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Case file s598 · Egypt and Africa · 950 BCE
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950 BCE
De ontmoeting tussen Solomon en Sheba: De betekenis van de Amhaarse tekst: Koningin Azeb en Koning Solomon Koningin Azeb is Sheba
De ontmoeting tussen Solomon en Sheba. Unknown author. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
c. 950 BC (traditional dating of Solomon and Menelik I)
Place
Jerusalem and Aksum, Ethiopia
Field
Royalty, scripture · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
Ethiopian Solomonic succession (Kebra Nagast; 1955 Revised Constitution, Articles 2 and 5)
Historical event
Compilation of the Kebra Nagast (14th century); proclamation of the 1955 Revised Constitution
Egypt and AfricaCrowns and successionAncient worldMiddle EastAfricaEthiopia

Scripture: this account comes from a sacred text. Court and archive records of it do not exist.

The Kebra Nagast says Menelik I, son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, took the Ark to Aksum and that only his male line may rule Ethiopia

The Kebra Nagast says the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon in Jerusalem and bore his son, Menyelek, known as Menelik I. The text says Menelik and the eldest sons of the Jewish notables stole the Tabernacle of Zion, the Ark of the Covenant, and carried it to Ethiopia. It says Ethiopia had a law that only a virgin woman should reign, and that the Queen ended it: "a woman shall nevermore reign." In chapter 87 the nobles swear "that no one except the male seed of DAVID, the son of SOLOMON the King, shall ever reign over ETHIOPIA." Scholars Conti Rossini, Littmann and Cerulli dated the composition to 1314 to 1322. Budge, its 1922 translator, placed an earliest form in the 6th century AD. The text gave the Solomonic emperors a claim to the throne by descent. Haile Selassie wrote that claim into law. Article 2 of the 1955 Revised Constitution attached the Imperial dignity to his line, "whose line descends without interruption from the dynasty of Menelik I, son of the Queen of Ethiopia, the Queen of Sheba, and King Solomon of Jerusalem." Article 5 limited the throne to males born in lawful wedlock, the elder before the younger. The Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Aksum states that it holds the Ark. Only its guardian monk may see it.

What the law took from it

A family history written into a constitution decides who inherits as firmly as a will does.

Record vs. record

Date of composition. Conti Rossini, Littmann and Cerulli: 1314 to 1322 (as quoted by Hubbard 1956, via Budge, 1922 preface: earliest form in the 6th century AD (

Wikipedia (English)Internet Archive
Sources
  1. Internet ArchiveGovernment record
  2. Internet ArchiveGovernment record
  3. research-repository.st-andrews.ac.ukScholarship
  4. neonvagabond.xyzPress
  5. neonvagabond.xyzPress
  6. chilot.wordpress.comPress
  7. PBSPress
  8. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia
  9. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “The Kebra Nagast says Menelik I, son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, took the Ark to Aksum and that only his male line may rule Ethiopia,” story s598, https://www.celebrity.estate/kebra-nagast-950-bc, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Egypt and AfricaCrowns and successionAncient worldMiddle EastAfricaEthiopia