"Heroes": Principles of African Greatness Part 3— Ethiopia—Divine Endurance

One of two series that focus exclusively on artworks and histories from a single African country, this group brings many of the central Heroes motifs together, focusing their shared and overlapping histories in one place. 

All four of the works in this section also belong to one, broad art historical genre—narrative painting, born in a devotional setting. To that end, they also provide a visual narrative of gradual change, within an overall context of continuity. Together, these four artists continue Ethiopia’s long tradition of hand(s) stretched unto God—in this case, with pigments in the other.

Christianity is deep into its second millennium as an African religion. 

Ethiopia is home to followers of all three major monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Indeed, Ethiopia’s Coptic Church (c. 331–340) predates Rome (380) as a Christian state religion. 

This masterful 17th-century icon is a highly charged devotional work, depicting multiple moments in the life of Jesus and the Holy Family. 

The artist, working in what is known as the Early Gondarene style, situates these figures in a world of Ethiopian visual references. 

From the point of view of a devout Orthodox viewer of this work, the artist is clearly rendering Jesus and the Holy Family as heroes in their own rights.

An object of veneration and devotion, this icon partook in Ethiopia’s long, ongoing history of pious participation in the Christian world. 

Over the millennia in which Christianity developed as an Ethiopian faith practice, it provided not only a means of connection to the outside world, but also a deep reservoir of moral and cultural confidence...

...a strength demonstrated in the country’s openness to nine immigrant refugees in the 4th century.

· Driven out of Byzantine provinces (including Syria, Constantinople, Anatolia, and Rome) following a series of doctrinal conflicts, these missionaries were welcomed by King Ella Amida into the kingdom of Aksum in northern Ethiopia.

· The Nine Saints established a number of monasteries throughout Aksum, winning converts to the Christian faith broadly. The Garima Gospels, said to have been written by Abba Garima, are now considered to be the world’s oldest extant Christian illuminated manuscripts. 

· King Ella Amida’s son and successor, King Ezana, was baptized and established the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as the kingdom’s state religion. 

Through her example, she birthed a dynasty—and a legend.

As a young adult, her son Menelik returned to Jerusalem to meet his father. 

Upon coming home, Menelik founded Ethiopia’s Solomonic dynasty (through which descent was traced until Emperor Haile Selassie’s abdication in 1974) and is credited with bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia. 

Scenes from the Kebra Nagast—and, in particular, from the life of the Queen of Sheba—became one of the most important and widely reproduced sets of images as painters in mid-20th century Ethiopia began to adapt to new markets for their work. 

Afewerq Mengesha, who worked for the Ethiopian Tourist Trading Corporation, was one of the most inventive and distinctive artists working in this market. His distinctive style of figures with enlarged eyes and digits is immediately recognizable. 

. . . And this Queen of the South was very beautiful in face, and her stature was superb. Her understanding and intelligence, which God had given her, were of such high character that she went to Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of Solomon. This was done by the Will of God and it was His good pleasure. Moreover, she was exceedingly rich, for God had given her glory, and riches . . .
—Description of the Queen of Sheba in the Kebra Nagast

· While recorded in many of the sacred texts of the region, basic facts about the life of this remarkable woman remain unresolved. 

· Accounts describing the Queen of the South, or the Queen of Sheba, may refer to Bilqīs, a queen of the Sabaean kingdom of D’mt (modern Eritrea and northern Ethiopia).


· Trading regularly with Israel, the queen learned of King Solomon’s fabled knowledge and traveled to Jerusalem to see him. 

· While in Israel, she bore a son, Menelik, by King Solomon. As a young adult, Menelik returned to Jerusalem to meet his father. 

 · Upon coming home, Menelik founded Ethiopia’s Solomonic dynasty (through which descent was traced until Emperor Emperor Haile Selassie’s abdication in 1974) and is credited with bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia.

As morning rose to noon that day, Ethiopian forces under Emperor Menelik II defeated an invading Italian army at the Battle of Adwa. In so doing, they prevented the imposition of colonial rule. Adwa became a ringing symbol of resistance to colonial oppression across Africa and its diaspora.

Solomon Belachew—an artist renowned for depicting religious scenes—captured the ferocity of battle in his painting through the use of opposing diagonal lines, suggesting action between the two opposing sides...

...and decapitated Italian soldiers.

Consistent with artistic conventions governing Ethiopian religious painting, the unidentified artist of the second version of the scene depicts the righteous Ethiopians as full-faced figures...

...while the forces of evil (the Italians, in this case) are shown largely in profile. 

Because the Battle of Adwa fell on March 1, St. George’s Day, the popular saint is depicted astride a horse and ready for battle as he descends from the sky. 

Paintings of the Battle of Adwa remain popular diplomatic gifts that the Ethiopian government has presented to visiting dignitaries and foreign diplomats stationed in the country. The message seems clear: “we remain unbowed.”

· Crowned ruler of the constituent kingdom of Shewa, Menelik claimed descent from the union of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Outmaneuvering rivals, he received the imperial crown on Nov. 3, 1889. 


· Menelik decisively rejected an Italian attempt to establish a protectorate over Ethiopia in 1893 and repelled Italy’s military invasion at Adwa in 1896.

· Menelik expanded and consolidated the borders of the Ethiopian state, suppressed the slave trade, established new ministries, built a new imperial capital—Addis Ababa—and introduced a series of new technologies, including the railway, electricity, telephones, automobiles, and indoor plumbing.