Kings of Medieval Ethiopia

Gone Medieval

History Hit

History

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Overseeing a rich and diverse kingdom, Ethiopia’s medieval monarchs consolidated their power by claiming descent from the Biblical King Solomon. But why did they pursue long-distance diplomatic contacts with Latin Europe?

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega meets award-winning historian Dr. Verena Krebs, who challenges the conventional narratives of African-European relations, arguing that African exploration of Europe was driven by aesthetic curiosity rather than military ventures.

This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You won't want to miss out on a history hit subscription and we've got the best deal of the year
0:04.6	allowing you to grab one for one pound for three months this November.
0:08.8	There are topics for all history lovers and stacks of original documentaries on the medieval period such as
0:14.1	Princes in the Tower King Arthur a series on medieval pleasures with Eleanor Janiga and
0:19.5	many more your exclusive discount code can be found in the description of this episode. Get
0:26.0	history wherever, whenever, exclusively on history hit. There's an incredibly famous medieval European map of the world called the
0:47.4	Catalan Atlas, which was made sometime in the 1370s or 1380s, and it shows an incredibly detailed view of the world as its
0:55.9	Mayorkan cartographers understood it.
0:59.0	On the fourth panel, you can see the Highlands and Horn of Africa
1:02.8	and get an idea of what they were thinking
1:05.1	about Eastern Africa.
1:07.3	Down at the bottom, you'll see an inscription
1:09.7	demarcating the city of Nubia.
1:12.1	And there it says, the King of Nubia. And there it says, the king of Nubia is always at war with the
1:16.2	Christians of Nubia who are under the Dominion of the Emperor of Ethiopia and
1:20.8	the land of Prester John.
1:23.8	So there you have it.
1:25.1	An African city and kingdom paralleling the relations between Muslims and Christians on
1:29.2	the Iberian Peninsula where the map was made under the guidance of a mythical emperor
1:34.5	Prester John. This is of course wishful thinking at best.
1:38.9	Ethiopia has always been its own complex and fascinating kingdom,
1:42.8	refusing to settle into the easy categories that Europeans want of it.
	...

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