Who is Menelik I? Guide to the Founder of Ethiopian Kings

Menelik I is the founder of the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopian emperors. According to Ethiopian tradition, he was the son of King Solomon of Israel and Queen Makeda of Ethiopia. As a young man he travelled to Jerusalem to meet his father. He returned to Ethiopia with a company of Israelites and, in the Ethiopian account, brought the Ark of the Covenant with him. From him descends the imperial line that ruled Ethiopia for most of the last thousand years, ending with the deposition of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. His story is preserved most fully in the Kebra Nagast and is one of the foundational narratives of Ethiopian national and religious identity.

Key Takeaways

• Menelik I (also called Bayna-Lehkem in older Ethiopian sources) is the mythological and dynastic founder of the Solomonic line of Ethiopian emperors.
• He is the son of King Solomon of Israel and Queen Makeda of Ethiopia (the queen the Bible calls the Queen of Sheba).
• His name means “son of the wise” (from Ge’ez roots meaning “son of” and referring to Solomon’s wisdom).
• His story is preserved most fully in the Kebra Nagast (“Glory of Kings”), the fourteenth-century Ge’ez Ethiopian text.
• As a young man he travelled to Jerusalem to meet his father Solomon, who wanted him to remain and inherit the throne of Israel; Menelik declined and returned to Ethiopia.
• He returned with a company of Israelites - the firstborn sons of Israel’s priests and nobles - who accompanied him to Ethiopia to serve in his kingdom.
• According to Ethiopian Orthodox tradition, either Menelik himself or Azariah (son of the high priest) stole the Ark of the Covenant from the Temple in Jerusalem and brought it to Ethiopia, where it remains at Axum.
• From Menelik descends the Solomonic dynasty that ruled Ethiopia from the thirteenth century until 1974, when Emperor Haile Selassie I was deposed.

Who is Menelik I?

Menelik I is the founder of the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopian emperors and one of the most consequential figures in Ethiopian national and religious tradition. He is the son of Solomon and Makeda, and the ancestor through whom Ethiopian emperors traced their descent for nearly a thousand years.

Definition - Menelik I

The mythological founder of the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopian emperors. Menelik I is the son of King Solomon of Israel and Queen Makeda of Ethiopia. His name means “son of the wise.” He is said to have brought the Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Ethiopia, where it remains at Axum. His story is preserved in the Kebra Nagast.

His original name in the Kebra Nagast is Bayna-Lehkem or Ebna-Lehkem, meaning “son of the wise” (referring to Solomon’s wisdom). He is later called Menelik, a Ge’ez form of the same meaning. The name Menelik has been carried by many later Ethiopian emperors, most famously Emperor Menelik II (reigned 1889-1913), who consolidated modern Ethiopia and defeated the Italian invasion at the Battle of Adwa in 1896.

Menelik I is not directly attested outside the Ethiopian tradition. His name and story are preserved in the Kebra Nagast and in Ethiopian Orthodox liturgical and cultural tradition. The historical questions about his existence are debated; the religious and cultural claims are matters of active Ethiopian tradition.

Menelik’s birth and childhood

Menelik was born after his mother Makeda returned to Ethiopia from her visit to Jerusalem. According to the Kebra Nagast, she gave birth to him during the return journey. She raised him in her own kingdom without informing him of his father’s identity for many years.

As Menelik grew, he asked repeatedly about his father. Makeda eventually told him: his father was Solomon, king of Israel. She showed him the ring Solomon had given her at their parting. She told Menelik that if he ever went to Jerusalem and presented the ring to Solomon, his father would recognise him.

Menelik determined to travel to Jerusalem. He was, by this point, a young adult of great beauty and evident royal bearing. His mother provided him with an appropriate escort and sent him on the journey. Read the birth of Menelik.

Menelik at Solomon’s court

Menelik arrived at Solomon’s court in Jerusalem. Solomon received him. According to the Kebra Nagast, Solomon recognised Menelik immediately by his physical resemblance to himself - Menelik looked so much like his father that no ring was needed. Solomon embraced him.

Solomon wanted Menelik to remain in Jerusalem. He offered to make Menelik his heir and eventual king of Israel. Menelik declined. His heart was with his mother’s kingdom in Ethiopia. Solomon accepted his decision with regret.

Solomon then anointed Menelik as king of Ethiopia (Ethiopia had previously had queens like Makeda but no formally consecrated king in the Israelite sense). He gave Menelik a group of Israelites to accompany him back to Ethiopia: specifically, the firstborn sons of Israel’s chief priests, nobles, and prominent families. These young men would go with Menelik to serve his new kingdom and to establish Israelite ways in Ethiopia.

The transfer of these young Israelites was, in effect, a religious foundation. They brought with them the ritual practices, the Hebrew language, and the sacred learning of Israel. The tradition holds that this is why Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity retains many practices closer to Judaism than most other Christian traditions - the Sabbath, dietary laws, priestly conduct, and other elements - which are said to descend from this Israelite migration to Ethiopia with Menelik. Read Menelik visits Solomon.

The Ark of the Covenant

The single most consequential act of Menelik’s story is the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Ethiopia.

The Kebra Nagast preserves the account with some ambiguity about who took the initiative. In some readings, Menelik himself decided to take the Ark, feeling that it belonged with him. In others, Azariah - son of the high priest Zadok, and one of the Israelites accompanying Menelik - conceived the plan on his own and executed it without Menelik’s initial knowledge. In either version, the Ark was removed from the Temple in Jerusalem at night and carried out of the city before its absence was discovered.

The travelling company set out for Ethiopia. Solomon, discovering the theft, pursued them with an army. But the Ark was carried by supernatural means - lifted from the ground so that it moved as swiftly as thought. Solomon could not overtake it. The Ark reached Ethiopia with Menelik and his company. Read Menelik’s return to Ethiopia and the Ark of the Covenant brought to Ethiopia.

The Ark was eventually installed at Axum, the ancient capital of the Aksumite kingdom in what is now northern Ethiopia. It remains, according to Ethiopian Orthodox tradition, at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum. Only one man - the Guardian of the Ark, chosen for life from among the Ethiopian Orthodox monks - is permitted to see it.

Menelik’s rule and legacy

Menelik ruled Ethiopia as its first anointed king. Under his rule, according to the tradition, Ethiopia was transformed into a state modelled on Israelite lines, with proper religious institutions, laws, and administrative structures.

From him descends the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopian emperors. Different Ethiopian sources give different genealogies for the intervening centuries, but the tradition holds that every emperor of the historic Solomonic dynasty (which ruled Ethiopia from 1270 CE until 1974) traced direct descent from Menelik and, through him, from Solomon and Makeda.

This claim was enshrined in Ethiopian imperial ideology and, formally, in the Ethiopian constitution of 1955, which named the emperor as the descendant of Solomon and Makeda. The last Solomonic emperor, Haile Selassie I, was deposed by a military coup in 1974 and died in 1975.

The Solomonic tradition also has religious significance beyond Ethiopia. In Rastafarian tradition (which originated in Jamaica in the 1930s), Haile Selassie is considered the direct descendant of Solomon and Makeda through Menelik, and is treated as a divine figure. The Rastafarian understanding draws directly on the Ethiopian tradition of Menelik as founder of the imperial line.

Read the stories

Menelik appears in the Ethiopian tradition. Some entry points:

• The Birth of Menelik
• Menelik Visits Solomon
• Menelik’s Return to Ethiopia
• The Ark of the Covenant Brought to Ethiopia
• Queen Makeda Hears of Solomon
• Makeda and Solomon’s Union
• The Kebra Nagast Royal Origin Story

Menelik is what the Ethiopian tradition kept as the founder of its own kings and, in the tradition’s account, as the reason the Ark of the Covenant is not in Jerusalem but in Ethiopia. His story is not distant literature. It is the foundation of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s specific claim to Israelite descent, of the Solomonic imperial line that ruled Ethiopia for centuries, and of the Rastafarian recognition of the Ethiopian emperor as the descendant of Solomon. The tradition preserves him as the point at which Israel and Africa met, and from which Ethiopia’s specific religious and political identity was established.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Menelik I?

Menelik I is the mythological founder of the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopian emperors. He is the son of King Solomon of Israel and Queen Makeda of Ethiopia. He travelled to Jerusalem to meet his father, was anointed by Solomon as king of Ethiopia, and returned to Ethiopia with a company of Israelites - and, according to Ethiopian tradition, with the Ark of the Covenant.

What does the name Menelik mean?

The name in Ge’ez means “son of the wise” - referring to Solomon’s wisdom. His original name in the Kebra Nagast is Bayna-Lehkem or Ebna-Lehkem, of the same meaning. The name has been used by many later Ethiopian emperors, most famously Emperor Menelik II (1889-1913).

Did Menelik really bring the Ark to Ethiopia?

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church holds that he did, and that the Ark remains at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum. Only one monk - the Guardian of the Ark, chosen for life - is permitted to see it. Other Christian traditions do not accept this claim. The historical question is disputed. The religious claim is central to Ethiopian Orthodox tradition and is an active matter of belief for millions of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians today.

Is Menelik I a historical figure?

The historical evidence for Menelik I outside the Ethiopian tradition is limited. He is not directly attested in the Biblical account of Solomon’s reign, nor in surviving inscriptions or archaeological materials from the tenth century BCE. The Ethiopian tradition treats him as historical. Scholars generally treat him as a legendary founder-figure whose story served to establish the Ethiopian imperial line’s claim to Solomonic descent, without necessarily corresponding to a single historical individual.

Who is Emperor Menelik II?

Emperor Menelik II (reigned 1889-1913) is the most famous historical Ethiopian ruler to bear the name Menelik. He consolidated modern Ethiopia through military and diplomatic action, and famously defeated the Italian invasion at the Battle of Adwa in 1896 - one of the only decisive African victories over a European colonial power in the era. He should not be confused with the mythological Menelik I; his adoption of the name was a deliberate invocation of the Solomonic lineage.

What is the connection to Rastafarianism?

Rastafarian tradition, which originated in Jamaica in the 1930s, considers the last Solomonic emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I (reigned 1930-1974), to be the direct descendant of Solomon and Makeda through Menelik I. In Rastafarian theology, Haile Selassie is often treated as a divine figure, sometimes as the returned Christ. The Rastafarian understanding draws directly on the Ethiopian tradition of Menelik as founder of the Solomonic line.