Saturday, June 26, 2010

What is myth about Ethiopia!

Every nation has myths, superstitions, legends and tales. The national history of most countries in the world however is different from myths and superstitions. The case of Ethiopia seems different. In history classes, from high school to university, the education system teaches mythology. History book were derived from myth . An Habash history Professor at Addis Ababa university teaches myths. No body seems to save the country from these myths. Let me share some of these Ethiopian myths, which are taken as reality in most Habesha Ethiopian minds.
1). Connection to the Legendary queen of Sheba
Queen Sheba is a mystic figure. The Hebrew biblical account indicates there had been a trade relationship between the legendry king Salomon and an unnamed queen from the land of SHEBA. It was not indicated in this account where this land of SHEBA is. The Hebrew biblical text contains songs which some people interpret as a romantic relationship between the two.
In Arab and the Holy Quran, the same queen is referred to as Balqis, and she worshiped sun god and later king Solomon converted her to Islam. (1) The country over which she ruled was however not clear.
Historians trace queen Sheba to the Nile valley civilization, i.e, the Nubian civilization, to which Greek writers referred as Ethiopian. Some historians argue that the ancient Egyptian name Hatshepsut translates as "Queen of Sheba".