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Ancient Enduring Ethiopia -
Ancient, enduring EthiopiaThis Noble Land Forgot by Time

Wonderful Ethiopians
the Habesha people still LIVE

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הלוא כבני כשיים אתם
Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me?
[saith the Lord]


primordial traditions persist in the Shemitic middle east


Ancient, Enduring Æthiopia
Black Semites of the Horn and Great Rift Valley
See yeye.olade


Ethiopia ~ the FIRST land

'Burnt Face' People ~ the first Hebrews

This Noble Land Forgot By Time

Æthiopia, as the Greeks and Romans named it, or Kush (or Sheba), as the Hebrew language has it, is the source of the Blue Nile and a part of the original site of the Garden of Eden. Here dwelt the folk called in the Hebrew language "Am Harrar" -- the people of the mountains. According to ancient tradition, the first King of Ethiopia, Menelik, was the founding patriarch of Ethiopia. He was the son of Solomon king of Israel and Judah by the Queen of Sheba, or Ethiopia. By the time of Saint Philip, Ethiopia comprised Tigré in the north and Nubia (southern Sudan), as well the Sabæans (Sheba). Its capital was Aksum or Axum. A dynasty of warrior Queens ruled out of mighty Meroö, with the title of Kandake, or Candace. The conversion of the minister of the treasury of one of these, who himself was clearly a man of learning and a love of Judaism, is told in Acts 8:26

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Ethiopia apparently became, through this encounter, the first nation, as a nation, to convert to Christianity. It was one Frumentius of Tyre, Christian, consecrated bishop by the patriarch of Alexandria, to whom history gives credit (outside what the Bible says about Saint Philip's role) for the conversion of Ethiopia. But the biblical ties to Ethiopia were already long established. Moses was married to an extremely beautiful Ethiopian woman, much to the dismay of his older siblings. Moses perhaps refused to defend himself in the matter, but God, we are told, came to his defense, smiting Aaron and Miriam with leprosy ("When God spat in the face of Miriam").

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Hosarsiph, the Black Prince of Egypt - better known to history by his name Moses, the Hebrew. Freud was certain that Moses was Egyptian, but Édouard Schuré shows him to be none other than Hosarsiph, Prince of Egypt. In those days Ethiopia stretched more northward than today. Then it reached to the first cataract of the Nile, near present Aswan. Nubia was then Upper Egypt ascending the Nile to (what is now Sudan) and into the highlands of (present day) Ethiopia. BBC.Lost Kingdoms of Africa: Nubia. (Ziggu)

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Primordial Enoch the first Prophet and Tribal Geez the first Language. It is quite possible that greater than the creation of Egypt (lower and upper), greater than the birthplace of coffee, perhaps the greatest of all contributions of Ethiopia or Cush is the spiritual one, for it was Enoch the Prophet and Patriarch who led the procession of all future prophets of biblical wisdom. Enoch preceded Abraham, he preceded Moses, he preceded Zion the city of David, the mother of us all. He is called the 7th Sethite patriarch. Yet Enoch taught not a religion, but a spirituality. Moses the Egyptian gave us the mighty Law of God, but Enoch's gift, far simpler, was still more profound. Enoch the patriarch was the prophet of the humblest of all of God's works -- truth (ie, justice). God give us the spirituality of Enoch, the wisdom of Enoch, the authenticity of Enoch, the justice of Enoch.

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Linguistically, the languages of Ethiopia are related to similar languages in the Shemitic-Hamitic-Cushitic family, and Ethiopians believe holy Geez is the original language. The Queen of Sheba, named Makeda (Magda), hearing of the wisdom of Solomon, journeyed to Jerusalem to conference with him (he "gave her all her desire"), and she took back with her not only biblical and Judaic influences, but perhaps even more. The Ethiopian tradition tells us that Menelik is the name of the child born to the Queen of Sheba, a child, sired by Solomon, who later became a great King, founder of the Solomonian line in Ethiopia. See Makeda's education. [A History of the Christian Church in Africa]. Both modern languages of Amharic and Tigrinya are closely related to Ge'ez, the ancient language of Axum (Aksum) still used in the Ethiopian religions inspired by ancient Judaism. Ge'ez is a sacred language, reputedly the oldest language given by God to man.

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But earlier than either Moses or the Queen of Sheba, back into remotest antiquity stands the lofty figure of the Patriarch Enoch, he who fathered Methusaleh, and lived a life of such sanctity and such holy simplicity that Scripture says of him, he walked with God, and then at age 365, he was translated -- ie, "he was not" for God took him. He recorded a testimony which some have found uncanny, in its predictions. The European Church however found reason to declare it uncanonical. Perhaps because of its African origin. The Ethiopic Apocalypse of Enoch, is the oldest of the three pseudepigraphal books attributed to Enoch, the man who apparently did not die, but was taken up to heaven (Gen 5:24). The book was originally written in either Hebrew or Aramaic, perhaps both, but it survives in complete form only in Ethiopic (Ge'ez). More see.

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Idris has been identified as the "Henuch" of the Hebrews, "Orsino" of the Romans, Hermes of thhe Greeks. He is described in the Qur'an as "trustworthy" and "patient" and the Qur'an also says that he was "exalted to a high station." Not only was he a Patriarch, but he was also a prophet as well as a philosopher and mystic. for this reason Islam has regarded him as the "interpreter."

Elsewhere he was called the third prophet, and said to have been the first to write with a pen. The angel Jibril (Gabriel) came to him and revealed fifty books to him. It is said that he was born one hundred years after the death of Prophet Adam and was the first man who learned to write. He was praised as "being blessed with the three graces" -- the three fountains of knowledge: Prophecy, Philosophy, and Science, in particular astronomy, arithmetic, and astrology, in which he was a pupil of Gazimun the Fortunate. He was born in Manaf (Memphis) and was the first prophet of that happy country. (From Jan Knappert, ‎Liesje Knappert, Islamic Legends)

The spread of this archaic form of Torah Judaism has been shrouded in historical obscurity, but speculations naturally focus on early contacts such as that of the Queen of Sheba, and even Bath Sheba, in the story of King David of Bethlehem. Even more intriguing is the fertile soil this ancient Judaism found in the isolated (to us) land of Ethiopia. Ephraim Isaac's investigations indicated that by the time Christianity first appeared there, "half of the population was Jewish and ... most of them converted to Christianity." (see Rodney Stark, page 70) Art from interior of ancient churches

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Throughout history, the destinies of Ethiopia and Egypt, linked by Nubia and the Nile, have intertwined. Coptic is almost unique among written languages, because it employs Greek characters (with additions) in writing an Egyptian language. In fact, Coptic has been called "colloquial Egyptian." By the end of the 3rd century, a tradition of the New Testament in Coptic was fairly widespread. Coptic manuscripts exist in seven different dialects, although two of these dialects Sahidic and Bohairic are considered "major" dialects for the purpose of NT study. Sahidic Coptic is an older dialect and is often referred to as "classical" Coptic; Bohairic Coptic was more widespread in the Coptic Church and was the language of the Upper Nile delta.

Shemitic Sacred Writings were not European or Caucasian, they were Shemitic-Hamitic-Cushitic and came from the area of the Red Sea, the Nile, and perhaps the Highlands of Ethiopia.

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Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire

Nubia: was the medieval name for the land of Kush/Aithiopia, which from the sixth to the fifteenth centuries AD was occupied first by three and then by two competing Christian kingdoms. Nubians were much darker skinned than the Egyptians, so the Greeks called them Aithiopes ("Burnt-Faced Ones"), and their land, they called Aithiopia ("Land of the Burnt Faces"). More on the burnt faced ones

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Homer, Herodotus, Pliny, Diodorus, and other classical writers repeatedly praised the Ethiopians. "The annals of all the great early nations of Asia Minor are full of them," writes Lady Flora Louisa Lugard. "The Mosaic records allude to them frequently; but while they are described as the most powerful, the most just, and the most beautiful of the human race, they are constantly spoken of as black, and there seems to be no other conclusion to be drawn, than that at that remote period of history the leading race of the Western World was a black race. [Lerone Bennett]


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The Ethiopians claimed to be the spiritual fathers of Egyptian civilization. Diodorus Siculus, the Greek historian who wrote in the first century BC, said
"The Ethiopians conceived themselves to be of greater antiquity than any other nation, and it is probable that, born under the sun's path, its warmth may have ripened them earlier than other men. They supposed themselves to be the inventors of worship, of festivals, of solemn assemblies, of sacrifice, and every religious practice."
Even older Greek myths clearly state that the first "Greeks" were Egyptians, who had colonised the Greek isles and mainland. Diodorus Siculus wrote that Kekrops originated from Egypt and founded Athens as a colony of the Egyptian town of Sais. The goddess Athena was in truth the Egyptian Neith, matron of the city of Sais. Two Greek families, the Eumolpidae and the Ceryces, were said to descend from Egyptian priests. The two families were tasked with the rituals of the goddess Athena. They stated: "and their offerings and their old ceremonies were practiced by the people of Athens in the same manner as it was held with the ancient Egyptians. [These two families] are the only Greeks who swear to Isis and they resemble both facially and in mannerisms the Egyptians."

Currently out of print is John G. Jackson's work Ethiopia and the Origin of Civilization. (1939). See more

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According to Count C.F. Volney, Civilization originated along the Nile: It was the Ethiopians who were "the first who invented the science of the stars, and gave names to the planets, not at random and without meaning, but descriptive of the qualities which they conceived them to possess; and it was from them that this art passed, still in an imperfect state, to the Egyptians ... The first learned nation was a nation of Blacks; for it is incontrovertible, that, by the term Ethiopians, the ancients meant to represent a people of black complexion, thick lips, and woolly hair." See Nubia Blessed be peacemakers - Anwar Sadat

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One sidelight of Nile history is the obscure matter of Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus fleeing first to Egypt to escape from Herod, and finally up the Nile to Lake Tana (present day Ethiopia) Sacred Lake Tana. Abba Gebra Miryam explained to Paul Raffaele: "The baby Jesus and Mary spent ten days here during their long exile from Israel." It was after King Herod ordered the death of all boys under the age of 2 in Bethlehem. Matthew's gospel's recounts the nativity of Jesus, wherein the magi visit Herod the Great to ask where to find the anointed one. Herod tells them Jesus is in Bethlehem, and then later orders the Massacre of the Innocents (the male children of Bethlehem). More details on Herod the Great come from the respected Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. (Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XIV)

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Lake Tana is an inland sea: it is the source of the Blue Nile. There, is the island of Tana Kirkos (Tana Qirqos), sheltering what in Coptic language is known as Tabota Seyen, or the Ark of Zion. Deeply immersed in a Hebraic aura, memory of archaic Judaism persists, as apparently it did in the days that Herod's massacre of the innocents was occurring in Roman Palestine. This remote Island then sheltered the Holy Family briefly. Andrew Wearring told Raffaele that like its former parent institution the Orthodox Coptic Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox faith holds that the family spent four years in western Egypt , Wearring said, in the Nile Valley and the Nile Delta, before returning home. But western Egypt is over 1,000 miles northwest of Lake Tana. Could Jesus, Mary and Joseph have traveled to Tana Kirkos? The Ethiopians have not the slightest doubt that they did.

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Orthodox Christianity became the established church of the Ethiopian Axumite Kingdom under king Ezana in the 4th century through the efforts of a Syrian Greek named Frumentius, known in Ethiopia as Abba Selama, Kesaté Birhan ("Father of Peace, Revealer of Light"). Because of this circumstance, the Ethiopians have earned themselves the distinction of claiming to be the first nation, as a nation, to convert to Christianity. Here is a "you tube" of religious art from the ancient churches of Ethiopian orthodox Christianity, and includes an an of Mother.Mary (the Theotokos) whipping the boy Jesus, with the caption Mary whipping boy Jesus for being bad. you.tube clip

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The Falashas, or Beta Israel (the preferred term), were Mosaic-observant Jews (no knowledge of the Talmud or later Judaism) living in the region north of Tana lake, the source of the Blue Nile. The Solomonian line, said to have been restored around 1270 AD, sparked a literary revival, with many works written in the fields of scholarship dear to Ethiopian savants : hagiology, biblical exegesis (based upon the Geez translation of the Septuagint), history and annals. Other arts, including illumination and church architecture, flourished. In modern times, Jacques Faitlovitch labored for many years to end "Falasha" isolation, and to ease the way for eventual re-integration with world Judaism.

Moses the Ethiopian
Hosarsiph
His name was Hosarsiph

When Moses appeared on the scene, Egypt's supremacy was paramount. Herman Wouk writes: Egypt was then the glory of Mediterranean civilization, the Rome or America of its day, brilliant in arts and sciences, formidable in war. Its architecture and sculpture have in some respects never been surpassed. Its government was an unchanging tyranny of Pharaohs, bureaus, and priests. Its religion, like all religion of the day, was a foul tangle of idolatry. The rites were obscene, the myths childish, the gods weird half-human, half-bestial monsters. An obsession with death and magic ruled the land.

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W.E.B. DuBois writes: "Color was never a badge of slavery in the ancient or medieval world, nor has it been in the modern world outside of Christian states. Homer sings of a black man, a "reverend herald"

Of visage solemn, sad, but sable hue,
Short, woolly curls, o'erfleeced his bending head, . . .
Eurybiates, in whose large soul alone,
Ulysses viewed an image of his own.
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In the Middle Ages, reports of a great Christian monarch in a remote country excited the belief in Europe that Ethiopia (ie, Abyssinia) was the land of the wonderful Prester John. In Orlando Furioso (Book 17), he is called by his subjects Senapus, King of Ethiopia. He was blind. He was the richest monarch in the world, and is said to have sent 100,000 Nubians to the aid of Charlemagne. They were transported to France on horses magically provided by Astolpho. European legends of the time could not get enough of this exotic story, though details varied.

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But while the West was speculating, deep in Ethiopia itself a literate Christian tradition carried on through the ages, undisturbed by (and largely unknown to) Euro-Christianity. During Europe's "Dark Ages" a light of literacy continued to shine within Ethiopian Christianity. Ewostatewos an Ethiopian monk, taught the Christians the double Sabbath, both Jewish and Christian, After all, our scriptures themselves embrace this dual heritage. Ewostatewos (Ge'ez ኤዎስጣቴዎስ) was a forceful advocate for the Ethiopian form of observing the Sabbath. His birthday is July 15 (my own birthday) but 1273. (for more)

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The Jewish presence persisted through the eons of time in east Africa. Steven Kaplan writes that the name of Prester John first appears in 1145 in a German chronicle describing him as a pious Christian king reigning in the far east. During different periods his kingdom was identified with India, China, Central Asia, and, particularly in later years, with Ethiopia. From about 1165 onward letters began to circulate that purported to be copies of Prester John's correspondence with various Christian European leaders.
See Steven Kaplan The Beta Israel (Falasha) in Ethiopia: From Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century
Anti-Ethiopian Racism rampant in Israel (Black Jews Targeted)

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Modern history has witnessed violent strife and recurring civil wars in Ethiopia and the horn of Africa. At times, Moslem invaders sought to wipe out ancient Coptic Christianity. Another time, European missionaries, notably one Pedro Paez got the emperor to try to impose European Christianity, which rankled the Am Harrar, people of the mountains. The place of Fasilidas in Ethiopia's history is assured due to his successful re-establishment of the ancient Ethiopian church beloved by the populace.

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In the twentieth century (1916), Judith or Zauditu, a daughter of the Solomonic line of central Ethiopia (Shoa) reclaimed her country for the Amharic tribe after a period of Muslim power. Her cousin Ras Tafari Mahonnen, also of the House Royal, became regent for Judith. When she died in 1930, Ras Tafari ascended the throne to become emperor, taking as his name Haile Selassie.

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When Ras Tafari ascended the throne becoming Haile Selassie, he was the scion of a the 3,000-year-old Ethiopian monarchy stretching back into Biblical times. Yet scarcely six years into his reign, his peaceable nation was invaded by bullies with whom they had no quarrel, and their unprovoked act signaled the great conflict later to be known as World War II. Ras Tafari came to the League of Nations, appealing in the name of ancient morality and justice for help against the Fascist invaders, and their ally (Hitler). The world, no doubt fearful of Hitler's military power, spurned Selassie's plea. Yet his words were prophetic. Everything Selassie said with regard to the rape of Ethiopia, soon came to pass in one continent after another as the Axis, inspired with the mad genius of Hitler's lust, ravaged the world.
June 1936 : please help my country now, or it could be you, next

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Isolated in their mountain realm, this noble ancient people has scarce asked for either help or favor from the rest of the world. Yet to them we owe whatever we have to give. Modern linguists identify their languages as belonging to the great language family called Hamitic-Cushitic-Shemitic. Their Amharic and Himyaritic languages are off-branches of the language of Abraham, and related to ancient Egyptian, as well as the Arabic of the Quran.

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Not so hidden habesha now unveiled facebook

12 tribes of israel
Twelve Tribes of Israel


Enoch the Ethiopian
Lost Prophet of the Bible
Greater Than Abraham, Holier Than Moses


The Books of Enoch the Ethiopian

Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire

Hero with 1,000 faces
Cover-girl : Liya Kebede
Cradle of Mankind: Hadar
Knights of Imhotep Library
Beta Israel ~ the Black Jews
Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe Coffee
Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia
Liya Kebede ~ hot fashion model
Intriguing Ethiopic Book of Enoch
Thalia Gur-Klein : sexual hospitality
BBC reverie of the Black God worship
Shemitic NABI ~ Moses and Muhammad
Enoch scriptures discovered in Coptic
Ark of the Covenant ~ in Axum Ethiopia
Love is a rainbow ~ just a hopeful story
Timeless treasures - the great rift valley
Back when interracial love was a scandal
One Jewish Voice ~ joys of a large family
Habesha Night Life in stylish Addis Ababa
"Falasha" (links) the Black Jews of Ethiopia
How world literature has viewed Ethiopia
West African Judaism ~ in Nigerian Igboland
The Lemba ~ African Jews in Swahili land
Mingle City: Beta Israel and the Black Jews
Beth Shalom Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation
Ethiopia the birthplace of coffee (KAFFA BUNA)
Mt Sinai in Arabia (Jebel el Lawz) Galatians 4:25
"Death is defeated" : Claremont Coptic Encylopedia
Loving black people - world redemption now (one-love)
making the world a better place - one step at a time

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