I have read some interesting books about Ethiopian experience, history, culture, nature and geography. One of the books I like most is “The Chains of Heaven” by Philip Marsden.
This book has so wonderful reviews by the most famous magazines and News Papers.
A short History of Ethiopia is the introduction part on page 1 that I liked a lot. Please read below couple of its paragraphs. You will like it too.
“Aksumawi was the son of Ethiopis and the great grandson of Noah. He established the kingdom of Aksum which is itself the ancestor of modern Ethiopia. Unfortunately a snake took power in Aksum and ruled for four hundred years.
The snake was 170 cubits in length, and had teeth a whole cubit long, and the people of Aksum had constantly to supply it with milk and virgins. One day a stranger came and he in turn became the ruler of Aksum.”
“Angabo married the Queen of Sheba, and after he died she left the city of Aksum with 797 camels to visit Solomon in Jerusalem. There, with Solomonic guile, he seduced her. Back in Aksum she gave to a birth to a boy named Menelik, and when he came of age he journeyed to Jerusalem to see his father.
When he left Jerusalem he had the Ark of the Covenant. With the Ark the blessing of the Lord was transferred from Jerusalem to Aksum, from the people of Israel to the people of Ethiopia. Menelik was the first of Ethiopia’s line of Solomonic rulers.
The land around Aksum was very fertile and it came to be known among the world’s peoples as a place of wondrous plenty. Every rock on its open plains was a loaf of bread. Once for eight days showers of gold and pearls and silver fell on its hills and filled the rivers with riches.
Palaces and temples swelled the bounds of the city. The graves of its kings were marked by standing stones and with each passing king the stones grew higher until they scraped the underside of the sky.”
On page 46, the book reads about “Prester John” a fictitious legendary king of the ancient Ethiopia.
‘Prester John’, when he went to war, fourteen crosses were carried before him. The crosses were made of gold. They were studded with jewels. Behind each cross was a corps of ten thousand cavalry and behind them one hundred thousand foot soldiers. In Prester John’s provinces were no venomous snakes, no scorpions and no loud frogs.
The river beds were covered in emeralds and sapphires, topaz and onyx. One river only flowed for three days in the week, allowing it to be crossed on the remaining four. Into another river, which rose in Paradise, plunged great flying dragons with carbuncles in their four heads; after seventy days the people could go and pluck out the jewels.
There was also great plain, and a stone in the middle and in the stone cavity in which water collected that could cure every known ailment (as long as the patient was a sincere follower of Christ).
You should read this great book “The Chains of Heaven” by Philip Marsden.
