Ge'ez language in the context of "Zagwe dynasty"

Geʽez (/ˈɡiːɛz/ GEE-ez; Ge'ez: ግዕዝ, romanized: Gəʽəz, IPA: [ˈɡɨʕɨz] ) is an abugida used to write several Afro-Asiatic and Nilo-Saharan languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It originated as an abjad (consonantal alphabet) and was first used to write the Geʽez language, now the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Catholic Church, the Ethiopian Catholic Church, and Haymanot Judaism of the Beta Israel Jewish community in Ethiopia. In the languages Amharic and Tigrinya, the script is often called fidäl (ፊደል), meaning "script" or "letter". Under the Unicode Standard and ISO 15924, it is defined as Ge'ez text.

The Geʽez script has been adapted to write other languages, mostly Ethiopian and Eritrean Semitic, particularly Amharic in Ethiopia, and Tigrinya in both Eritrea and Ethiopia. It has also been used to write Sebat Bet and other Gurage languages and at least 20 other languages of Ethiopia. In Eritrea it has traditionally been used for Tigre and just recently for Bilen. The Geʽez script has also recently been used to write Anuak, and used in limited extent to write some other Nilo-Saharan Nilotic languages, including Majang languages. It was also used in the past to write some Omotic languages, including Wolaytta, Bench, Hamer, and Kafa.For the representation of sounds, this article uses a system that is common (though not universal) among linguists who work on Ethiopian Semitic languages. This differs somewhat from the conventions of the International Phonetic Alphabet. See the articles on the individual languages for information on the pronunciation.

Ezana (Ge'ez: ዔዛና, ‘Ezana, unvocalized ዐዘነ ‘zn), (Ancient Greek: Ἠεζάνα, Aezana) was the ruler of the Kingdom of Aksum (320s – c. 360 AD). One of the best-documented rulers of Aksum, Ezana is important as he first adopted for his country the religion of Christianity and the name of Ethiopia. Tradition states that Ezana succeeded his father Ella Amida (Ousanas) as king while still a child; his mother, Sofya, served as regent until he came of age.

The Kebra Nagast (Ge'ez: ክብረ ነገሥት, kəbrä nägäśt), or The Glory of the Kings, is a 14th-century national epic of Ethiopia, written in Geʽez. In its existing form, the text is at least 700 years old and purports to trace the origins of the Solomonic dynasty, a line of Ethiopian Orthodox Christian monarchs who ruled the country until 1974, to the biblical king, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Modern scholarship considers it not to have any historical basis and that its stories were created to legitimize the dynasty's seizure of power in Ethiopia in the 13th century. Nevertheless, many Ethiopian Christians continue to believe it is a historically reliable work.

Until the end of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint (Ge'ez: መሳፍንት masāfint, modern transcription mesāfint, singular መስፍን masfin, modern mesfin, "prince"), the hereditary royal nobility, formed the upper echelon of the ruling class. The Mekwanint (Ge'ez: መኳንንት makʷanint, modern mekʷanint, singular መኰንን makʷanin, modern mekʷanin or Amharic: መኮንን mekonnen, "officer") were the appointed nobles, often of humble birth, who formed the bulk of the aristocracy. Until the 20th century, the most powerful people at court were generally members of the Mekwanint appointed by the monarch, while regionally, the Mesafint enjoyed greater influence and power. Emperor Haile Selassie greatly curtailed the power of the Mesafint to the benefit of the Mekwanint, who by then were essentially coterminous with the Ethiopian government.

The Mekwanint were officials who had been granted specific offices in the Abyssinian government or court. Higher ranks from the title of Ras descending through to Balambaras were also bestowed upon members of the Mekwanint. A member of the Mesafint, however, would traditionally be given precedence over a member of the Mekwanint of the same rank. For example, Ras Mengesha Yohannes, son of Emperor Yohannes IV and thus a member of the Mesafint, would have outranked Ras Alula Engida, who was of humble birth and therefore a member of the Mekwanint, even though their ranks were equal.

The Doctrina Jacobi is a Greek Christian polemical tract set in Carthage and written in Syria Palaestina. The composition of the document is generally dated to 634 or shortly afterwards.

It supposedly records a weeks-long discussion ending on July 13, 634, among Jews who have been forcibly baptized by order of the emperor. One of them, Jacob, has come to believe sincerely in Christianity; he instructs the rest about why they should also sincerely embrace their new faith. Halfway through, a Jewish merchant named Justus arrives and challenges Jacob to a debate. In the end, all of the participants are convinced to embrace Christianity, and Jacob and Justus return east. In addition to several partial Greek manuscripts, the text survives in Latin, Arabic, Ethiopic and Slavonic translations.

The Ethiopian calendar (Amharic: ዐውደ ወር; Ge'ez: ዐውደ ወርኅ; Tigrinya: ዓዉደ ኣዋርሕ), or Geʽez calendar (Geʽez: ዐውደ ወርኅ; Tigrinya: ዓዉደ ኣዋርሕ, Amharic: የኢትዮጲያ ዘመን አቆጣጠር) is the official state civil calendar of Ethiopia and serves as an unofficial customary cultural calendar in Eritrea, and among Ethiopians and Eritreans in the diaspora. It is also an ecclesiastical calendar for Ethiopian Christians and Eritrean Christians belonging to the Orthodox Tewahedo Churches (Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church), Eastern Catholic Churches (Eritrean Catholic Church and Ethiopian Catholic Church), and Protestant Christian P'ent'ay (Ethiopian-Eritrean Evangelical) Churches. The Ethiopian calendar is a solar calendar that has much in common with the Coptic calendar of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Coptic Catholic Church, but like the Julian calendar, it adds a leap day every four years without exception, and begins the year on 11 or 12th of September in the Gregorian calendar (from 1900 to 2099). Its epoch (first day of first year) equates to 29 August 8 AD. The neighbouring Coptic calendar is very similar to the Ethiopian calendar, except that it has a different epoch (29 August, 284 AD) and different names for the days of the week and months of the year.

The Ethiopian calendar has twelve months, all thirty days long, and five or six epagomenal days, which form a thirteenth month. The Ethiopian months begin on the same days as those of the Coptic calendar, but their names are in Geʽez. A sixth epagomenal day is added every four years, without exception, on 29 August of the Julian calendar, six months before the corresponding Julian leap day. Thus, the first day of the Ethiopian calendar year, 1 Mäskäräm, for years between 1900 and 2099 (inclusive), is usually 11 September (Gregorian). It falls on 12 September in years before the Gregorian leap year, however.

Yekuno Amlak (Ge'ez: ይኩኖ አምላክ, romanized: Yəkkuno ˀAmlak); throne name Tesfa Iyasus (ተስፋ ኢየሱስ; died 19 June 1285) was Emperor of Ethiopia, from 1270 to 1285, and the founder of the Solomonic dynasty, which lasted until 1974. He was a ruler from Bete Amhara (in parts of modern-day Wollo and northern Shewa) who became the Emperor of Ethiopia following the defeat of the last Zagwe king.

The emperor of Ethiopia (Ge'ez: ንጉሠ ነገሥት, romanized: nəgusä nägäst, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse (Amharic: ዐፄ, "emperor"), was the hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. The emperor was the head of state and head of government, with ultimate executive, judicial and legislative power in that country. A National Geographic article from 1965 called Imperial Ethiopia "nominally a constitutional monarchy; in fact it was a benevolent autocracy".

Tewodros II (Ge'ez: ዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ, once referred to by the English cognate Theodore; baptized as Kassa, c. 1818 – 13 April 1869) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death in 1868. His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia and brought an end to the decentralized Zemene Mesafint (Era of the Princes).

Although Tewodros II's origins were in the Era of the Princes, his ambitions were not those of the regional nobility. He sought to re-establish a cohesive Ethiopian state and to reform its administration and church.