The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant: The True History of the Tablets of Moses

289 Pages·2006·3.39 MB·English

by  Stuart Munro-Hay

The QUEST for the
ARK
OF THE
COVENANT
As this book was going to press the Publishers received
the sad news ofthe death ofthe author, Stuart Munro-
Hay. It is their hope and expectation that this book will
serve as a fitting tribute to his lifelong dedication to the
study of Ethiopia and its people.
The QUEST for the
A R K
O F T H E
C OV E NA N T
T T H
HE RUE ISTORY
T M
OF THE ABLETS OF OSES
STUART MUNRO-HAY
Published in 2005 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
Website: http://www.ibtauris.com
In the United States and Canada distributed by Palgrave Macmillan,
a division ofSt. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
Copyright © Dr Stuart Munro-Hay, 2005
The right ofStuart Munro-Hay to be identified as the author ofthis work has been assert-
ed by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for briefquotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof,
may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior written permission ofthe publisher.
ISBN 1-85043-668-1
EAN 978-185043-668-3
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library ofCongress
Library ofCongress catalog card: available
Typeset in Ehrhardt by Dexter Haven Associates Ltd, London
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Holy Relic at Aksum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
‘A Ridiculous Fable’?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Unravelling the Web. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1 HISTORICAL OUTLINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 THE GREAT MYTH: SOLOMON AND SHEBA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
The Legend ofthe Heavenly Zion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Makeda, Queen ofSheba. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The ‘Glory ofKings’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3 THE TABOTAND THE ARK: THE MYSTERIOUS ALTARS OF ETHIOPIA . . . . . . . . . 27
Tabotat, Ark and Tablets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Tabot: Confused Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Linked Identities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
‘It is here…’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
A Chapel and its Guardian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Zion at Aksum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Tabotand Grail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4 THE ARK AND THE TABLETS: FROM KING SOLOMON TO QUEEN GUDIT. . . . . . 52
Manuscript Treasures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
A Search Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Nine Saints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
War in Himyar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Dating the Kebra Nagast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
After Kaleb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Queen Gudit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Coptic Memories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Khazar Interlude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
The Ark and the Zagwé Kings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
The Usurpers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
The Ark ofLalibela. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
A Colophon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
TabotofSeyon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Heirs ofSolomon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
The nebura’edYeshaq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
King Yeshaq, Lion ofDavid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Coronation at Aksum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Quest for a Legend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Some Literary Fragments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
European Rumours. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Three Books. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
The Book ofAksum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Ho Preste João das Indias. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
The Conquest ofAbyssinia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Tales ofSolomon and Sheba. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Francisco Alvares. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
The Golden Legend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Saga Za-Ab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
João de Barros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Nicolao Godinho. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5 THE ARK OF ZION: THE COMING OF THE ARK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
The Ark ofthe Covenant at Aksum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Péro Pais. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Manoel de Almeida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Manoel Barradas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Afonso Mendes and Balthasar Telles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
The Flight ofthe Ark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Gadla Marqorewos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
An Arabic Tale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Exotic Embroideries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Emperor Iyasu I and the Ark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Charles-Jacques Poncet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Abba Gorgoreyos and Job Ludolf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Emperor Iyasu II and Remedius Prutky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Foreign Commentaries, 1764–1881 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
An Armenian Visitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
James Bruce and the Kebra Nagast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Father Dimotheos, Gerhard Rohlfs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Epilogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
6 MARY OF ZION: THE DWELLING PLACE OF THE ARK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Maryam Seyon, Aksum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
The Foundation ofMaryam Seyon Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Dedication to Mary ofZion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Mariolatry and the Kebra Nagast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
The Ark at Dabra Makeda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Wanderings ofthe Ark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
7 THE ‘ARK’ AT AKSUM SEYON? CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Royal Propaganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Ethiopia’s Tribulations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Metamorphosis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
The White Stone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Jesuit or Christian Arab?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Survival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Appendix: Selected Documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Chronological Chart: History ofthe Ethiopian Ark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Illustrations
1. The greatest ofthe granite stelae or obelisks at Aksum lying as it fell 13
2. A splendid silver cross from Aksum 30
3. Entrance to the sanctuary in the church ofAbba Pantelewon, near Aksum 32
4. A deacon exhibits a lavishly decorated and interlaced brass processional
cross from the treasury ofMaryam Seyon church 40
5. King Kaleb’s victory over YusufDhu Nuwas, king ofHimyar (photo
courtesy ofDr B. Juel-Jensen) 61
6. A priest exhibits a magnificent processional cross in one ofthe churches
ofLalibela (photo Pamela Taor) 73
7. The treasury ofYohannes IV at Maryam Seyon church, Aksum (photo
Pamela Taor) 145
8. The western terrace and steps at Maryam Seyon church, Aksum,
surmounted by the façade ofChristian Ethiopia’s holiest shrine (photo
Pamela Taor) 154
9. Sunset light falls on the west front ofMaryam Seyon church, Aksum, and
its two flanking towers on the west terrace (photo Pamela Taor) 164
10. A tankwaor papyrus boat like this may have brought the Ark in flight to a
safe haven on Lake Tana, ifEthiopian legends relate the truth (photo
Pamela Taor) 174
Preface and Acknowledgements
The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant completes research I began in 1995
when writing Ethiopia, the Unknown Land, a guidebook to Ethiopia’s historical
sites (published by I.B.Tauris in 2002). To describe fittingly the church
of Maryam Seyon at Aksum, and the adjacent chapel, supposed to house
the Ark of the Covenant, it was crucial to investigate what allusions to the
sacred relic existed in past literature. I summarised the available sources, and
left it at that. I wondered, however, in passing why the object that supposedly
arrived three thousand years ago in Ethiopia had so strangely obscure a
recorded career.
Closer study was possible when I collaborated in writing The Ark of
the Covenant, which Dr Roderick Grierson and I published in 1999. I
concentrated on the Ethiopian material concerning the Ark, which swiftly
outgrew the publisher’s requirements. Information emerged not always
narrowly related to the main theme of The Ark of the Covenant– the book’s
Ethiopian section focused chiefly on the Ark’s contents, the tablets of
Moses, and their transmutation over time into multiple ‘Arks of the
Covenant’. The most intriguing aspects of all, those directly associated with
the Ark in Ethiopia, were left to this present book, The Quest for the Ark of
the Covenant.
It is rare to find a theme so exotically attractive, so rich in the fields it
covers, so challenging and intricate in analysis, that has received so little
attention. For the benefit ofmy Ethiopianist colleagues, and others who require
ix