Selwanos

Selwanos, Abba (perhaps fl. 13th century A.D.), was a disciple of Abba ‘Iyäsus-Mo’a, and is said to have understood the language of the birds and beasts. While on a journey during the closing years of the Zagwé dynasty, he stayed in the house of a wealthy man where the child and future Emperor, Yekuno-‘Amlak, was living. There Abba Selwanos heard a cock crowing and interpreted its cry to mean “whosoever eats my head will become king.” Yekuno-‘Amlak ate the head which had been thrown aside by a careless maid-servant and the prophecy was of course fulfilled. In later traditions, the last Zagwé king, Yetbaräk or Zä-‘Elmäknun, is said to have heard and understood the crowing of the cock and to have sought the advice of St. Täklä-Haymanot.

Belaynesh Michael

Bibliography

S. Kur (ed. and trans.), Actes de Iyasus Mo’a, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, Scriptores aethiopici, t. 49 and t. 50.

C. Conti Rossini, “La caduta della dinastia Zagué e la versione america della Be’ela Nagast,” Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Vol. XXXI (1922): 300 ff.

G. W. B. Huntingford, “The Wealth of Kings’ and the end of the Zagué dynasty,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. XXVIII (1965): 12 ff.

This article is reproduced, with permission, from The Dictionary of Ethiopian Biography, Vol. 1 ‘From Early Times to the End of the Zagwé Dynasty c. 1270 A.D.,’ copyright © 1975, edited by Belaynesh Michael, S. Chojnacki and Richard Pankhurst, Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All rights reserved.