Ezana's Inscriptions - Part 1
Belay Tekalign
I would like to spend some time reciting Ezana's inscriptions in both Ge'ez and Sabaean. So you need to learn Sabaean writing. They are so similar to Ge'ez so you might be able to grasp and read the inscriptions in no time. In Part II I will fetch the inscription in Sabaean and try to read it. Then we will go to Ge'ez with translation. How does that sound? Below is the English translation taken from Munro-Hay book titled Aksum, which was posted yesterday.
"The Sabaean or Sabaic alphabet is one of the south Arabian alphabets. The oldest known inscriptions in this alphabet date from about 500 BC. Its origins are not known, though one theory is that it developed from the Byblos alphabet. The Sabaean alphabet, like Arabic and Hebrew, includes only consonants. Unlike Arabic and Hebrew, Sabaean has no system for vowel indication. In most inscriptions it is written from right to left, in some it is written in boustrophedon style (alternating right to left and left to right). It was used to write Sabaean, an extinct Semitic language spoken in Saba, the biblical Sheba, in southwestern Arabia. The Sabaeans managed to unite southern Arabia into a single state by the 3rd century AD, but were conquered by the Abyssinians in 525 AD. "
By the might of the Lord of Heaven who in the sky and on
earth holds power over all beings, Ezana, son of Ella Amida, Bisi Halen, king of Aksum,
Himyar, Raydan, Saba, Salhin, Tsiyamo, Beja and of Kasu, king of kings, son of Ella
Amida, never defeated by the enemy.
May the might of the Lord of Heaven, who has made me king, who reigns for all eternity,
invincible, cause that no enemy can resist me, that no enemy may follow me!
By the might of the Lord of All I campaigned against the Noba when the Noba peoples
revolted and boasted. `They will not dare to cross the Takaze' said the Noba people.
When they had oppressed the Mangurto, Hasa and Barya peoples, and when the blacks
fought the red people and they broke their word for the second and third times and put
their neighbours to death without mercy, and pillaged our messengers and the envoys
whom I sent to them to admonish them, and they plundered them of what they had
including their lances; when finally, having sent new messengers to whom they did not
wish to listen but replied by refusals, scorn, and evil acts; then I took the field.
I set forth by the might of the Lord of the Land and I fought at the Takaze and the ford
Kemalke. Here I put them to flight, and, not resting, I followed those who fled for twentythree
days during which I killed some everywhere they halted. I made prisoners of others
and took booty from them. At the same time those of my people who were in the field
brought back captives and booty.
At the same time I burnt their villages, both those with walls of stone and those of straw.
My people took their cereals, bronze, iron and copper and overthrew the idols in their
dwellings, as well as their corn and cotton, and threw them themselves into the river Seda
(Blue Nile). Many lost their lives in the river, no-one knows the number. At the same time
my people pierced and sank their boats which carried a crowd of men and women.
And I captured two notables who had come as spies, mounted on camels, by name Yesaka
and Butala, and the chief Angabene. The following nobles were put to death: Danoko,
Dagale, Anako, Haware. The soldiers had wounded Karkara, their priest, and took from
him a necklace of silver and a golden box. Thus five nobles and a priest fell.
I arrived at the Kasu, fought them and took them prisoner at the confluence of the rivers
Seda and Takaze. And the day after my arrival I sent into the field the columns Mahaza,
Hara, Damawa? Falha? and Sera? along the Seda going up to their cities with walls of
stone and of straw; their cities with walls of stone are Alwa and Daro. And my troops
killed and took prisoners and threw them into the water and they returned home safe and
sound after terrifying their enemies and vanquishing them thanks to the power of the
Lord of the Land.
Next, I sent the columns of Halen, Laken? Sabarat, Falha and Sera along the Seda, going
down towards the four towns of straw of the Noba and the town of Negus. The towns of
the Kasu with walls of stone which the Noba had taken were Tabito(?), Fertoti; and the
troops penetrated to the territory of the Red Noba and my peoples returned safe after
taking prisoners and booty, and killing by the might of the Lord of Heaven.
And I erected a throne at the confluence of the rivers Seda and Takaze opposite the town
with walls of stone which rises on this peninsula.
And behold what the Lord of Heaven has given me; prisoners, 214 men, 415 women, total
629; killed, 602 men, 156 women and children, total 758, and adding the prisoners and
killed 1,387. The booty came to 10,560 head of cattle and 51,050 sheep.
And I set up a throne here in Shado by the might of the Lord of Heaven who has helped
me and given me supremacy. May the Lord of Heaven reinforce my reign. And, as he has
now defeated my enemies for me, may he continue to do so wherever I go. As he has now
conquered for me, and has submitted my enemies to me, I wish to reign in justice and
equity, without doing any injustice to my peoples. And I put this throne which I have
raised under the protection of the Lord of Heaven, who has made me king, and that of the
Earth (Meder) which bears it. And if anyone is found to root it up, deface it or displace it,
let him and his race be rooted up and extirpated. They shall be cast out of the country.
And I have raised this throne by the power of the Lord of Heaven.
Christian Inscription of Ezana. Greek. (Anfray, Caquot and Nautin 1970; Judge 1976).
This appears to be the beginning of the Greek version of the above inscription DAE 11. If
these were somehow arranged on a stone throne, the rest may have continued on another
part. On the reverse is the South Arabian script version (below).
In the faith of God and the power of the Father, son and Holy Spirit who saved for me the
kingdom, by the faith of his son Jesus Christ, who has helped me and will always help me.
I Azanas king of the Aksumites, and Himyarites, and Reeidan and of the Sabaeans and of
Sileel and of Khaso and of the Beja and of Tiamo, Bisi Alene, son of Ella Amida servant
of Christ thank the Lord my God, and I am unable to state fully his favours because my
mouth and my mind cannot (embrace) all the favours which he has given me, for he has
given me strength and power and favoured me with a great name through his son in
whom I believed. And he made me the guide of all my kingdom because of my faith in
Christ by his will and in the power of Christ, for he has guided me. And I believe in him
and he became to me a guide. I went out to fight the Noba because there cried out against
them, the Mangartho and Khasa and Atiaditai and Bareotai saying that `the Noba have
ground us down; help us because they have troubled us by killing'. And I left by the
power of Christ the God in whom I have believed and he has guided me and I departed
from Aksum on the eighth day, a Saturday, of the Aksumite month of Magabit having faith
in God and arrived in Mambarya and there I fed my army.