Kebra Nagast: How Did the Ark Reach Ethiopia?

Ethiopia's national epic: the Queen of Sheba, her son by Solomon, and how the Ark of the Covenant flew to Ethiopia.

The Kebra Nagast, "Glory of the Kings," is a 14th-century Ge'ez work. It tells how the Queen of Sheba bore Solomon's son Menelik, and how the Ark of the Covenant was taken to Ethiopia.

The Kebra Nagast, "Glory of the Kings," is a Ge'ez work compiled in the early 14th century, attributed to Yeshaq, a church official of Aksum. It claims to translate an earlier Arabic version, which in turn drew on older Coptic and Christian material. It tells how Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, visited Solomon, bore his son Menelik, and how Menelik later returned to Jerusalem to meet his father.

When Menelik leaves for Ethiopia, the sons of Solomon's nobles who are sent with him steal the Ark of the Covenant, called Zion, from the Temple and replace it with a copy. Menelik learns of the theft on the road and accepts it as God's will. The Ark leaves Israel for good. The chapters on the journey, in Budge's 1922 translation, include one titled "How the Wagon was given to Ethiopia."

The journey is miraculous. The wagons are lifted above the ground and the party covers in a single day a road that should take thirteen. Solomon's pursuit fails. Elsewhere the book gives Solomon a chariot that flies. These scenes are why the text is so often cited by readers who see the Ark as a device rather than a relic.

The book served a clear political purpose. It legitimized the Solomonic dynasty, which took power in 1270, by tracing its kings to Solomon and Menelik, a claim that lasted until Haile Selassie was deposed in 1974. It remains central to Ethiopian Orthodox identity and to Rastafari belief. Budge's English translation made the book widely known in the West.