Iyasu or Joshua was a proclaimed

emperor of Ethiopia The emperor of Ethiopia (, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse (, "emperor"), was the hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. The emperor w ...

from 1787 to 1788 in

Tigray The Tigray Region (or simply Tigray; officially the Tigray National Regional State) is the northernmost Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob people, Irob and Kunama people. I ...

and

Gojjam Gojjam ( ''gōjjām'', originally ጐዛም ''gʷazzam'', later ጐዣም ''gʷažžām'', ጎዣም ''gōžžām'') is a historical provincial kingdom in northwestern Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Markos. During the 18th century, G ...

by enemies of Ras

Ali I of Yejju Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until his assassination in 661, as well as the first Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib ...

. He was defeated in battle against Ras Ali.

Reign

He is sometimes given the title ''Atse'', a less familiar

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

word for "Emperor", to distinguish him from the other emperors of Ethiopia with the same name. He may be identical with the emperor "Yoas" mentioned by

Nathaniel Pearce Nathaniel Pearce (14 February 1779 – 12 August 1820) was an English explorer who spent many years in the Ethiopian Empire (then called 'Abyssinia' by Europeans) and wrote a journal of his experiences. Early life Pearce was born in East Acton ...

. Pearce reports that "Yoas" was living in

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on ...

at the time of his death (May, 1813), and died penniless "without leaving sufficient even to purchase a coffin to receive ... isremains, or money enough for ''fettart'' or ''toscar''."Nathaniel Pearce, ''The Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce'', edited by J.J. Halls (London, 1831), vol. 1, pp. 124f. Pearce clearly means a different former Emperor than

Yonas Yonas ( Ge'ez: ዮናስ; died May 1813) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 18 August 1797 to 4 January 1798, and a member of Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Letezum, and the grandson of the Emperor Fasilides. H. Weld Blundell, ''The Royal chron ...

, for he mentions both in the same passage.

Notes

Pretenders to the Ethiopian throne 18th-century emperors of Ethiopia {{Ethiopia-royal-stub, Iyasu, Atse