UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Ancient Civilizations of Africa
that the link with the Waren tribe of Raydan is explicitly mentioned shows
the importance which these kings attached to their south Arabian descent.
The title of mukarrib of D'iamat and of Saba' may be explained in various
ways: it might refer to south Arabian regions whose princes had extended
their rule to northern Ethiopia; these terms might represent African districts
to which south Arabian colonists had given the names of their home
provinces; or they might have a purely political and non-territorial significance.
The firsthypothesis seems most improbable and we must agree
with A. J. Drewes that these dynasts no doubt exercised the power of
mukarrib of Saba' over their subjects from south Arabia or of south Arabian
extraction. The titles of 'King Sr'n, of the tribe of Yg'd' might be read:
'King of the Tsar'ane,~of the tribe of the Ig'azyan'; they would show that
they also ruled the native part of the population and that they were
descended from the local tribe of Yg'd (or Igz) in which A. J. Drewes
sees the ancestors of the Ge'ez.
Three fragmentary inscriptions, those of Abba Pantalewon, the altar at
Addi Galamo and the pantheon of Enda Çerqos, allude to a historical
event that seems to have taken place during the reign of Rbh. It concerns the
capture and sacking of D'iamat, 'its eastern part and its western part, its
reds and its blacks'. Unfortunately, the identification of this region and of
the aggressors remains in doubt.
Architecture, works of art, epigraphy and the data provided by the texts
on religious beliefs and social organization in northern Ethiopia all afford
evidence of a strong south Arabian influence in the fifth and fourth
centuries before our era. As F. Anfray reminds us, the emergence of this
predominantly Semitic culture was preceded by several centuries of silent
penetration; 'small groups of immigrants peddled south Arabian culture',
no doubt under the pressure of economic and demographic circumstances
which we do not yet understand. 60 It is not impossible, as the same
investigator suggests, that these colonists introduced new agricultural
techniques, in particular the use of the swing-plough, and built the firststone
villages of Ethiopia.
From the work of L. Ricci and A. J. Drewes, we get the impression that
the south Arabian element was preponderant in certain centres where an
embryonic form of urban life grew up around a sanctuary, for instance,
at Yeha, in the Melazo region, and perhaps also at Addi Galamo and
Matara, whereas the basic local culture, with certain Nilotic additions, was
better represented in the Erythrean region with the sites of'Acchele Guzaï,
Addi Gramaten and Dibdib.
The appearance of a cultural unit whose internal coherence is evident,
however, throughout the northern part of the Ethiopian plateau must
certainly have coincided with the rise to power and the survival as a
dominant class of one group, but we shall probably never know whether
60. F. Anfray, 1967, pp. 49-5°; 1968, pp. 353, 356.
354