Matrifocal Retentions in Ethiopian Orthodox Traditions: The Madonna as Ark & Queen Makeda as Prefiguration of Mary; with Egyptian Queen Tiye & Pharaoh Hatshepsut as reference

ABSTRACT

This article examines one of the most fascinating dynamics within the foundation story of Ethiopia’s Royal Solomonic Dynasty, the Kebra Nagast (Glory of Kings), the metaphor that connects Mother Mary with the biblical Ark of the Covenant. Throughout the Kebra Nagast, it is written that just as the Ark served as the vehicle by which the Ten Commandments of the Law were given unto humanity, so too would Mary serve as the perfected and purified vehicle for Christ.

The prominence of women such as Mary and Queen Makeda (the Queen of Sheba) in the theology and polity of Ethiopia is indicative of African traditions that have been described as matriarchal, matrilineal, dual-sex and matrifocal. These traditions explain the prominence of Mary and Makeda within Ethiopian Orthodox traditions, as an African matrifocality reaching from the Old to the New Testaments, with Queen Makeda serving as a prefiguration of Mother Mary.

This matrifocality is informed by pre-Axumite archeological finds of female statues in northern Ethiopia, and the historical reigns of Egyptian Queen Mother Tiye, and the Lady Pharaoh Hatshepsut. This represents a retention of women-centered African values within Ethiopian Orthodox traditions. Values once prominent and shared throughout the Nile Valley.

KEYWORDS:

• Matrifocality
• African matriarchy
• Mother Mary
• Ark of the Covenant
• Queen Makeda
• Queen of Sheba
• Black Madonna
• Ethiopia
• Axum
• Yeha & Hawelti
• patriarchy & colonialism
• Nile Valley
• Ancient Egypt
• Khemet
• Queen Tiye
• Pharaoh Hatshepsut
• Punt
• Ethiopian Christianity
• the Kebra Nagast (Glory of Kings)

One of the most fascinating dynamics within the foundation story of Ethiopia’s Royal Solomonic Dynasty, the Kebra Nagast (Glory of Kings), is the recurrent metaphor that ties Holy Mother Mary to the Ark of the Covenant. Throughout the Kebra Nagast, it is described that just as the Ark served as the vehicle by which the precious Ten Commandments of the Law were given unto humanity as a sign of the Old Covenant, so too would Mary serve as the perfected and purified vehicle by which the New Covenant would be revealed through Christ. This indicates a unique prominence of the divine feminine within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church relative to Christendom. The prominence of women such as Queen Makeda (a.k.a. the Queen of Sheba in biblical traditions, and Bilkis in qur’anic traditions), and of Mother Mary in the theology and ideology of Ethiopia is indicative of African traditions that have variously been described as matriarchal, matrilineal, dual-sex, etc. (see Figure 1). The term matrifocal is intended to convey a family, community and nation oriented towards its mother/ sister relationship, it is also intended to serve as a negotiated term for the more widely used nomenclature, matriarchal or matrilineal. While the concepts of matriarchy or a matrilineal line of descent evoke strong senses of either political rule by women, or of succession and inheritance, matrifocality allows us to focus upon an African social construct that is oriented around the roll of the mother. This matrifocality explains the prominence of ‘The Queen of the South’ and Mother Mary within the Orthodox Faith. With the traditions of Mary and Makeda so central to Ethiopia’s Orthodox Theology and the nation’s political identity, we eventually recognize Queen Makeda as the Old Testament prefiguration of Mother Mary.

Figure 1. An illuminated manuscript depicting Mother Mary from the Ge’ez manuscript collection at the Monastery of Debra Laganos in Axum, Ethiopia.¹

This matrifocality, as we see in Ethiopian Orthodox literary traditions, is further informed by the classical archeological remains found in northern Ethiopia at Yeha, Hawelti and ‘Addi Galamo.² Archeologically, the earliest human representations discovered at the foundation of Ethiopia’s early kingdoms resting in the regions of Yeha and Punt in particular, are representations of women, typically of a regal poise. This feminine prominence remains, despite the patriarchal distortions of colonialism as seen in the scholarship of Wallis Budge and Carlo Rossini, among other Western scholars. Furthermore, though the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is clearly a patriarchal institution, it still preserves these matrifocal cultural currents which are exhibited to varying degrees in indigenous traditions, institutions and cultures throughout the continent.

This African mother-centered dynamic can also be observed more broadly in the Nile Valley Civilization of Khemet (Ancient Egypt) as exhibited by the prominence of Queen Mother Tiye c. 1390 bce who would guide the rule of three kings, and the Lady Pharaoh Hatshepsut c. 1470 bce and her trade expedition to Punt. Scholars such as Cheikh Anta Diop and Ifi Amadiume help to shed light upon this ‘unique’ African gender dynamic, while we also consider millennia of documented cultural and material trade between Khemet and the Land of Punt, which rests in the region of today’s Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen. This illustrates a deeply rooted matrifocality connecting Nile Valley Civilizations in a habit of constructing mother/ sister-centered societies, that have been preserved to varying degrees until today.

This article serves as a preliminary investigation into the robust literary and verbal accounts of women who influenced their nations and ruled in complement with men, which future investigation will continue to unveil. The guiding methodology for this study is necessarily interdisciplinary, as much of Africa’s historical record whether literary, verbal or archeological, has endured centuries of fragmentation, if not wanton distortion. Therefore, we must harmonize the resources available in various fields, to reconstruct Africa’s profound historical legacy. As Diop explains:

The general problem confronting African history is this: how to reorganize effectively, through meaningful research, all of the fragments of the past into a single ancient epoch, a common origin which will reestablish African continuity… If the ancients were not victims of mirage, it should be easy enough to draw upon another series of arguments and proofs for the union of the history of Ethiopian and Egyptian societies with the rest of Africa. Thus combined, these histories would lead to a properly patterned past in which it would be seen that (ancient) Ghana rose in the interior of West Africa of the continent at the moment of Egyptian decline, just as the Western European empires, were born with the decline of Rome. (Diop, 1991, p. xviii)

Thus, we find Ethiopian-Eritrean civilizations harkening back to the ancient days of Punt c. 2700 bce, until the times of Yeha c. 1000–c. 400 bce, and rejuvenated during the classical days of Axum c. 400 bce–c. 1000 ce, born just as Dynastic Khemet was in decline. During these ancient-turned-classical epochs, the region’s matrifocality remains discernably rooted in African tradition.

The Queen of the South, Mother Mary & the Ark

The Kebra Nagast (Glory of Kings) recounts the journey of the Queen of Sheba to Jerusalem, to test the renowned wisdom of King Solomon. According to this tradition, during the 10^th century bce, rumor reached the Queen of Ethiopia regarding a king in Jerusalem who was building the Temple of God, and was organizing his kingdom accordingly. Upon hearing about the wonders of his kingdom, the Holy Spirit fell upon Queen Makeda and inspired her to make the arduous journey to Jerusalem in order to test the king’s wisdom. When she eventually arrived in the Holy Land with her retinue bearing gifts, she was warmly welcomed by King Solomon and his court. After touring the city, the Temple and being invited to spend more time in Jerusalem, Makeda and her courtiers were lavished with nightly banquets. One particular evening, Makeda and Solomon found themselves alone, they embraced, and became well known to each other… When Makeda eventually returned to Ethiopia, she was to bear Solomon’s first born son, Menyelek I, founder of Ethiopia’s Royal Solomonic Dynasty (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Folk Art of the Beta Israel (Jewish Ethiopians) depicting Queen Makeda and King Solomon lying together…

Once Menyelek reached manhood he would follow in his mother’s footsteps, and journey to Jerusalem to meet his father and see the wonders of his kingdom. Upon his arrival, Solomon immediately recognized Menyelek, honored him as his firstborn son and heir to his throne. Solomon showed Menyelek the marvels of his kingdom and the Temple of God, invited him to make Jerusalem his home and to serve as his heir apparent. Though honored by the offer, Menyelek felt compelled to returned to Ethiopia. Given that his son’s mind was made up, Solomon ordered all the firstborn sons of the officials in the royal court to join Menyelek’s return, where they would serve to establish the Kingdom of God in Ethiopia. As they were preparing for their journey, the eldest son of the High Priest suggested inviting the Ark of the Covenant, resting in the Temple’s sanctuary, to return to Ethiopia with them. For Lady Zion, or the Ark of the Covenant, only goes where she so desires. Acting upon this advice, when Menyelek and the firstborn sons of Jerusalem’s court reached Ethiopia, they returned with the Ark, containing the Ten Commandments of the Law. This Old Testament tradition rests at the heart of Ethiopia’s Jewish and Orthodox Christian faiths. Even today, the Orthodox Church maintains a stunning and well attested degree of Hebraic retentions in its ritual and theology harkening back to the days of the Old Testament (Bekerie, 1997, p. 22; Isaac, 2013, p. 27; Pankhurst, 2001, p. 57; Ullendorff, 1967, p. 73).

Connecting these Old and New Testament traditions, is one of the most vivid biblical metaphors within the Kebra Nagast, the metaphor connecting New Testament Mother Mary to the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant. In the very first chapter we read:

And especially concerning the greatness and splendor of Zion, the Tabernacle of the Law of God, of which he himself is the Maker and the Fashioner, in the fortress of His holiness before all created things, [both] angels and men… by His good pleasure there was born in the flesh of the Second Zion the Second Adam, Who was our Savior Christ. This is our glory and our faith, our hope and our life, the Second Zion. (Budge, 2000, pp. 1-2)

The opening chapter of the Kebra Nagast presents a clear connection between the First Zion, the Ark of the Covenant which holds the Ten Commandments; and the Second Zion, or Mary who bore the Second Adam, Christ. What is most crucial about this section is how it concludes, ‘This is our glory and our faith, our hope and our life, the Second Zion.’ Thus, the reader is forced to wonder whether the glory, faith, hope and life of the tradition lies within Mother Mary or the Ark of the Covenant, which is believed to rest in the northern Ethiopian city of Axum today (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. The Chapel of the Ark of the Covenant, where the Ten Commandments are believed to rest today in Axum.

In Orthodox tradition, it is the blessed replicas of the Tablets of the Ten Commandments, or the Tabotat, which sanctifies a church. The correlation between the protection provided by the Ark for the Ten Commandments, with the protection of the womb of the Holy Virgin for the savor to come, along with the sanctuary provided for the Tabotat in the tabernacle of the church, moves from an ethereal to an earthly direction. This metaphor of sanctuary, descends from the Heavenly Ark to the Holy Virgin, and extends towards the sanctified church. Ethiopian scholar, Ephraim Isaac, also described the prominence of Mary within the church as being unique within Christendom, for the tradition places her “almost next to Jesus Christ (Isaac, 2006).” The Kebra Nagast continues to move beyond the metaphor that is woven throughout the text, towards explicitly linking Mary and the Ark. In the 11^th chapter it is written:

The testimony (or proof) is in the similitude; the heavenly Zion is to be regarded as the similitude of the Mother of the Redeemer, Mary. For in the Zion which is builded there are deposited the ten Words of the Law which were written by His hands, and He Himself, the Creator, dwelt in the womb of Mary, and through Him everything came into being. (Budge, 2000, p. 8)

Thus, early in the Kebra Nagast the metaphor becomes explicitly stated, and the connection between Mary and the Ark becomes firmly established in the mind of the reader.

Not surprisingly, the tradition of Mary as Ark extends beyond the Kebra Nagast and is prevalent throughout the literature of faith in Ethiopia. The Legends of Our Lady Mary is a ubiquitous text. In it are the daily prayers of the week asking for the intersession of Mary for the forgiveness of sins, and for the answering of prayers. Interestingly, the text opens with a clear connection between the Holy Virgin and the Ark of the Testimony. The first line of the first chapter reads as follows, ‘Though wast named “Beloved Woman,” O blessed among women. Thou art the second chamber, in that thou wast called “Holiest of Holies,” and in it was the table of the Covenant and on it were the Ten words which were written by the fingers of God’ (Budge, 1933, p. 279). The Legends of Our Lady Mary continues to elaborate on the similarities between Mary and the Ark:

[Thou art] the Tabot which was covered on all its sides with gold, and was made of the wood that never perisheth, and fore shadowed for us the word of God, Who became man without separation and change, the pure and undefiled woman… Though art the holy golden pot wherein the manna is hidden… Bearer of CHRIST, didst bring forth CHRIST our God in truth, without seed… Verily thou art the glory of our race. (Budge, pp. 279-280)

Amsalu Tefera’s work The Ethiopian Homily on the Ark of the Covenant further examines the theological simile connecting Mother Mary with the Ark. Tefera’s work illustrates the oft presented connection between the Ark and Mary throughout the religious literature of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Tefera, 2015, p. 40). This Mariological tradition is also explored by Stuart Munro-Hay’s The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant, where we find the Mary-Ark metaphor enshrined in the theology and sanctuaries of Ethiopian Orthodoxy today (Munro-Hay, 2006).

Outside of Africa, there is a tradition of depicting Zion in feminine form in the Byzantine World, but this metaphor of Lady Zion in Byzantium refers to the cities of Old Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem of Constantinople, and avoids the Ark of the Covenant (Meyer, 2009). While localized traditions from shrines across Europe connect the Black Virgin to the Ark of the Covenant (and even the Holy Grail), with some shrines dating to a resurgance of this tradition durning the 12^th century Crusades. These Black Madonna traditions in Europe also reach into a time of historical obscurity, finding themselves layered with centuries of symbolism and meaning often referencing Ancient Egypt’s Auset (Isis in Greek) and Ethiopia’s Queen of Sheba (Begg, 2006; Foster, 2016; see Figure 4).

Figure 4. According to local tradition, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Poland, was painted by Luke the Evangelist & today is the most famous of the Black Madonnas in Europe (l.). The Monastery’s Gateway illustrates that theses representations are intentional (r.). Shrines dedicated to the Black Madonna would acquire layered symbolism over the course of centuries, with a resurgence of the icons occurring in Europe during the Crusades of the 12^th century. Today, several of her sanctuaries remain active.

Ultimately, the mother-centered metaphor that connects Makeda and Mary throughout the Kebra Nagast, illustrates the virtues of wisdom and purity. For the Queen of the South can be considered a woman powerful and wise enough to defy the challenges of a long journey and her own frailty, to travel to the ends of the Earth and examine the wisdom of Solomon (Budge, 2000, p. 21). While Mother Mary in her purity, immaculately conceived Christ, Savior of humanity; the Queen of Sheba gave birth to Menyelek I, Solomon’s first born son, the eventual king and ‘savior’ of Ethiopia. Mary nurtured and raised the One who would usher in the New Covenant; while Makeda gave birth to Menyelek who returned to Ethiopia with the Ten Commandments, ushering in the Old Testament and laying the foundations of the Royal Solomonic Line within Orthodox tradition. Just as Mary is the Mother of the Son of Man, so too is Makeda the Mother of the Son of Ethiopia.

Even when considering the debate around the dating of the Kebra Nagast, there remains the unique centrality of the divine feminine within the text. This centrality exists regardless if one believes the historical veracity of the Ethiopian Queen visiting Jerusalem c. 900 bce, as preserved within Ethiopian Orthodox and Ethiopian Jewish traditions, and as suggested by scholars such as Budge (2000, p. x); or whether one places the composition of the Kebra Nagast in the 6^th century ce, during a time witnessing the rule of King Caleb (Budge, 2000, p. xvi; Shahid, 1976; Tiruneh, 2014); or if one concurs with more recent scholarship dating the Makeda tradition to the 14^th century ce (Kaplan, 1995; Marcus, 2002; Munro-Hay, 2006). Regardless of the text’s ‘original’ date, a key dynamic of the Kebra Nagast is the prominence of the Queen of the South and Mother Mary within these Orthodox traditions.

The dynamics connecting Mary, the Ark and Makeda within Ethiopian tradition, brings us to the point where Queen Makeda also serves as a prefiguration of Mother Mary, similar to Melchizedek in the Old Testament appearing as a prefiguration of Christ. According to church traditions dating back to the 3^rd century ce, Melchizedek serves as an Old Testament prefiguration of Christ as presaged in part by his use of wine and bread when blessing Abraham, thus ushering in the Abrahamic Faiths (Van Loon, 2001, p. 29). In similar manner, Makeda introduced the Old Testament to her queen-dom through her wisdom, while Mary ushered in the New Testament by holding Christ in the purity of her womb. Other interesting parallels include the reduction of Mary’s prominence upon Christ’s Epiphany, just as Makeda abdicates her throne upon Menyelek’s return from Jerusalem. These legends may also serve as markers of a historical moment, when the culture grappled with transitioning from matrifocal gender relations to more patriarchal constructs.

The Kebra Nagast additionally contends that the Queen of Sheba will stand in judgment of humanity during the End Times. This confirms Makeda as one not only wise enough to journey to Jerusalem in order to test the wisdom of Solomon with vexing questions, nor merely fertile enough to give birth to their first-born son, but also one wise enough to stand in judgment of humanity on that Day of Days:

And our Lord JESUS CHRIST… spake, saying: “The Queen of the South shall rise up on the Day of judgment and shall dispute with, and condemn, and overcome this generation who would not hearken unto the preaching of My word, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of SOLOMON.” And the Queen of the South of whom He spake was the Queen of ETHIOPIA. (Budge, 2000, p. 16)

This is an especially provocative section considering the belief that several preconditions must be met before the return of the Messiah. One of the final conditions being the reconstruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, and in order for the Temple to be rebuilt and consecrated, the Ark of the Covenant must be resting in its sanctuary, the actual purpose for the Temple’s construction. Again, we see Lady Zion resting in her sanctuary, but this time on Judgment Day, and just as Lady Zion, the Ark or Mary, will rest within her sanctuary in purity, so too will Queen Makeda stand in judgment of humanity in her wisdom.

Relatively recent examples in Ethiopia’s and Eritrea’s verbal and literary accounts attest to the central role of women leading their nation. Queen Regent Elleni, tirelessly defended Ethiopia’s independence, as the vassal armies of the Ottoman Empire wrought destruction throughout, while she also worked to avoid the machinations of Portuguese encroachment from the Red Sea during the 16^th century (Hable-Sellase, 1974; Chernetsov, 2005, pp. 253–254). The unassuming nun, Walatta Petros, worked to preserve the Orthodox Faith while resisting Portuguese proto-colonialism in the 17^th century (Belcher, 2015; Cohen, 2010, pp. 1086–1088). Empress Taytu Betul played major diplomatic and military roles maintaining Ethiopia’s independence from Italian imperial designs, even leading troops during The Battle of Adwa in the late 19^th century (Gerima, 1999; Rubinkowska, 2010, pp. 878–879). Though these recent exemplars reflect a modern retention of a matrifocality rooted in ancient and classical times, let us consider the earliest evidence from the region’s centralized civilizations.

The archeological remains of classical Ethiopia & colonialism’s patriarchy

Ethiopia’s classical archeological remains from Yeha c. 1000 bce, and northern Ethiopia inform and are informed-by this mother-centered tradition. Of the statues from the archeological sites of Hawelti, ‘Addi Galamo and Meqaber Ga’ewa c. 500 bce (Contenson, 1981; Fattovich, 2012; Wolf & Nowotnick, 2010), it is stunning to note that these statues from classical Ethiopia are all feminine. The three statues currently on exhibit at the National Museum of Ethiopia represent enigmatic women sitting with dignified poise, all wearing the elegant shibshib, a traditional dress of woven cotton, evident in today’s Ethiopia. The three ladies sit upon what appear to be their thrones. One of the larger statues has been decapitate, and the smaller of the three statues has an ambiguous visage. While the best preserved of the three statues, whom the author refers to as the ‘Queen of Yeha,’ conveys a distinctly Ethiopian physiognomy, with the short, curly hairstyle worn today among the ladies of Ethiopia. Yet little beyond the dimensions, and brief inscriptions from these statues are known (see Figure 5).

Figure 5. The ‘Queen of Yeha,’ from the archeological site of Hawelti, is the largest and best preserved of the statues found at Yeha dating to c. 500 bce. The identity of the statue remains a mystery, yet her stature conveys a distinctly regal, if not divine poise. (The National Museum of Ethiopia).

The Western World first learned of Yeha from the writings of Portuguese ‘explorer’ Francisco Alvarez in the early 16^th century ce, who described the enigmatic windowless building constructed during the ancient kingdom resting in the town’s center as ‘a very large and handsome tower, both for its height and the good workmanship of its walls’ (Pankhurst, p. 21). The building was studied later by archeologists who found it to be dedicated to the Moon God, Almouqa (see Figure 6). The most conservative dating of the Temple of the Moon is c. 500 bce, yet it is reasonable to believe that the temple was constructed as early as c. 800 bce (Pankhurst, p. 21). The engravings found in the area are similar in style to many of the monuments found in Saba, Yemen today (Pankhurst, p. 15). Some propose that Yeha may have been the capital city of a Sabean colony, which thereby serves as the foundation for the Axumite Empire which would emerge c. 1000–400 bce (Phillipson, 2014, p. 72). Though there was clearly a cultural exchange connecting this East African locale and southern Arabia during these early days, the issue of concern remains the a priori prioritization of Arabia regarding the cultural traditions of Africa. Even today, these northern archeological sites remain in a remote location, far from the Red Sea ports of Adulis and Massawa. Yeha, Hawelti and ‘Addi Galamo are around 20 miles East from the former capital city of Axum, but are around 90 miles West over rugged mountainous terrain from the nearest Red Sea port. In spite of this remote geography, the archeological findings are often given an a priori Arabian origin (Japp et al., 2011), though it is clear the roots of the culture rest in Ethiopia, the cradle of humanity. This cradle, that also gave birth to the civilizations of Axum, Yeha, Saba and Punt, illustrates a habit of civilization in this East African region that reaches back some 5,000 years.

Figure 6. The Almouqa Temple of the Moon, c. 800 bce in Yeha, Ethiopia. The temple site is the primary location where the artifacts of a ‘Sabean pre-Axumite’ Civilization have been discovered.

A key reason the African cultural continuity in the Nile Valley and the Horn of Africa has been difficult for some Western scholars to accept over recent centuries is the Hamitic myth, and its distorting effect upon Ethiopian and African history. A mythical distortion widely employed during Europe’s efforts to colonize the nation and the continent. Genesis 9: 25–27, serves as the biblical passage undergirding the Hamitic myth where after Ham laughs at Noah’s drunken nakedness, Noah understandably curses his own grandson, Ham’s son Canaan, to a life of servitude. This passage was racialized by Talmudic scholars in the 6^th century bce during the Babylonian Captivity, who were crafting a justification for their repatriation to Jerusalem. A land known in those early days known as Canaan (Saunders, 1969, p. 522). This myth would be bequeathed unto several Islamic empires resting in Persia, Arabia and Turkey, where enslaved African labor taken from North Africa and the Horn, was utilized to varying degrees over the course of centuries (Goldenberg, 2005). This myth would be bequeathed unto Christian Europe, as Portugal and Spain launched the ‘Age of Exploration,’ establishing plantations throughout the New World where enslaved Indigenous and African labor would be brutally and relentlessly exploited. Over a millennium after this myth was supposedly devised to justify the conquest of a small region of the Levant, it would eventually be applied to an entire race, and would serve as a distorted religious/ academic justification for the Western world’s practices of slavery and colonialism throughout the continent, and beyond. A dangerous myth indeed…

Scholarship regarding Ethiopia has generally overemphasized the nation’s Semitic heritage while understating its Kushitic, Nubian and Nile Valley roots, as is seen in the influential work of Wallis Budge, as well as renowned scholar-colonialist Carlo Conti Rossini. In his introduction to the Kebra Nagast, Budge describes the light of civilization being brought to African Ethiopia by an Asiatic-Hamitic people:

A section of Hamites, whose language was akin to that of the Libyans, Berbers, and Egyptians, brought into Abyssinia a language which for convenience we may call “Ethiopic” though its more correct name is “Kushite” … In the eleventh or tenth century before Christ a further invasion of Abyssinia by Asiatic Semites took place, and it was they who taught the Abyssinians the elements of civilization. The principal tribe of the invaders was called “Habasha”, and they came from Yaman in western South Arabia. (Budge, 2000, pp. viii–ix)

So, according to Budge, every element of civilization from the language to the literature, from the statues to the temples, even the people came from outside of Africa, Ethiopia or Eritrea. It is a well hewn distortion that is only recently being addressed by scholars, after being amplified over the course of recent centuries. This is not to say that there was no exchange between Eritrea, Ethiopia and southern Arabia, because there was an exchange of peoples and traditions throughout the region, as is the case with any region of the world. Yet, to describe this exchange using a uni-directional diffusionist narrative predicated upon a Hamitic distortion is problematic at best. Not surprisingly, recent scholarship is uncovering the precursors to civilization rooted in an Ethiopian/ Eritrean context centuries before the emergence of Axum, centuries before the existence of Yeha (Phillipson, p. 19; Fattovich, 2012), and harkening back to the rise of Punt which the Egyptians considered ‘The Land of God.1950

This Hamitic myth was weaponized by Carlo Conti Rossini, who is among the West’s most prolific translators of Ethiopian and Eritrean texts of Ge’ez and Tigrinya into a Western language, in this case Italian. Rossini wrote several authoritative texts for Western Ethiopicists during the early 20^th century, including Etiopia e Genti d'Ethiopia [Ethiopia and the People of Ethiopia] (1937) and The History of Ethiopia: From Ancient Times to the Medieval Ages (2001). This is important due to it being ‘C. Conti-Rossini [who] focused attention on the predominance of south Arabian [Asian or Semitic] characteristics in the first Ethiopian civilization [of Yeha]’ (Contenson, 1981, p. 355). Rossini’s work would amplify this mythical notion of a non-African or non-Black people bringing the light of civilization to the continent. Yet when one considers his activities as a colonizing agent in Ethiopia/ Eritrea on behalf of Italy, Rossini’s scholarly integrity must be brought into question. His obituary in Africa: Journal of the International African Institute blithely mentions that Rossini, ‘as a civil servant, from 1899 to 1903, contributed to one of the initial stages of the pacification of Eritrea’ (1950, p. 99). Surely the linguistic and historical findings of a scholar whose works include colonial ‘pacification,’ beg for a revision of his findings that fit so snuggly within a diffusionist, turned imperialist paradigm. The colonial patriarchy of Rossini, Budge and others is a key reason the feminine statuary found in northern Ethiopia has received precious little attention. It is also noteworthy that much of the archeological research from Ethiopia’s and Eritrea’s ancient and classical history, remains published in the fields of Arabian or Oriental Studies today.

However, that all the human statues from northern Ethiopia’s classical period are women, reinforces the notion of a historically rooted matrifocality rooted in classical and ancient epochs, and yet still discernable throughout the continent and the diaspora. Though these statues are not strictly within the traditions of Mary or Makeda, they do present archeological evidence of the distinct prominence of the feminine within the historical polity and religious structures of early Ethiopian civilization (see Figure 7). These statues convey a royal air, while maintaining their mother-centered attributes, rather than solely emphasizing their fertility. Again, this African matrifocality both informs and is informed by the unique prominence of Mary within Orthodox tradition, and Makeda within Ethiopia’s national legend, reaching back unto the days of Ancient Egypt and Punt (Phillips, 1997, pp. 423–457; Bard & Rodolfo, 2018).

Figure 7. The smaller of the female statues rests in the center of the case found at the National Museum, from the archeological site of ‘Addi Galamo c. 500 bce. The Sabean/ Ge’ez script carved below the feet of the statue reads, ‘For He [God] grants a child to Yamanat.’

African matrifocality: Egyptian Queen Mother Tiye & the Lady Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s trade expedition to Punt

This mother-centered tradition extends over the course of millennia, and is reflected in precolonial traditions that encourage fundamental and significant roles for women in charting the paths of their nations, in complement with men. This cultural dynamic explains the prominence given to Mary in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and Makeda who stands at the center of Ethiopia’s royal narrative. Ironically, these potent matrifocal retentions negotiate with, and are preserved within a patriarchal institution. Despite this irony, the prominence of Mary and Makeda in the theology and ideology of Ethiopia, indicates a unique indigenous African gender dynamic.

Let us consider Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop’s work Cultural Unity of Black Africa: The Domains of Matriarchy and of Patriarchy in Classical Antiquity. Diop begins his work examining the tradition of African matriarchy. Using Khemet (or Ancient Egypt) as his model, Diop describes African matriarchy not as a society dominated, or ruled solely by women. Instead, Diop describes this form of matriarchy as exhibited by a settled agricultural lifestyle, burial customs, a caste system, matrilineal name and property inheritance, women’s significant if not controlling role of the market place as well as the domestic sphere, and women’s important political roles as exemplified by the ubiquitous Queen Mother (Diop, 1989, pp. 27–34). There are early occurrences throughout Africa of powerful female rulers such as Queen Mother Tiye c. 1390 bce, and the Lady Pharaoh Hatshepsut ca. 1470 bce in Khemet, as well as Makeda in Ethiopia. Queen Mother Tiye was wife to Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who pressed Khemet’s defensive interests well into the Levant and the Middle East. She was also mother of Pharaoh Akhenaten, who some credit with the creation of monotheism, and the grandmother of Pharaoh Tutankhamen, popularly known as King Tut, the most famous of Egypt’s pharaohs due to the extravagance of his archeological remains (Shaw, 2002, pp. 267–268). Queen Tiye is the perfect exemplar of the Queen Mother: for if the Pharaoh was represented by the crown, the Queen Mother was represented by the throne, and Queen Mother Tiye would wield significant influence in matters of state and religion, throughout her life and afterlife, during the reigns of three pharaohs a.k.a. her husband, son and grandson (see Figure 8).

Figure 8. Queen Mother Tiye of Khemet ca. 1390 bce. Queen Tiye would guide the rule of three pharaohs in matters of state and religion: Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and King Tut. (The Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany).

The Lady Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple in Luxor c. 1470 bce, stands as an impressive testament to her reign, and in part commemorates her elaborate trade expedition to the Land of Punt, in the region of today’s Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen. Inside her mortuary temple, is the depiction of her trade expedition to Punt, known as ‘The Land of God,’ and includes five large ships with thirty rowers each returning to Khemet with myrrh trees, ivory, gold, exotic animals and other luxury items. In return, Khemet bartered with food products and ‘all kinds of things from the palace’ (Redford, 2001, p. 85). In her effort to recreate the Land of God in Khemet, Hatshepsut demonstrates her impetus for trade and diplomacy (see Figure 9). Though the trade route Hatshepsut sent her fleet along was well established by her New Kingdom rule (Phillips, 1997), her innovation was the use of Khemet’s abundant resources to further international relations and commerce. The first recorded trade expedition to Punt from Khemet dates to the Old Kingdom c. 2686–2160 bce, trade would continue during Khemet’s Dynastic Period c. 3200 bce–330 bce, extend throughout the era of Ptolemaic Egypt c. 330 bce–30 bce, and reach well beyond Roman Egyptian times (Breasted, 1959, p. 127; Marcus, 2002, pp. 5, Phillipson, 41). Though the first records of Punt go back to c. 2700 bce, as recorded in the Pyramid Text of Sahure, the only representation of any of the rulers of Punt remaining today, are the depictions of Queen Eti and King Perehu from Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple dating to the 15^th century bce (see Figure 10). Given the well documented history of cultural exchange throughout the Nile Valley over the course of millennia, the importance of reexamining accepted narratives resting at the foundation of Ethiopian and African history that assert a diffusionist Arabian paradigm seems evident. There is ample evidence illustrating a cultural exchange permeating the Nile Valley, East Africa and Arabia over the millennia. A habit of civilization evident throughout this region rooted in indigenous African traditions, developed by indigenous African people.

Figure 9. The Mortuary Temple of the Lady Pharaoh Hatshepsut ca. 1470 bce in Luxor, Egypt. Hatshepsut built this temple to replicate Punt, ‘The Land of God.’ The boarders of Punt rest in the region of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen.

Figure 10. Relief from the Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple ca. 1470 bce depicting Queen Eti with King Perehu on the right. This is the only historical representation of the people and rulers of Punt. (Alamy stock photo #FFWGJX).

Both Queen Tiye and Pharaoh Hatshepsut exhibit matrifocal traditions evident throughout traditional Nile Valley Civilizations, which are also reflected throughout the continent. This unique gender dynamic is further explored in, Reinventing Africa: Matriarchy, Religion and Culture by Nigerian Scholar Ifi Amadiume (2001), who addresses some of the arguments made by Diop, and helps to augment our understanding of Diop’s work, and of women’s traditional roles in precolonial Africa. Amadiume points out that the feminism arising from a European historical context is fundamentally different from the womanism arising from an African context, or the global African Diaspora. Issues of gender relations, and access to positions of influence and power are substantively different in Western and African traditions. Amadiume continues:

As European feminists, locked in the production-reproduction debate seek possible ways out of their historically oppressive patriarchal family structure, inventing single parenthood and alternative affective relationships, I argue that in the African Case we do not have to invent anything. We already have a history and legacy of a woman’s culture - a matriarchy based on affective relationships - and this should be given a central place in analysis and social enquiry. (Amadiume, p. 23)

Thus, Amadiume speaks to the uniqueness of African gender relations that are not of the patriarchal nature found in Western traditions. Instead, Amadiume argues precolonial African traditions were marked by affective relations amongst the African family, leading societies organized around the role of the mother, which forces us to understand the gender dynamics seen throughout the vast expanse of the continent as traditionally matriarchal. It is because of this unique gender dynamic that women rulers have existed throughout the continent since the earliest of days (Amadiume, p. 153).

The work of Amadiume and Diop refine earlier attempts to define African matrifocality in Western scholarship, which they both termed matriarchy. Western anthropologists have grappled with the now discarded notion of a once universal and primordial patriarchy that governed man (Maine, 1861). This erroneous notion of a universal patriarchy, would accompany Europe’s slaving and imperialist endeavors, preventing colonialists-turned-scholars from recognizing matrifocal gender relations. This patriarchy theory was discarded in part due to the development of more equitable gender relations in the West over recent generations, and because of the significant number of traditional societies around the world that do not exhibit strictly patriarchal hierarchies, especially within Africa. Kamene Okonju (1976) describes African Matrifocality as a ‘dual-sex’ political system when citing her case study of the West African Igbo. Ivan Van Sertima’s Black Women in Antiquity (Van Sertima, 1984), illustrates how de regular women rising to the heights of their society’s religious and political orders was throughout Africa’s Nile Valley and beyond. The prominence of women-centered religious practices in Nubia and Khemet reaching throughout the Red Sea and Mediterranean worlds is brought to light by Solange Ashby’s Calling Out to Isis (Ashby, 2020). While the histories of women as priestesses, rulers of nations and ladies of commerce throughout the continent is explored by Nwando Achebe’s Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa (Achebe, 2020). Matrifocality thus enriches our understanding of a complimentary gender dynamic, existing from one degree to another across the continent since the earliest of days (see Figure 11). A primordial matrifocality that remains in negotiation with, if not contention with more patriarchal systems, forcefully imposed upon the continent during the course of modernity.

Figure 11. This small statue of Auset (Isis in Greek) shows her nurturing her baby son Heru (Horus). Heru would eventually become the savior figure in the legendary traditions of Ancient Egypt. The resemblance between the iconography of Khemet’s Auset and Heru when compared with the Christian World’s Mary and Christ is truly uncanny. (The Museum of Saqqara, Egypt; Williams, 2014).

In conclusion

We have explored the metaphor connecting the Madonna to the Ark of the Covenant. We have also explored the unique prominence of Mary and Queen Makeda within the Ethiopian Orthodox literary tradition. The similes binding the New Testament Mary to the Old Testament Ark, are reinforced throughout the Kebra Nagast among other works, while Mary and Makeda are united by this metaphor resting at the birth of Ethiopia’s political and religious identity. This African matrifocal paradigm additionally informs and is informed by the archeological remains of female statuary from the pre-Axumite kingdom of Yeha. Despite the patriarchy of colonialism or a distorted Hamitic myth, the scholarship of Diop and Amadieume provide insight on the dynamics of these mother-centered traditions throughout the continent reaching back to the earliest of human epochs. Finally, the historical examples of Queen Mother Tiye and the Lady Pharaoh Hatshepsut of Khemet, lend compelling confirmation of the historical prominence of these mother-centered traditions emanating beyond Ethiopia, and reaching throughout the Nile Valley.

Even today, notions of the divine feminine are reflected in various aspects of Ethiopia’s verbal-literary history and culture. Though the Solomonic traditions are most prominent among the Amhara and the Tigrinya ethnic groups largely located in the central and northern regions of the country, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group the Oromo, hold a vibrant retention of the celebration of the divine feminine during their annual holiday of Erecha, in reverence of the Creator God Waqqa (Assegued, 2004, pp. 54–76). Especially the Erecha celebration at Lake Hora, which implicitly venerates the Great Mother, who ultimately gives birth to humanity; as well as the Oromo celebration of Ateetee, which explicitly venerates the Great Mother Ayyoo (Baxter, 1979; Endalew, 2003, pp. 391–392). The prominent role of women as religious officiants, or mediums during the celebrations of Ateetee and Erecha, lends credence to this deeply rooted matrifocality in the indigenous history and culture of Ethiopia. Though today, these traditions remain in negotiation with the more patriarchal religions of Islam and Christianity (Debele, 2019, pp. 70–107).

Again, the motif that connects Makeda with Mary unites the virtues of wisdom and purity. For on that Day of Judgment the Ladies of Zion, Mary and the Ark, may very well return to Jerusalem to reside in their Temple Sanctuary. Likewise, Queen Makeda the Queen of the South, may return to our earthly realm to stand in judgment over humanity. Thus, it only seems right that the Old Testament’s Queen Makeda serves as a prefiguration of the New Testament’s Mother Mary, and that the two shall finally meet during that Day of Days. For in the same manner that wisdom must precede purity, purity must also be obtained in order to preserve wisdom. Certainly, many of the ancillary stories surrounding the life of King Solomon attest to this notion: the many wives, the magical excesses and thus the departure of the Ark from Jerusalem… A lesson urging the wise pursue purity, while urging the pure to cultivate their wisdom, for the one strengthens and preserves the other. A lesson from the Kebra Nagast, rooted in African matrifocal traditions, reaching out to us from the earliest of days. A lesson which ‘should be given a central place in analysis and social enquiry.’ (Amadiume, p. 23; see Figure 12)

Figure 12. The ubiquitous image of Mother Mary nurturing baby Jesus found throughout Ethiopia & the Christian world. Though Ethiopian Orthodox tradition prohibits statues of Mary, it allows for vivid icons of the Madonna & Christ. These icons are thus part of a visual, verbal & literary tradition dating back to the Dawn of the Abrahamic Faiths, harkening back to the Dawn of human history & born in the heart of Africa. (The Monastery of Debra Laganos, Axum).

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Notes on contributors

Steffan A. Spencer

Dr. Steffan A. Spencer is Assistant Professor of African History at the University of Minnesota, Duluth’s Department of History. He formerly served as a lecturer of Africana Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He received his MA & PhD from Howard University in African History with distinction, and his BA from Northwestern University in Philosophy & Religion. His dissertation is being revised into a book manuscript entitled ‘The Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic) Book of the Trinity: A 15^th Century Homily from the Monastic Order of Daqiqa Estifanos (The Disciples of Estifanos),’ which is currently under the consideration of Brill Publications. Dr. Spencer conducted his doctoral field work in Ethiopia with the support of a Fulbright Scholarship focusing upon Ge’ez literary traditions, while his master’s thesis examined the English translations of Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop.

Notes

1. Photo credit belongs to the author, unless otherwise noted.

2. Though the terms Pre-Axumite and D’mt have been used in much of the literature to describe the archeological record of ancient and classical Ethiopia, the author uses the name of the main town in the region, Yeha, to generally describe the areas of centralized civilization in northern Ethiopia which produced the archeological finds at Yeha, Hawelti, ‘Addi Galamo and Meqaber Ga’ewa ca. 1000 bce–500 bce, as there is yet no scholarly agreement on how to refer to this area in and near the town of Yeha (Fattovich, 2012, pp. 2–4).