"The 'loci classici' of the blending of the two traditions about 'Queen of the South' and 'Candace Queen of the Ethiopians' are in the 21st and the 33rd chapters of the 'Kebra Negast'. Here the great Sheba cycle is introduced by references to Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:31; and we are then informed that 'the Queen of the South is the queen of Ethiopia.' At this point Bodlein MS. Bruce 93 adds: 'the patrimony and country of birth of this Queen of the South is Aksum [the ancient capital of Abyssinia] for she originates from there.' In chapter 33 the conflation goes so far as to assert: 'Gaza is the city which King Solomon had given to the Queen of Ethiopia; for in the Acts of the Apostles Luke the Evangelist wrote, saying: "He is the governor of the whole country of Gaza, a eunuch of Queen Candace...'....
"Details of the Queen of Sheba cycle legends will be discussed in Chapter III, below, but it ought to be mentioned here that various versions of the Old Testament narrative (1 Kings 10) are likely to have reached Ethiopia already in pre-Christian times. They were no doubt brought into the country by South Arabian immigrants and were subsequently adapted as to contribute in the most effective way to the ennoblement of the Ethiopian nation. With the introduction of Christianity into Ethiopia in the fourth century, a Christian layer was superimposed on the Hebraic-Semitic traditions prevalent at the time. It was thus natural, and even essential, that the national ancestress of the Abyssinian nation, the Queen of Sheba, should come to be associated with 'Candace Queen of the Ethiopians,' the only express mention of Ethiopia in the New Testament."
P.10-11, "Introduction," ETHIOPIA AND THE BIBLE by Edward Ullendorff (Oxford U. Press: 1967)
Saturday, March 7, 2015
ETHIOPIA AND THE BIBLE
"The 'loci classici' of the blending of the two traditions about 'Queen of the South' and 'Candace Queen of the Ethiopians' are in the 21st and the 33rd chapters of the 'Kebra Negast'. Here the great Sheba cycle is introduced by references to Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:31; and we are then informed that 'the Queen of the South is the queen of Ethiopia.' At this point Bodlein MS. Bruce 93 adds: 'the patrimony and country of birth of this Queen of the South is Aksum [the ancient capital of Abyssinia] for she originates from there.' In chapter 33 the conflation goes so far as to assert: 'Gaza is the city which King Solomon had given to the Queen of Ethiopia; for in the Acts of the Apostles Luke the Evangelist wrote, saying: "He is the governor of the whole country of Gaza, a eunuch of Queen Candace...'....
"Details of the Queen of Sheba cycle legends will be discussed in Chapter III, below, but it ought to be mentioned here that various versions of the Old Testament narrative (1 Kings 10) are likely to have reached Ethiopia already in pre-Christian times. They were no doubt brought into the country by South Arabian immigrants and were subsequently adapted as to contribute in the most effective way to the ennoblement of the Ethiopian nation. With the introduction of Christianity into Ethiopia in the fourth century, a Christian layer was superimposed on the Hebraic-Semitic traditions prevalent at the time. It was thus natural, and even essential, that the national ancestress of the Abyssinian nation, the Queen of Sheba, should come to be associated with 'Candace Queen of the Ethiopians,' the only express mention of Ethiopia in the New Testament."
P.10-11, "Introduction," ETHIOPIA AND THE BIBLE by Edward Ullendorff (Oxford U. Press: 1967)
