Ancient Civilizations: Ethiopia

ZAGWE DYNASTY

After the fall of the Axumite kingdom there was no single ruling people for hundreds of years. Ethiopia was divided into regions, which were each ruled by their own king. Zagwe soon replaced Aksum, a kingdom the prospered due to foreign trade.

The Zagwe dynasty was established in the more fertile and productive regions in the south. The capital was Adafa, a town near Lalibala. A chief called Marara founded this new dynasty which extended from Tegray to Lasta. Unfortunately this period of Ethiopia history is very obscure due to the fact that there was no existence of foreign trade, so there were no datable articles. They never had any need to mint coins, did not write any chronicles or any inscriptions.

The Zagwe dynasty was most remembered for their grand churches. These included Yemrahan Krestos, Lalibala, and Na'akweto La'ab. Their legends "gadl" live on but they are not exceedingly accurate because they were written so long after. Also those of the succeeding Solomonic dynasty wrote badly of them believing that the Zagwes had seized the power of the Axumites.

The Zagwes most important contribution were their stately and imposing churches. The grandson of Marara, Yemrahan Krestos was the first to build a church. It was built close to Lalibala in a town called Lasta. He erected a cave church that was built not carved like those of Lalibala. This church was 42 feet long and was situated within a rather large cave. 1     2