentrist" claims current that the Ethiopic alphabet was not based on the old South Arabian alphabet, it is worth comparing the two in the table at right. Not only are many of the letters obviously identical, but Ethiopic even preserves most of the South Arabian alphabetical order, which is distinct from the one that we find in Hebrew, Greek, or Arabic. Ethiopic also made some of the same slight alterations in the ancient letters as Greek, producing recognizable counterparts to lambda, omicron, and theta.

Why it is thought necessary to take something already splendid and extraordinary and trivialize it with exaggerated claims is sad but not surprising, since it is of a piece with many examples of inflated ethnic (in this case racial) self-importance, as I have noted elsewhere in regard to the the Greeks and India. The splendor of Ethiopia in its history, geography, architecture, and language is little enough known as it is, even as its long struggle against ʾIslām is ignored in the assault of Western secularists against Christianity and the sympathy of the Left for Islamic Fascism. Until the world is even aware of the Ethiopic syllabary, strange claims about it only obscure the struggle for that awareness.

Some other features of the book by Verena Krebs are worthy of note. One is that we get a full use of diacritics for the languages here. This is contrary to the attitude we have seen that specialists aleady know this stuff and that a general audience doesn't care, or hasn't the wit, to appreciate it. Truth be told, there just aren't going to be that many specialists in Ethiopian languages to even know what we are looking at. This is not like Arabic or Sanskrit, where a few macrons and underdots are not going to confuse things very much. Instead, Krebs gives us transcriptions that can be quite bewildering.

Thus, we have the Emperor "Ǝskəndər," not unlike the "Eskender" I use above, where all the "e's" are an indefinite vowel, the "schwa." What Krebs doesn't tell us, is that this is the Ethiopic version of the familiar name "Alexander." Similarly, we get "Yəsḥaq," which Krebs doesn't tell us is the Ethiopic version of "Isaac." This sort of thing is not helpful.

But then even "Ǝskəndər" isn't that much a challenge compared to something like "əč̣č̣ägə," እጨግ, which is glossed as the "Title of the administrative head of the Ethiopian Church, second highest cleric of the Ethiopian church after the metropolian or abun" [p.268]. A word like this, dense with obscure diacritics, calls out for a pronunciation guide, in a preface or on a dedicated page. But we don't get one, anymore than we get a list of the Ethiopian Emperors, at least from this era, perhaps with equivalent names, which would have been helpful.

As it happens, č̣ is not on the chart above for the Ethiopic syllabary. This has been added for use in daughter languages, like Amharic, and the basic form of the letter is ጨ, which we do not see in the chart. The International Pronunciation Alphabet (IPA) pronunciation is /tʃʼ/, which is pretty much the "ch" in English. I also might note that doubled ("germinated") consonants in Ethiopic and Amharic are not indicated in the notation. You just must know the word. Also, syllables with a schwa may instead have no vowel ("zero grade"), where you also must just know the word. We see both effects in the name "Ethiopia" in Amharic: ኢትዮጵያ, ʾĪ·t·yō·ṗṗ·yā, where we see two characters with no vowel and one (one of the same ones) with a doubled consonant.

Lacking a pronunciation guide, I might note that the contrast that Krebs uses between ä/a corrsponds to the contrast a/ā in the table given above. This is a little confusing in its own right, since ä is not pronounced as it would be in German, as one might wonder. Instead, ä is /æ/ in the IPA, which is like the "a" in English "bad." At the same time, a in Krebs actually is a long a, IPA /a:/, which we might have thought from the previous usage with a macron, ā. The decision at some point of scholars to use ä would seem to be poorly motivated, as though we are being tempted to use the German pronunciation.

The schwa, /ə/, which is an indefinite vowel common in English, French, and German is simply written "e" in the table above. There is an IPA capital letter version of this, but that is not what Krebs uses. She uses, as we have just seen, a capital reversed letter "e," i.e. Ǝ. This is not, as far I can tell, an IPA symbol, although it is a nice touch. Nevertheless, it is the kind of thing that should be explained in a pronunciation guide.

That would fit in with the definition and principles that come out in the silly arguments over whether the Emperors of Japan, even now, should be called "Emperors" by scholars. Thus, many specialists like the idea that an "empire" always involves the conquest and rule of alien, subject peoples. This seems to fit for the classic picture of the Roman or Chinese Empires, but it doesn't really fit for Japan or even for the Mediaeval Holy Roman or Byzantine Empires. Scholars should be sensible of those difficulties, and not just decide that Japan isn't an "empire," despite the Japanese themselves using the word, and despite the Germans and Byzantines using the Latin word imperium itself. A little nation state like Japan just isn't really an "empire."

What the self-referential and tail-chasing specialists overlook, as I discuss on the Japan page, is the ideology that goes with the use of Imperator in the West and, especially, the Chinese theory of the 皇帝 (Huángdì, "August God"), in China and her cultural heirs, like Japan. And that, most importantly, is universal authority, by which the Roman or Chinese Emperor properly has the authority, called the 天命, Tiānmìng, the "Mandate of Heaven" in China, to rule the whole world, all 天下, Tiānxià, "Under Heaven," for which the Roman equivalent is the Stoic κοσμόπολις, the "world state," of which the Emperor is the κοσμοκράτωρ, Cosmocrator, the "World Ruler." We also get this in India, with the Buddhist theory of the Cakravartin, चक्रवर्तिन्, the "Wheel Turning" monarch, who rules the world. We see the Chinese and Indian ideology come together in the presentation of the Sui Dynasty.

As it happens, Verena Krebs informs us of the Ethiopian ideology that would motivate the appropriate application of "Emperor" to its ruler:

Through their foundational myth, the Kəbrä nägäśt [ክብረ ነገሥት, Glory of the Kings], Solomonic rulers actively propagated themselves as not just the rulers of Christian Ethiopia, but also as first among all kings of the earth. Israelite kings David and Solomon served as archetypes of wise kingship for numerous rulers within medieval Europe. The nägäśt, however, claimed literal and spiritual descent from these biblical kings through Mənilək I, Solomon's oldest son sired upon the Queen of Sheba. [p.215]

Thus, the Ethiopian Kings, ነገሥት, nägäśt (singular, ንጉሥ, nəguś), rank above all other kings, and so rate, as much as anyone, being called "Emperors," as they came to call themselves. They even began using, as I noted above, the expression ንጉሠ ነገሥት, nəguśä nägäśt, "King of Kings," which was the Mesopotamian equivalent of "emperor" before the Roman title existed. Wikipedia says that "Emperor" is an "imprecise" translation; but, of course, this reflects the muddle that attends scholarly confusion about the ideology behind imperial titles. Instead, the Emperors of Ethiopia solicit materials and workmen from Europe to build their churches just as King Solomon solicited the same kinds of help from King Hiram of Tyre in order to build his great Temple.

What is an Empire?

The most intriguing sound, however, is /ɬ/ (written with a "belted l"), which gets defined as a "voiceless alveolar lateral fricative." This doesn't tell us much, until we find out that this is the sound written "ll" in Welsh, which we also find in many places in Navajo phonology, which also has the tɬʼ phoneme. Welsh, however, is probably more famous. With ɬ, the tongue is in the position for an "l," and then one tries to say the English "th" of "thin."

This intrigues me. If we guess that ṣ corresponds to Arabic, ص (ṣād), and ḍ to Arabic ض (ḍād), this reminds me of an argument I saw once that ض was pronounced /ɬ/. Since I also see arguments now that ɬ also occurred early in Hebrew, I would expect it should occur, at least somewhere, in Arabic.

We also might note that the base form of the letter ዐ, which is the same sound as the Arabic ʿayn, and looks like the English letter "O," actually is the letter "O," inherited unchanged from Phoenician, Greek, and Latin, as Ethiopic has inherited it from Phoenican and Old South Arabian. Where it has changed is in Hebrew, becoming ע, ʿayin, and Arabic ع, ʿayn.

The location for Wakanda moves around a bit, although it is generally in the region of Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Lake Victoria, surrounded by other fictional African countries. The director of Black Panther, Ryan Coogler, said that his idea of Wakanda was based on the actual Kingdom of Lesotho. However, there is little about Wakanda to suggest Lesotho, except that it has a King and is surrounded, not by other fictional countries, but by South Africa.

Otherwise, Wakanda is a science fiction conception that is supposed to be so technologically advanced that it can actually conceal its location and existence from the rest of the world. As such, it had always abstained from participation in African affairs or any other international politics or conflicts, or to help the economic development or political maturity of other African countries. At the end of Black Panther, we get the sense that Wakanda will change this policy; but meanwhile we might have wondered what Wakanda was doing all during the "scramble for Africa" and all the conflicts and internal fiascos that emerged after the end of colonialism.

In a number of ways it seems like Wakanda ought to be Ethiopia. Thus, Ethiopia's isolation is easily explained and there are no awkard questions about its inactivity amid all the events around it. At the same time, the culture of Wakanda, made up out of whole cloth, with bits and pieces picked up from other African countries, might seem more than a little insulting to Ethiopia, if not to Africans in general.

What we see in Black Panther might be condemned as a sort of fantasy of African-ness, from people who actually might not know all that much about African history and culture. While Ethiopia has its own ancient language and literature, with splendid illuminated manuscripts, the comic books and movies had to make up their own alphabet to write the language of Wakanda -- supposedly based on pictograms used by a "secret society" in Nigeria. Not secret enough, apparently. On the other hand, Ethiopia was the only literate sub-Saharan African culture, apart from languages, like Swahili, سَوَاحِلِي, that used the Arabic alphabet. One might wonder if the fake Wakandan alphabet now helps conceal the very existence of the Ethiopian languages and literature. Do young American black kids learn the Wakandan alphabet, but not the Ethiopian -- whose appearance is distinctive and immediately recognizeable? Proud of a ficional country but ignorant or any real ones?

Among the bits and pieces, I see that the official languages of Wakanda are supposed to include Hausa, Yoruba, and Xhosa. But the first two are spoken in Nigeria, and the other in South Africa, all of them rather distant from the area around Lake Victoria. Instead, the prevelant second language in East Africa is Swahili. Since Swahili isn't mentioned for Wakanda, I wonder if the writers shied away from it because of the impression of Black Nationalists back in the 60's that Swahili was spoken all over Africa -- awkward for them if they learned Swahili and then traveled to Ghana. So this could be an over-compensation.

Ethiopia would pose challenges to the cultural elite of Hollywood and the American Ruling Class. Thus, Ethiopia is Christian and has spent much of its history fighting off the Arabs, ʾIslām, and the Arab slave trade. None of this would scan well for political correctness. To the Hollywood elite, Christianity is for vicious, ignorant, bigotted yahoos, while the enemy of all goodness is found in European white men, not in Arabs or ʾIslām.

And, as we we all know, the slave trade was created and conducted entirely by white men, or Jews, out of racism, and not by Arabs or Muslims, who have always loved black Africans and treated them kindly -- let alone making males the eunuchs who would be used all over the Muslim world.

While Black Panther does not obviously promote such narratives, it does not contradict them either. Arab slavers, or their memory, do not appear in the movies -- even though the slave trade was endemic in the areas where Wakanda is presumably located -- and even while the chief of the African tribe that Tarzan comes to lead, the Waziri, had been killed by Arab slavers [The Return of Tarzan, 1913, 1915]. So must we admit that Tarzan, of all things, tells us more about African reality than Black Panther?

Religion in Wakanda is also assembled from bits and pieces of other African countries, all the way back, apparently, to Ancient Egypt. Not only is this not Christianity, it would be the sort of polytheism, شِرْك, that would be prohibited, and punishable by death, in Islāmic countries -- like the North of Nigeria or Eritrea, where Muslim terrorists attack even Christians, let alone traditional polytheists and idolaters.

The Wakanda fantasy of African-ness thus maneuvers through a thicket of contemporary political issues, avoiding any awkward history or questions. The result might easily be some resentment on the part of Africans, and particularly Ethiopians.

Kings of Kush (Ethiopia), XXV Dynasty of Egypt

Coptic Patriarchs of Alexandria

Philosophy of Science, Linguistics

Philosophy of History

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