Du Kebra Nagast

Abstract

Starting from the reflexion on the legend of the Queen of Sheba’s hairy leg, the author tries to disentangle the inextricable network of traditions – Egyptian, Jewish, Byzantine and Arab – and to find an historical thread which may explain the many syncretic rehandlings that lead to the original redaction of Kebra Nagast, the «Glory of the Kings», the Ethiopian dynasty’s founding text. All this network of traditions seems to converge towards the gulf of Akaba and the Nubian border of the Red Sea.