Agʿazi is the name of a region of the Aksumite Empire in what consists today of Eastern Tigray and central-south Eritrea.[citation needed]
History
editThe earliest attestation of this name can be found in the determined nisba-form yg'ḏyn in three pre-Aksumite Royal inscriptions: [rb]h/mlkn/sr'n/yg'ḏyn/mkrb/d'mt/web' 'RBH, the victorious king, he of (the tribe?) YG'Ḏ, mukarrib of D'MT and SB' (RIE 8:1-2); lmn/mlkn/sr'n/yg/ḏyn/mkrb/d'mt/wsb'/bn/rbb 'LMN, the victorious king he of (the tribe?) YG'Ḏ, mukarrib of D'MT and SB', son of RBH' (RIE 5 A:1-2, the same formula in RIE 10:1-5).[1] YG'Ḏ seems to be the name of the leading tribe or royal family settled in the region of Akele Guzai.[2]
In the Greek Monumentum Adulitanum (RIE 277), the author (an Aksumite king of the 2nd-3rd century AD) states: Γάζη έθνος έπολέμηα ("I fought the Gaze-people").[3] This people's name has been connected with the term Ge'ez. The Sinaiticus and Laurentianus manuscripts (both 11th century) explain in margin: "Gaze means the Aksumites. Until now they are called Agaze". The reconstruction [ag]āzә[yān] in RIE 264 from Zafār (Yemen) (late 5th-early 6th century AD) has been proposed by Müller, but the fragment is too badly damaged to provide any help as to who could be meant by this name.[4]
Another attestation is found in Abraha's Sabaean dam-inscription CIH 541 from Mārib (dated 543/548 AD), where he calls himself mlkn gzyn ("The Ag'azyan King").[5]
A connection between agāzī and the people Agēzāt, mentioned in two of Ezana's inscriptions seems questionable.[6][2]
An Ethiopian regnal list from 1922 claimed that an "Ag'azyan" dynasty had reigned from 1985 to 982 BC.[7][8] The dynasty was allegedly founded by Sheba, son of the Biblical figure Joktan, and the last ruler of this line was Makeda, the Biblical queen of Sheba.[8] This regnal list, however, is not considered historically accurate and has been treated by historians as little more than a vague notion of historical tradition in Northeast Africa.[9]
References
edit- ^ Sima, Alexander (2003). "Agazi". Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. Vol. 1. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 144–45.
- ^ a b Drewes, Abraham (1956). "Nouvelles inscriptions de l'Éthiopie". Bibliotheca Orientalis. 13: 179–83.
- ^ Robin, Christian (1998). "après la première campagne de fouilles de la mission française" (PDF). Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres: 737–98. doi:10.3406/crai.1998.15906.
- ^ Müller, Walter (1978). "Abessinier und ihre Titel und Namen in vorislamischen súdarbischen Inschriften". Neue Ephemeris für semitische Epigraphik. 3: 159–68.
- ^ "DASI: Digital Archive for the Study of pre-islamic arabian Inscriptions: Epigraph details". dasi.cnr.it. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
- ^ Brakman, Heinzgerd (1994). TO ΠAPA TOIC BAPBAPOIC EPΓON ΘEION (in Greek). Bonn. p. 9.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Kropp, Manfred (2006). "Ein später Schüler des Julius Africanus zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts in Äthiopien". In Wallraf, Martin (ed.). Julius Africanus und die christliche Weltchronistik (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 321f. ISBN 978-3-11-019105-9.
- ^ a b Rey, C. F. (1927). In the Country of the Blue Nile. London: Camelot Press. pp. 265–266.
- ^ Kropp, Manfred (2006). "Ein später Schüler des Julius Africanus zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts in Äthiopien". In Wallraf, Martin (ed.). Julius Africanus und die christliche Weltchronistik (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 315. ISBN 978-3-11-019105-9.