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Reconstructing Zagwe Civilization



Author(s)

Melakneh Mengistu

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DOI:10.17265/2328-2177/2016.11.001

Addis Abnaba University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The Zagwe period is believed to be the richest and most artistic period of Ethiopian civilization since the conversion of Ezana though its achievements have been virtually consigned to obscurity. One of the ideological weapons which aggravated this obscurity is arguably the deep-rooted allegiance of the Kəbrȁ Nȁgȁśt to the Solomonic dynasty. Contemporary researchers on Kəbrȁ Nȁgȁśt seem to have underestimated the ideological onslaught of the Kəbrȁ Nȁgȁśt on the Zagwe period that their contributions to the medieval Ethiopian civilization have been virtually shrouded in mystery. Thus, expatriate and compatriot authorities on the medieval Ethiopian cultural history are called upon to revisit the impacts of the Kəbrȁ Nȁgȁśt on the Zagwe period from the other end of the telescope, thereby, to reconstruct the unsung achievements of Agȁw civilization.

Kəbrȁ Nȁgȁśt Agäw civilization, obscurity, research gaps, historical reconstruction