Page:The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.djvu/77

 But he admits (p.460) that "no great dependence can be placed" upon the Chronicles.

The list begins with "Arwe, the serpent," who reigned 400 years; Za Beesi Angaba, 200; Zagdur, 100; Zazebass Besedo, 50; Zakawasya b'Axum, 1; Za Makeda, 50; "in her 4th year she went to Jerusalem, and after her return reigned 25 years." Then comes Menilek, 29; followed by 15 others, 91 years 2 months; then Za Baesi Bazen, 16 years, "and in the eighth year of his reign Christ was born." Then follow 7 names, 68 years, and Za Hakale, 13; then 15 more names, 227 years 4 months, and Aizanas (el Abreha), and Saizanas (el Atzbeha), 26 years 6 months, "and in the 13th year of his reign Christianity was introduced," and so on.

If Za Makeda was the Queen of Sheba who visited King Solomon in the 10th century B. C., there are evidentally great omissions before Za Baesi Bazen, whose reign is said to have begun in 8 B. C. And Salt was obliged to move Aizanas and Saizanas from their places in the Chronicle, and to advance them 130 years, in order to make them tally with their Axum and Adulis inscriptions, and the correspondence known to have been carried on between them and the Roman Emperors Constantine and Constantius. Therefore Za Hakale's place in the list, in the absence of confirming evidence, can hardly fix the date of the Periplus, as proposed by Müller. More probable is that, like Salt's Aizanas, he must be advanced in the Chronicle to meet known facts. By moving him up three places in the line his accession is brought to 59 A. D., a very probable date.

The Abyssinian Chronicle was composed some time after the conversion of the people to Christianity. Its earlier portions are, therefore, mere tradition; and two versions of it which Salt examined during his visit to that country were found to differ materially.

The reigns in the first Christian century, as given by Salt, are as follows: