Kaleb (,

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: Caleb), also known as Elesbaan (, ), was King of Aksum, which was situated in what is now

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

Name

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...

calls him "Hellestheaeus," a variant of the Greek version of his

regnal name A regnal name, regnant name, or reign name is the name used by monarchs and popes during their reigns and subsequently, historically. Since ancient times, some monarchs have chosen to use a different name from their original name when they accede ...

, (''Histories'', 1.20). Variants of his name are Hellesthaeus, Ellestheaeus, Eleshaah, Ellesboas, Elesbaan, and Elesboam. At Aksum, in inscription RIE 191, his name is rendered in unvocalized Gə‘əz as "Kaleb ʾElla ʾAṣbeḥa, son of Tazena". In vocalized Gə‘əz, it is (Kaleb ʾƎllä ʾÄṣbəḥä). Kaleb, a name derived from the Biblical character

Caleb Caleb ( ; , Tiberian vocalization: , Modern Israeli Hebrew: ) is a figure who appears in the Hebrew Bible as a representative of the Tribe of Judah during the Israelites' journey to the Promised Land. Following the Israelite conquest of Ca ...

, was his given name. On both his coins and inscriptions he left at

Axum Axum, also spelled Aksum (), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire. Axum is located in the Central Zone of the Tigray Re ...

, as well as Ethiopian hagiographical sources and king lists, he refers to himself as the son of Tazena.

Life

Procopius,

John of Ephesus John of Ephesus (or of Asia) (Greek: Ίωάννης ό Έφέσιος, Classical Syriac: ܝܘܚܢܢ ܕܐܦܣܘܣ, c. 507 – c. 588 AD) was a leader of the early Syriac Orthodox Church in the sixth century and one of the earliest and the most im ...

, and other contemporary historians recount Kaleb's invasion of

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

around 520, against the Himyarite king Yūsuf As'ar Yath'ar, known as

Dhu Nuwas Dhū Nuwās (), real name Yūsuf Asʾar Yathʾar ( Musnad: 𐩺𐩥𐩪𐩰 𐩱𐩪𐩱𐩧 𐩺𐩻𐩱𐩧, ''Yws¹f ʾs¹ʾr Yṯʾr''), Yosef Nu'as (), or Yūsuf ibn Sharhabil (), also known as Masruq in Syriac, and Dounaas () in Medieval G ...

, a Jewish convert who was persecuting the

Christian community of Najran The Christians of Najran were the most notable community of Christians in pre-Islamic Arabia. Christianity appears to have spread into the region by the fifth century, if not earlier. In some Islamic tradition, Najran is thought to have been the s ...

. After much fighting, Kaleb's soldiers eventually routed Yusuf's forces. They killed the king, allowing Kaleb to appoint

Sumyafa Ashwa Sumyafa' Ashwa al-Yazani, also known as Esimiphaios (Latin: Esimiphaeus) in Syriac and Greek sources, was a vassal king of Himyar, ruling in the 6th century CE under the Aksumite Empire. He was also the viceroy of the Aksumite king Kaleb, who had ...

, a native Christian (named Esimiphaios by Procopius), as his

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

of Himyar. As a result of his protection of the Christians, Kaleb is known as Saint Elesbaan after the sixteenth-century

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Caesar Baronius Cesare Baronio, C.O. (as an author also known as Caesar Baronius; 30 August 1538 – 30 June 1607) was an Italian Oratorian, cardinal and historian of the Catholic Church. His best-known works are his ''Annales Ecclesiastici'' ("Ecclesiast ...

added him to his edition of the ''

Roman Martyrology The ''Roman Martyrology'' () is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approved appendices to it. It provid ...

'' despite his being a

Miaphysite Miaphysitism () is the Christological doctrine that holds Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one nature (''physis'', ). It is a position held by the Oriental Orthodox Churches. It differs from the Dyophysitism of the ...

. Aksumite control of

Arabia Felix Arabia Felix (literally: Fertile/Happy Arabia; also Ancient Greek: Εὐδαίμων Ἀραβία, ''Eudaemon Arabia'') was the Latin name previously used by geographers to describe South Arabia, or what is now Yemen. Etymology The Latin term ...

continued until c. 525 when Sumyafa Ashwa was deposed by Abraha, who made himself king. Procopius states that Kaleb made several unsuccessful attempts to recover his overseas territory; however, his successor later negotiated a peace with Abraha, where Abraha acknowledged the Axumite king's authority and paid tribute.

Stuart Munro-Hay Stuart Christopher Munro-Hay (21 April 1947 – 14 October 2004) was a British archaeologist, numismatist and Ethiopianist. He studied the culture and history of ancient Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa region and South Arabia, particularly their his ...

opines that by this expedition Axum overextended itself, and this final intervention across the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

, "was Aksum's swan-song as a great power in the region." It is also apparent that his reign was marked by a major integration of the

Agaw The Agaw or Agew (, modern ''Agew'') are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the northern highlands of Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea. They speak the Agaw languages, also known as the Central Cushitic languages, which belong to the Cushitic bran ...

tribes of what are today the districts of Wag and

Lasta Lasta (Amharic: ላስታ ''lāstā'') is a historic province in northern Ethiopia located in the Amhara Region. It is the province in which Lalibela is situated, the former capital of Ethiopia during the Zagwe dynasty and home to 11 medieval roc ...

into his own kingdom.

Cosmas Indicopleustes Cosmas Indicopleustes (; also known as Cosmas the Monk) was a merchant and later hermit from Alexandria in Egypt. He was a 6th-century traveller who made several voyages to India during the reign of emperor Justinian. His work '' Christian Topogr ...

provides an important documentary confirmation for this. He makes a reference to the "governor of Agau", who was entrusted by Kaleb with the protection of the long-distance caravan routes from the south. According to

Taddesse Tamrat Taddesse Tamrat (; 4 August 1935 – 23 May 2013) was an Ethiopian historian and scholar of Ethiopian studies. He is best known as the author of ''Church and State in Ethiopia 1270–1520'' (1972, Oxford University Press ), a book which has domi ...

, Kaleb's governor of Agau probably has his seat of government in the area of

, which later serve as the center of the

Zagwe dynasty The Zagwe dynasty () was a medieval Agaw monarchy that ruled the northern parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It ruled large parts of the territory from approximately 1137 to 1270 AD, when the last Zagwe King Za-Ilmaknun was killed in battle by the ...

. A historical record survives of a meeting between the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

ambassador and historian Nonnosus and Kaleb in the year 530.Bowersock, G.W, ''The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam'' (2013), p. 109 Ethiopian tradition states that Kaleb eventually abdicated his throne, gave his crown to the

Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem. The church is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchat ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, and retired to a monastery. Later historians who recount the events of King Kaleb's reign include

ibn Hisham Abu Muhammad Abd al-Malik ibn Hisham ibn Ayyub al-Himyari (; died 7 May 833), known simply as Ibn Hisham, was a 9th-century Abbasid historian and scholar. He grew up in Basra, in modern-day Iraq and later moved to Egypt. Life Ibn Hisham has ...

ibn Ishaq Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...

, and

al-Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...

records a tradition he heard from an aged priest in

Lalibela Lalibela () is a town in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Lasta district and North Wollo Zone, it is a tourist site for its famous rock-cut monolithic churches designed in contrast to the earlier monolithic churches in Ethiopia ...

: Besides several inscriptions bearing his name, Axum also contains a pair of ruined structures, one said to be his tomb and its partner said to be the tomb of his son, Gabra Masqal. (Tradition gives him a second son, Israel, who, it has been suggested, is identical with king Israel of Axum.) This structure was first examined as an archaeological subject by Henry Salt in the early 19th century; almost a century later, it was partially cleared and mapped out by the Deutsche Aksum-Expedition in 1906. The most recent excavation of this tomb was in 1973 by the British Institute of Eastern Africa.

Issue and successors

A combination of literary, numismatical and epigraphical sources mention three sons of Kaleb named Gebre Meskel, Israel and Gebre Krestos, who all reigned as kings after him.

Gebre Meskel Gebre Meskel (Ge'ez: ገብረ መስቀል gäbrä mäsqäl, "Servant of the Cross") also known as Gabra Masqal was a King of Axum who reigned in the 6th century. He was a son of Kaleb of Axum and brother to Israel of Axum. His reign is most n ...

(or Gabra Maskal) appears on several official regnal lists as the successor of Kaleb.

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

is recorded via coins issued in his name when he ruled as king. Gebre Krestos appears on only one known regnal list under the abbreviated name of Gebru. A Ge'ez inscription written in Sabaean characters states "Man of Hadafen, Son of Ella Asbeha, Gebre Krestos". Some historians have suggested that "Gebre Krestos" could be the throne name of Gebre Meskel, but this has not been definitively proven. Sources give contradictory accounts of the events following the end of the reign of Kaleb. One source stated that Za Israel, who was the eldest son of Kaleb and had been appointed by his father as Viceroy of Himyar, heard of his father's death and that his younger brother had taken the throne, leading to Israel taking an army to Ethiopia regain the throne for himself. The source does not say who was victorious, but does state the conflict was long-lasting. Another source claimed that it was Gebre Meskel who was Kaleb's oldest son but the throne was seized by his brother Beta Israel due to Gebre Meskel having been in

Shewa Shewa (; ; Somali: Shawa; , ), formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa, is a historical region of Ethiopia which was formerly an autonomous kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The modern Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is located at it ...

at the time of his father's abdication. This angered Gebre Meskel, who wanted to go to war against Israel, but he was stopped by priests who told him to wait until they had asked his father who his preferred successor was. Kaleb confirmed his preferred successor was Gebre Meskel, and Israel dropped dead when the priests announced his decision. Another tradition claims that Israel instead went into hiding and took with him the Ark of

St. Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

and the Chariot of the

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, was a religious storage chest and relic held to be the most sacred object by the Israelites. Religious tradition describes it as a wooden storage chest decorat ...

and became leader of the ''Zar'' cult. According to the ''

Kebra Nagast The Kebra Nagast (, ), or The Glory of the Kings, is a 14th-century national epic of Ethiopia, written in Geʽez by the nebure id Ishaq of Aksum. In its existing form, the text is at least 700 years old and purports to trace the origins of the ...

'' Gebre Meskel was the youngest son of Kaleb and succeeded him to the throne after Kaleb retired to a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

Notes

References

External links

Emperor Kaleb & The First Crusade (~500AD-~535AD)

Blessed Elesbaan the King of Ethiopia
Eastern Orthodox

synaxarion Synaxarion or Synexarion (plurals Synaxaria, Synexaria; , from συνάγειν, ''synagein'', "to bring together"; cf. etymology of '' synaxis'' and ''synagogue''; Latin: ''Synaxarium'', ''Synexarium''; ; Ge'ez: ሲናክሳሪየም(ስንክ� ...