Introduction

1

In Ethiopia, paganism¹ has been known in the history of religion since Antiquity. Archaeological and historical findings have revealed that paganism has long existed in the Christian highlands. Before Christianity, the Aksumites worshipped various pagan gods, as is clear from the inscriptions and coins of the fourth century (Munro-Hay 1984). The famous pagan trilingual inscription² (written in Greek, Gǝʿǝz and Sabaic) of ʿEzānā clearly lists the names of King ʿEzānā’s pagan gods, from whom he claimed he had acquired the power to win over his enemies, the neighbouring ancient local states and peoples. These pagan gods were named Mahram, Astar, Beher and Mǝdǝr. ʿEzānā also presented himself in the inscription as Mahram’s son, who seemed to be one of his most powerful and revered pagan gods. However, we do not yet have clear evidence of the structure and organisation of these pagan gods, but we have a clue from the same inscription that these pagan gods must have had organised institutions. ʿEzānā’s inscription states that after the king became victorious over his enemies, he offered 100 cattle and 50 prisoners to one of his gods, Mahram, as an offering of thanks (Sergew Hable Sellassie 1972, 94). Here, it is certain that there were several pagan priests who officiated services for the god Mahram and who might have needed slaves’ labour and activities, although we still lack historical documents that offer us detailed information.

2

However, a decade later, the same king, who represented himself as the son of Mahram, abandoned the pagan gods and converted to Christianity, which is attested in another of his official inscriptions written in Greek (Sergew Hable Sellassie 1972, 102).³ The inscription begins with the words, “In the faith of God and the power of the father, and the son and the Holy Ghost who have saved my kingdom,” which clearly attests that the pagan King ʿEzānā had converted to Christianity. In the inscription, the king also took an oath to abandon his pagan god and became faithful only to the Christian God.

3

But the official conversion of the king to Christianity does not seem to have weakened the pagan belief in the kingdom, which remained strong until the thirteenth century. Though Christianity was introduced in the fourth century, it did not expand beyond the vicinity of ʾAksum and its neighbouring region due to pagan resistance.⁴ It was also almost 200 years later when Christianity once again expanded following the coming of the nine saints from Byzantium Rome.⁵ Even they had never managed to spread beyond the region of Tǝgrāy, where one of the nine saints, ʾabbā ʾAragāwi, founded the monastery of Dabra Dāmo, which is believed to be the first monastery in the history of Ethiopian Christianity.

4

But we have another reliable written source, The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, which describes that a pagan queen known as the Queen of Banu al-Hamwiyyah defeated a Christian king whose name was not identified (Evetts 1906–1915, 171–72).⁶ The pagan Queen, joined by several of her followers, killed Christians and priests and burned down churches and monasteries in the period. The origin of the woman is obscure, but she might have been from the stronghold of paganism, Dāmot. We have scanty details from the various hagiographies of the medieval saints that revealed there were various forms of pagan religious practices in various places of Goǧǧām, Dāmot and Šawā in the early thirteenth century confronting the expansion of Christianity, such as the sky god, a fire cult, worship of a serpent god, and various spirit practices. Even more pagan practices were conducted in the region of Dāmot, including the sacrifice of humans for the deities, echoes of which were reported in one of the works attributed to King Zarʾa Yāʿqob, Maṣḥafa bǝrhān (‘The book of light’) (Conti Rossini and Ricci 1965a, II:49–50, 1965b, 29). It is evident that these different religious practices were celebrated by a large number of pagan priests who exercised considerable social and political power. It was believed that these priests communicated directly with the pagan divinities and the spirits who granted them the powers of good and evil. It was therefore believed that they had full power over all natural phenomena: rain and drought, famine and epidemics, even life and death.

5

Paganism continued persistently to resist the expansion of Christianity in the Christian highlands. The small Christian communities in Dāmot, Goǧǧām and Sawā in the thirteenth century were at the mercy of the local rulers of the pagans. The monks who engaged in the expansion of Christianity were attacked and some of them were also stoned. In this regard, the information collected from local hagiographies indicates that the local saints, such as ʾabbā Filǝṗṗos⁷ of Dabra ʾAsbo and ʾabbāʾ ʾAnorewos,⁸ were repeatedly attacked by the local pagan believers, whereas ʾabbā Zenā Mārqos,⁹ a fourteenth-century local saint, was persecuted while preaching in Gurāge country (Turaiev 1908; Conti Rossini 1905; Cerulli 1962).

The Development of Paganism and Resistance of the Christian Kingdom

6

Following the rise of the new Solomonic dynasty in the late thirteenth century, paganism was directly challenged by Christian emperors who contributed to the expansion of Christianity, both militarily and politically, against paganism. Pagan chiefs and priests were forced to be baptised and converted to Christianity, pagan sanctuaries were dismantled and, in their place, churches and monasteries were built (Taddesse Tamrat 1972b, 139–40).¹⁰

7

Though Christianity was expanded following the territorial extension of the Christian kingdom particularly in the time of the warrior King ʿAmda Ṣǝyon,¹¹ the evangelising activities did not move smoothly, and Christianity could not uproot pagan practices. Taddesse convincingly argued that the linguistic and cultural diversity of the Ethiopian region, as well as the extensive nature of the areas involved, seem to have considerably reduced the efficiency of the evangelising mission of the Ethiopian church. This means that the majority of the priesthood never underwent a rigorous system of theological training. Capable of only a parrot-like recitation of biblical and liturgical formulae, the clergy could hardly offer sufficient guidance to the people wishing to turn away from pagan practices (Taddesse Tamrat 1972a, 157, 1972b, 147–48). Because of this cumulative background, in the middle of the fifteenth century, during the period of Zarʾa Yāʿqob, pagan religious expressions revived considerably, and numerous pagan practices were rampant even among Christian communities. The pagan rituals became part of the worship of even the top political officials of King Zarʾa Yāʿqob, and some of his sons and daughters became followers of pagan gods.

8

There were various forms of pagan gods and pagan customs which were frequently practised by the local medieval society, at least during the time of Zarʾa Yāʿqob, and some of them existed for a long time before his reign. These practices often appear in the writings of Zarʾa Yāʿqob, who composed them partly to condemn these pagan gods and their acts.¹² In this regard, he refers in his writing to Dask, Dino, Mārt, Faṣnat, gʷǝdale, maqāwazay, astarābi, or magicians (ṭanqwalǝyān), who choose a day and hour (for an act), who are star-gazers or charmers (Maśarrǝyan) or idolaters who practice magic and divination (Getatchew 2013a, 66, 2013b, 46).¹³

9

Various gods also had a certain geographical area where they were more predominant; Dask was widely predominant in the region of Šawā, Dino in ʾAngot and Ṣǝgʷuʿǝ in Goǧǧām (Wendt 1963a, II:49, 1963b, II:43).

10

Indeed, we have no detailed sources from the pagan side to know what their rituals of religious practice were during the reign of King Zarʾa Yāʿqob. We find very few references in Christian literature that provide vivid information about the ritual practice in the way of demonising the pagan ritual, but the most illuminating were that of the church. One of the most important writings of King Zarʾa Yāʿqob, Maṣḥafa bǝrhān, devoted much of its coverage to the pagan gods of his time. The work demonises the pagan ritual in contrast to praising the Christian church, which offers salvation and performs good deeds. In this regard, it would be more valuable to quote the passage that helps to better understand the ritual activities of the pagans and their ritual practices. The text mentions that “your mountains stink with the fat of cows, sheep, goats, birds, with the blood of dogs, in sacrificing for Satan. But for us, our priests and monasteries are scented with the scent of incense, galbanum and Frankincense and incense gum with which one censes the church” (Getatchew 2013a, 98, 2013b, 68). The passage in the Maṣḥafa bǝrhān is used to preach Christianity and abandon the pagan practice and it presents how the church’s holy sites are clean with good smells, while the pagan sanctuaries are in the mountains that are full of filth of the remains of the sacrifices. But one thing that is clear from the text is that there were various animals used for sacrifice for pagan deities—not only cattle, goats and sheep (still common even today) but also dogs and birds, which are not supposed to be edible according to Christian teaching.

11

The two pagan gods Dask¹⁴ and Dino, whose power was apparently widely accepted, caused considerable harm and were a great challenge to the king’s power. The people believed that they had divine power and made a prophecy of the future. The medieval local people consulted them regularly and it seems that they were accepted among their followers. At court, they were regularly consulted by the officials of King Zarʾa Yāʿqob. The work written by Zarʾa Yāʿqob describes the conflict between Zarʾa Yāʿqob and his officials, which eventually led to an irreconcilable power struggle between the king and his ministers, whom the king accused of abandoning the true God due to the fact that they worshipped Dask and Dino. As it is reported in the work of king Zarʾa Yāʿqob, the pagan gods had influenced the court; the court people were divided into two camps. The king, as usual, was devoted to the church and the word of God, but some of the top officials of the kingdom, whose office was next to the king, were all devoted to the worshipping of Dask and Dino: Bǝḥtwaddad;¹⁵ these included Isāyǝyyās, his wife Šiḥ Mangašā,¹⁶ his son Badǝl Wāni the rǝʾǝsa ṭǝqāqqǝnāt of the right and his brother, Nǝwāy, the Makʷannǝn¹⁷ of Tǝgrāy, his son in law Ḥarb Saggad, the head of Zān Balo and Badǝl Kaffatā, the head of Baḍar Wāgat. These personalities were those who assumed key positions of the civil and military offices of the kingdom. They regularly received miracles and consultation from these pagan cults, who told them that they would not have a better future during the reign of the king, so they would have to remove him from power and replace him with another king who would allow them to worship their gods freely (Getatchew 1991b, 69–70, 1991c, 56). These top court officials were ready to further influence the subjects and the troops in order to indoctrinate and under their autonomy declare the pagan deities, which certainly undermined the church. Some of them even had their own personal pagan priest who served them. They vowed that “We can force this king to abdicate the authority of the kingship and make another king who will do our will and will worship our gods, magicians, diviners, Dino and Dask” (Getatchew 1991b, 70, 1991c, 56). This fact is clearly summarised in the following quotation that appears in the work of the king, Ṭomāra tǝsbǝʾt, which was indeed composed in favour of the political motive of the king but provides substantial information on the subject:

12

These are those who first broke faith with God by consulting magicians, sorcerers, dino and dask: later they betrayed the king and broke their oath which they had sworn to the king that they would not rebel against him. As for Bǝḥǝtwaddad Isāyǝyyās, his brother-in-law Galāwdewos, the Jew, brought him a dask from Wagi. That Galāwdewos became a Jew forsaking his Christianity and denying Christ. And Ḥārb Saggad, his [Isāyǝyyās’s] son-in-law, the head of Zān Balo, brought him a dino from ʾAngot; and Isāyǝyyās was himself a magician. He gathered other magicians, too, to himself and consulted them with his associates whom we mentioned earlier. They said to the magicians, diviners, dino and dask, “Will life for us under this king be good or bad? Will our lives be long or short? Will we have joy under this king or under another king?” The magicians, sorcerers dino and dask said to them “You will not have a good life during the days of this king.” (Getatchew 1991c, 54)

13

The worship of these pagan gods was one of the serious accusations to achieve political motives in addition to the preservation of the church. Since medieval society was more characterised by belief in miracles and divine power, these local pagan cults affected the religious life of the people enormously. However, this was reversed by the action of the king, who charged them with this sin and took serious measures against the abandonment of this practice. In the following section, we will discuss the measures that were taken to abandon pagan practices.

14

What were the steps undertaken by King Zarʾa Yāʿqob to resist the pagan religious practices in his kingdom? As highlighted above, the pagan gods dominated and influenced both the political and religious life of the time, which greatly challenged the religious policy of the king. Court officials regularly consulted with these pagan priests about future policies and their future lives. This had been the custom of the time, which is evident from the various teachings and religious instructions of the king, who strongly gave up saying that what pagan gods were doing was wrong, that the pagan gods were pushing the Christian people away from proper Christian religious actions, and that their actions were satanic. These practices hindered Christians from enjoying heavenly life, but that did not stop them. The Christian common people also practised pagan practices secretly. However, the pagan god institution had not defined groups of people who strictly followed them. It seems that this was a challenge to the king to dismantle the pagan practice, which could not be averted only by teaching Christians the doctrine and order of Christianity. Thus, the zealous Christian King Zarʾa Yāʿqob was forced to have taken stricter laws and instructions for abandoning pagan practices under the domain of his kingship.¹⁸

15

One of the strong measures taken by King Zarʾa Yāʿqob to prohibit paganism was a written decree in which he ordered pagan gods to be abandoned and the Christian worship of Jesus and his mother, Mary, to be promoted instead. The decree ordered Christians to inscribe a prayer text on the three parts of their body, that is on their forehead and right and left hands, representing the sign of the cross, which was believed to protect a Christian from Satan and also prevent the spirits of Dask and Dino from approaching the person. Thus, everyone had to inscribe in bold Gǝʿǝz letters on the forehead the common formula: በስመ፡ አብ፡ ወወልድ፡ ወመንፈስ፡ ቅዱስ። (‘In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’). On the right hand, ክህድክዎ፡ ለዲያብሎስ፡ በክርስቶስ፡ አምላክ (‘I renounce the Devil, in the name of Christ who is God), and on their left hand: ክህድክዎ፡ ለደስክ፡ ርጉም፡ አነ፡ ገብራ፡ ለማርያም፡ እሙ፡ ለፈጣሬ፡ ኵሉ፡ ዓለም። (‘I renounce Dask the accursed, I am the servant of Mary, the mother of the creator of the whole world’) (Perruchon 1893, 6). Here the writing of the decree is carefully crafted and had a theological explanation. If one imagines a standing person holding out two hands, one can easily see a sign of the cross, for the promotion of the cross by King Zarʾa Yāʿqob was an essential religious policy of his time.¹⁹ Here, one can understand that the symbol and visual representation of the sign of the cross above the head easily helped spread Christianity among the locals. On the other hand, the decree also mentions the most famous pagan god who was highly celebrated in the Šawā region and most likely had several branches of ritual centres.

16

The king in this religious policy wanted to dismantle the pagan belief from the Christian land, and so greatly promoted belief only in Jesus and in his mother Mary, which was highly favoured during his time, as the king initiated the production of the miracles of Mary (Taʾammǝra Māryām) and distributed manuscripts to various monasteries and churches (Budge 1923, X).

17

The decree of King Zarʾa Yāʿqob was famous during this period and accepted in the church, and the tradition continued in the proceeding centuries. Even today, we can find tattoos of crosses on the foreheads of some highland Christian girls and women, which is the legacy of this decree.

18

It is obvious that the edict was strictly obeyed among the Christian subjects of the kingdom. But for those who disobeyed, the punishment was also specified: ወዘንተ፡ ዘኢገብረ፡ ይትበርበር፡ ቤቱ፡ ወይትኰነን፡ ሥጋሁ፡ እንዘ፡ ይብል፡ አዘዘ፡ ንጉሥ፡ በውስተ፡ ኵሉ፡ ዓለም፡ (‘He who did not heed [this prescription] had his house pillaged and corporal punishment was also administered to the guilty party to recall that the king should be obeyed by everybody’) (Perruchon 1893, 7).

19

The period of Zarʾa Yāʿqob was marked by a period of terror by the chronicler as the king killed several of his subjects after adopting the law in the name of his pagan law.²⁰ He overthrew his second person next to him, the Bǝḥtwaddad Isāyǝyyās, and other several top officials I mentioned above, under the pretext of accusing them of practising pagan rituals and magical practices. They were forced to repent for publicly worshipping the pagan god for the instruction of the common people of the empire (Getatchew 1991b, 76, 1991c, 61) and they were all killed. In addition, a large number of people were flogged and punished in the court of Dabra Bǝrhan for attending pagan practices.

20

It is reported that the king ordered a severe punishment even for his children, male and female, who prostrated themselves before Dask and Dino (Perruchon 1893, 6; Wendt 1963a, II:95–96, 1963b, 83–84). This episode created terror and havoc among the ordinary Christians and courtly people. The male princes whom the king punished were Tewodros, Galāwdewos, ʿAmda Ṣǝyon, Zara ʾAbrǝhām and others whose names were not remembered by the chronicler (Perruchon 1893, 98). Those of his daughters punished were ʾAṣnāf Samǝrā, Dǝl Samǝrā and others.²¹ Some of these royal progenies died at the place of torture and others at their quarters. He then summoned a great assembly and showed those who composed it the pains and heavy punishment inflicted on his children. He said to them: ርእዩአ፡ ዘከመ፡ ገበርነ፡ ላዕለ፡ ውሉድነ፡ ወኢህምክናሆሙ፡ ሶበ፡ አበሱ፡ ላዕለ፡ እግዚአብሔር፡ ቀኒአነ፡ ሎቱ። ወይእዜኒ፡ ለእመ፡ የአክሎሙ፡ ዝንቱ፡ ቅስፈት። ወለእመ፡ ንዌሰክ፡ ላዕሌሆሙ፡ በእንተ፡ እግዚአብሔር፡ በሉኬ፡ ተናገሩ፡ (‘See how we have acted with our children: in our zeal for God, we have not spared them for having sinned against Him. Now, say whether you consider this calvary sufficient or if, for the glory of God, we should still increase it’). Then, all the people present burst into tears and replied: ምንተኒ፡ ኵነኔ፡ ይዌስኩ፡ ላዕሌሆሙ። እስመ፡ ናሁ፡ አልጸቁ፡ ለሞት። ኦእግዚእነ፡ ንጉሥ። (‘What punishment could be added to this one, Oh, King our Lord, for they are on the point of death’). The King’s chronicle also adds that a large number of people were put to death or sentenced to other punishments on similar charges (Perruchon 1893, 98–99).

21

The king also created detailed instructions for those who used to worship pagan gods or idolaters who practised magic and divination and ordered for them to not be allowed to enter the church or go to school before they show themselves to the priest.

22

For worshipping idols is worse than any sin, as the apostles James has said “For whoever observes the whole law but errs in one, becomes guilty of all, what he said is the abandonment of the worship of God, for the worship of God is greatest of all good deeds.

23

If you enter church or come to the school while you are idolaters, petitioning an idol saying, “impoverish our enemy, and enrich us; kill our adversaries, and keep us alive; bring misery upon those who oppose us, and do goodness for us”, behold, I, Zarʾa Yāʿqob, whose reginal name is Qʷasṭanṭinos, have ordered that whoever does so, let (officials) plunder his house and condemn his soul; and let his land of inheritance be for the others. For God has appointed us for this act and made us king for the duty of avenging his enemies and rooting them out from the face of the earth. Regarding other sins, however, you have priests and metropolitans to give you penance and to cleanse you from all sins and trespasses. If you enter church and come to school while you secretly worship idols and consult magicians and are guided by astrology, you’re going (to the church and school) will be in vain.” (Getatchew 2013b, 46)

24

The steps that had been taken by king Zarʾa Yāʿqob dismantled pagan practices in the entire Christian kingdom and created a great opportunity to expand the church in various parts of the kingdom. Though he abandoned the pagan ritual practice successfully through teaching and producing various books against paganism and also serious legal prescriptions as we have seen above, he built his personal cult equal to the status of divine power. He killed hundreds of people and even his children in allegations of prostrating in front of pagan gods, arguing that prostrating is only for God and other saints. But later, he used to force his subjects to prostrate in front of him and he took serious measures on those who failed to do so, for example, the Stephanites (a group of religious movements within Ethiopian monasticism, called so after their founder and spiritual leader ʾabuna ʾƎsṭifānos).²² As the chronicle of the king reported, in this regard, the king made a second prescription for all Christians invoking the name of God to prostrate for the magnificence of his kingship and to prostrate themselves before Mary’s virginity (Perruchon 1893, 102). This was supported by many theological books and religious teachings. But what is amazing is that the King also equally prescribed Christians to prostrate themselves when they heard his words and appeared before him. This is clearly evident in the royal chronicle:

25

ወዓዲ፡ አዘዘ፡ ውእቱ፡ ንጉሥነ፡ እንዘ፡ ይብል፡ ጊዜ፡ ትጼውዑ፡ ስሞ፡ ለእግዚአብሔር፡ ኵልክሙ፡ ሕዝበ፡ ክርስቲያን። በሉ፡ እሰግድ፡ ቅድመ፡ ዕበየ፡ መንግሥቱ፡ ወእምዝ፡ ጸውዑ፡ ስሞ። ወካዕበ፡ ጊዜ፡ ትፈቅዱ፡ ጸውኦ፡ ለእግዝእትነ፡ ማርያም። በሉ፡ ቅድመ፡ ድንግልናሃ፡ ይደሉ፡ ሰጊድ። ወእምዝ፡ ጸውዑ፡ ወሥልሰ፡ ይቤ፡ ሶበ፡ ትሰምኡ፡ ቃለነ። ወሶበ፡ ትብጽሑ፡ ቅድመ፡ ገጽነ፡ ወትረ፡ በሉ፡ እንዘ፡ ትሰግዱ፡ ንስግድ፡ ለአብ፡ ወወልድ፡ ወመንፈስ፡ ቅዱስ፡ ለዘአንገሠ፡ ለነ፡ ዘርአ፡ ያዕቆብ፡ (‘Our King also ordered saying that “When you invoke the name of God, all you Christians, say at first: “I prostrate myself before the magnificence of his Kingship”, then invoke his name. Secondly, when you want to invoke the name of our Lady Mary, say: “It is appropriate to prostrate before her virginity,” then invoke it. Thirdly, when you hear our word or when you appear before us, say always prostrating yourselves: “We prostrate ourselves before the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, who gave us King Zarʾa Yāʿqob”’). (Perruchon 1893, 102).

26

Though Zarʾa Yāʿqob was remarkable for abandoning pagan religious practices and promoting the church and Christianity, pagan religious practices continued among some communities despite being heavily dominated by Christianity, but they still faced coercion from successive Solomonic kings who wanted to expand the Christian faith as a state policy. After King Galāwdewos (1540–1559) maintained peace and stability in the Christian kingdom following the turbulent civil war between Christians and Muslims by being victorious against Aḥmad in 1543, he led subsequent military campaigns to the communities that had been worshipping pagan gods and converted them to Christianity. In this context, he led a campaign to conquer Gambo in (1548) and Gumar in 1550 (Solomon Gebreyes 2019a, 56, 59, 60, 61, 2019b, 32, 34, 35, 36). Similarly, in the late sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, kings including King Śarḍa Dǝngǝl (r. 1563–1597), Susǝnyos (r. 1607–1632) and ʾIyāsu (1667–1682) and others waged several military campaigns against pagan communities that followed various forms of pagan religious practices and converted them to Christianity (Conti Rossini 1907, 120‒127 (text), 1942, 83‒87 (text); Pereira 1892, 250‒253 (text); Guidi 1903, 235‒263 (text)). But pagan religious practices never disappeared; although it is much downplayed in modern Ethiopian history, they still exist in various forms to this day.

Conclusion

27

There were three major phases in the evolution of paganism in the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia. The first phase covers the period from the first to the twelfth century, which refers to paganism and seems to have held a strong position covering a long period of religious history. But much has never been known about this phase, except for the fourth century, about which King ʿEzānā has left us very valuable historical sources. This period is characterised by the resistance of paganism against the expansion of Christianity, which was confined only to the territory around ʾAksum and its vicinity. This indeed invites rigorous historical research in the future. The second stage of paganism, which approximately covers the period from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, represents the period in which paganism faced resistance from Christianity and was strongly assisted by the Christian Ethiopian kings. This period represents the destruction of pagan shrines and buildings to be replaced by monasteries and churches. The third is the period after the early fifteenth century, which witnessed a little revival of paganism but also saw strong prohibitive measures followed by a zealous Christian King Zarʾa Yāʿqob, whose policy brought a considerable impact on the development of paganism to the extent of its demise. The king prohibited pagan practices both through legal means as well as by disseminating teachings against paganism, by composing theological books that challenged pagan practices and principles from a Christian doctrinal point of view.

28

As we know, the two religions, Christianity and Islam, are better known because they operated within a literary culture, so that we can understand the history and doctrine of these religions very clearly throughout centuries in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Since paganism, unlike these two religions, had no tradition of preserving its history and the principles of religion, it is difficult to understand the structure and principles that it is based on. But it has persisted to this day, even in our modern society. This is because it adapts to both religions and the culture of society. When Christianity officially proclaimed that pagan traditional practices were to remain behind the curtain, the people continued practising the Christian religion in the church but also secretly obeyed the pagan tradition.