NORTH ETHIOPIA

Who was King Lalibela?

When we think of talking about the king we should also say some thing about the dynasty in which he became a king .In a nut shell the recent history of Ethiopia (which is more than 2500 years long ) , is a history of line of kings who could be categorized in to two main dynasties -the Solomonic and the Zagwe dynasty .

The Solomonic dynasty is a dynasty founded by son of the famous queen of Sheba . They are considered the "rightful" Kings of Ethiopia .But the second, which is the Zagwe dynasty, is believed to be an assembly of "unlawful" line of Kings. And King Lalibela, who owned the vision of "constructing" these marvel, was among them.

Kings from this "Unlawful" dynasty have formulated all kinds of legends to prove themselves to be the rightful rulers of Ethiopia. ( Please don't get me wrong , when I use the words "formulated " and " legends " I do not at all mean the legends were totally false or useless as a historical document to shade light on Ethiopian History. They have always given a clue)

One of their legends is put as follows :

"The queen of Sheba gave birth to Menilik who became the first king of Ethiopia from the Solomonic dynasty. But the hand maid of the queen , too, gave birth to a son whose father was king Solomon , and her son was the ancestor of the Zagwe dynasty ."

" Among the famouse pantings in Ethiopia , are those that depict these versions of the legends of the queen of Sheba .

The Zagwe dynasty had come to power in the 11th century ,one hundred years after Queen Judit , a ferocious woman warrior, who led her tribes up from around the Symien mountains and Lasta regions to destroy Axum , the capital of the ancient Ethiopian empire in the North .( Do not you worry , even if this queen have destroyed many valuable things there are many things to visit in Axum including the monolithic monument . Let me tell you one more news about Axum :- only in the vicinity of Axum there are more than one hundred archeological sites that are still in progress - we expect some thing to come out of this . )

The Zagwe kings ruled until the 13th century, when a famous priest, Teklehaymanot, persuaded them to give back the role of kingship to the descendants of the old Axumite Solomonic dynasty .

However , before the throne of Ethiopia was restored to its rightful rulers , King Lalibela's powerful vision converted the mountain of rock in the vicinity of Lasta , in to extremely admirable designs of architecture.

According to legend lalibela grew up in Roha , where his brother was a king .It was said that bees prophesied his future greatness, and Ethiopian falklore has it that bees in a dream foretell ,greatness,social advance and coming riches.

The King heard of the prophecy and became jealouse and tried to poison him . But poison merely transported lalibela in to a death like sleep for three days. During these three days an angel carried his soul in to a heavenly place of vision where he showed him the blue print of these churches which he was to build .

Returning once more to earth he withdrew in to the wilderness ,and took a wife up on God's command by the name "Meskel Kebre " which means exalted cross ( one among the eleven rock churches is believed to have been constructed by her . )

Taking his wife by his hand ,the legend continues , the would be king flew being guided by an angel to Jerusalem until Christ himself ordered the King in charge to abdicate in favor of Lalibela .

As an anointed king under the throne name Gebre -meskel ( servant of the cross ) Lalibela carried out the construction of these churches .And it is said that because angels worked side by side the entire work was completed with in 24 years time .

Then it came to pass ,as Lalibela conceived it in his heart ,pilgrims to Lalibela shared the same blessings as pilgrims to Jerusalem .