Kebra Nagast

Kebra Nagast — Budge — Section 10

shrine, even though the “ belly of a ship ” is men¬ tioned in connection with it. In several chapters of the Kebra Nagast the “ chariot of the Tabernacle of the Law ” is mentioned, a fact which suggests that in later days at least the sacred box was provided with a carriage or sledge. History is silent as to the place where the Tabernacle of the Law was finally deposited, but Ethiopian tradition asserts that it survived all the troubles and disasters that fell upon the Abyssinians in their wars with the Muslims, and that it was preserved at Aksum until comparatively recent times. In the short introduction that follows I have given a sketch of the literary history of the Kebra Nagast, with references to the authorities on the subject, and I have made an abstract of its contents in narrative form which will, I hope, be useful. A full discussion of every por¬ tion of the work, with extracts giving the original texts of the authorities used and quoted by Isaac the scribe, would fill another volume, and the cost of printing, paper, and binding is now so great that the idea of producing such a book has been abandoned. A transla¬ tion of the Arabic text describing how the Kingdom of David was transferred from Jerusalem to Ethiopia has been added, for this interesting document is practically unknown in England. The pictures of events described in the Old and New Testaments, given in this book, are taken from Ethiopic MSS. in the British Museum; they show as nothing else can the religious beliefs and tradi¬ tions of the Ethiopians, and at the same time they serve as examples of the drawings and designs with which they illustrated their manuscripts. Nearly all of them de¬ pict Scriptural events described or referred to in the Kebra Nagast. xv CONTENTS PAGE Introduction : I. The Manuscripts of the Kebra Nagast, etc. xxiii II. Translation of the Arabic Version xxxix III. Legends of the Queen of Sheba in the Kur’an lvi IV. Modern Legends of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba lx V. Summary of the Contents of the Kebra Nagast lxiv The Chapters of the Kebra Nagast 1. The Glory of Kings i 2. The Greatness of Kings 2