The House of Solomon
King Solomon, (approximately 970-928 BCE), the second son of King David and Bathsheba, was the King of Israel. During his 40 year reign King Solomon first led the nation to superpower status and then to its downfall, which is derived from the biblical books of Kings I and Chronicles II. God blessed Solomon with wisdom and understanding, and exalted him in the sight of Israel. His wisdom quickly became known worldwide and his wealth exceeded all the kings in the world. Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs, wrote 1,005 songs, the book of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. He accumulated knowledge of trees, animals, birds, fish and more. Men came from all nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
According to the Kebra Nagast, King Solomon had intended on sending one son of each of his nobles and one son each of each temple priest with Menelik upon his return to his mother's kingdom. He is supposed to have had a replica made of the Ark for them to take with them, but the son of Zadok the High Priest secretly switched the replica with the real Ark, and brought it into Ethiopia where it is said to remain to this day in the ancient town of Axum.
Menelik I (originally named Ebna la-Hakim, "Son of the Wise"), first Jewish Emperor of Ethiopia, is the son of King Solomon of ancient Israel and Makeda, Queen of Sheba and ruled around 950 BC. He marked the beginning of the Judean Line or the House of Solomon, which had ruled the Nation for more than 3,000 years.King Menelik first introduced the Jewish Religion in Ethiopia, and the original Ark of the Covenant still remains in the Ethiopian Church at Axum, the Ancient Capital of Ethiopia. He is also responsible for bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia, following a visit to Jerusalem to meet his father upon reaching adulthood.
Upon the death of Queen Makeda, Menelik assumed the throne with the new title of Emperor and King of Kings of Ethiopia. He founded the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia that ruled Ethiopia with few interruptions for close to three thousand years and 225 generations later ended with the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. He was succeeded by Menelik the second, who was the greatest Ethiopian King since the days of the Taharqua.
Ethiopia remained a powerful state, after losing it's prestige of a Great Empire up to the period of the Middle Ages, when it was divided into several semi-independent states governed by a feudal system.
