Salomon III ( Ge'ez: ሰሎሞን) was

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 ...

intermittently between 1796 and 1797, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of

Tekle Haymanot II Tekle Haymanot II ( Ge'ez: ተክለ ሃይማኖት), throne name: Admas Sagad III (Ge'ez: አድማስ ሰገድ; 1754 – 7 September 1777) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 18 October 1769, when he ascended the throne at the age of 15, until 13 Ap ...

. He may be identical with the Emperor Solomon whom the traveler Henry Salt lists as one of the Emperors still alive at the time of his visit in 1809/1810.

E. A. Wallis Budge Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (27 July 185723 November 1934) was an English Egyptology, Egyptologist, Orientalism, Orientalist, and Philology, philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient ...

notes some authorities believe he was the same person as Baeda Maryam II.

Life

He was largely a figurehead, appointed Emperor by '' Ras''

Wolde Selassie Wolde Selassie (; c.1736 – 28 May 1816) was Ras of the Tigray province between 1788 and 1816, and Regent of the Ethiopian Empire between 1797 and 1800. John J. Halls, in his ''Life and Correspondence of Henry Salt'', preserves a description of ...

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 ''Ras'' Mare'ed in 1796. He spent the next year struggling with his rival, and brother, the former Emperor

Tekle Giyorgis I Tekle Giyorgis I (; c. 1751 – 12 December 1817), throne name Feqr Sagad, was Emperor of Ethiopia intermittently between 20 July 1779 and June 1800, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the youngest son of Yohannes II and Woizoro Sanc ...

; while he was preoccupied with Tekle Giyorgis,

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 ...

was surrounded in May 1797 by the rebel ''Balambaras'' Asserat, who did not have the military strength to enter the capital city, and limited his destruction to burning the property of Tekle Giyorgis in Gondar. Salomon was forced to flee Gondar, and took refuge in

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 ...

where he lived under the protection of ''Ras'' Wolde Selassie. The ''Ras'' then supported the restoration of Salomon's brother Tekle Giyorgis. Not long afterwards, Salomon was invited to live with his brother as his guest. In May 1797, while Tekle Giyorgis was campaigning in

Begemder Begemder (; also known as Gondar or Gonder) was a province in northwest Ethiopia. The alternative names come from its capital during the 20th century, Gondar. Etymology A plausible source for the name ''Bega'' is that the word means "dry" in t ...

, Salomon disappeared from Tekle Giyorgis' camp and made his way back to Gondar where he received by ''Ras'' Mare'ed. ''Ras'' Mare'ed and ''Ras'' Guebre then restored Salomon as Emperor the following month. However, ''Ras''

Wolde Gabriel Wolde is a municipality in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea ...

marched on Gondar and a battle was fought between him and ''Ras'' Mare'ed on 22 July; both Wolde Gabriel and Mare'ed were killed, but Salomon's supporters were defeated. Salomon was deposed and put into chains by ''

Dejazmach Until the end of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint ( , modern transcription , singular መስፍን , modern , "prince"), the hereditary royal nobility, formed the upper ...

'' Gugsa and ''Dejazmach''

Alula The alula , or bastard wing, (plural ''alulae'') is a small projection on the anterior edge of the wing of modern birds and a few non-avian dinosaurs. The word is Latin and means "winglet"; it is the diminutive of ''ala'', meaning "wing". The a ...

, who were in the victorious army, and replaced him five days later with Demetros, the great-grandson of Emperor

Fasilides Fasilides ( Ge'ez: ፋሲለደስ; ''Fāsīladas''; 20 November 1603 – 18 October 1667), also known as Fasil, Basilide, or Basilides (as in the works of Edward Gibbon), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1632 to his death on 18 October 1667, and a me ...

. In 1802, Salomon was reportedly still a prisoner, but at that time in

.Weld Blundell, ''Royal chronicle'', p. 471

Notes

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Salomon 03 Of Ethiopia 18th-century emperors of Ethiopia 18th-century monarchs in Africa Solomonic dynasty