A short elegy.

By: Imru Zelleke
July 23, 2010.

July 23, 1892 is the date of birth of Teferi Makonnen, Haile Sellassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia.

In reminiscing about Emperor Haile-Sellassie, or any other Emperor of Ethiopia one must first understand the history of the Ethiopian Monarchy its legends, fables and its myths; notions that are  woven in the Ethiopian psyche. According to history the Ethiopian Monarch are descendents of King Solomon and theQueen of Sheba, whose progeny was Menelik I, the first King of Ethiopia. Whether this is real or a myth is not important. Just like Biblical history it is a matter of faith

Thus, all Ethiopian monarchies have existed in the absolute belief of their rights and duties inherited from this history and myths, which they considered as a sacred trust and their manifest destiny. Axum, Roha, Lalibela, Gonder, monasteries, churches and archeological sites we see today; literature, laws and social canons derive from Biblical times and inspirations. Hence, we must reckon   that the personality of Emperor Haile Sellassie and his generation was shaped by this absolute faith. For instance when the revision of the Constitution was made, I was secretary of the drafting committee, when a suggestion came from one of the foreign advisers that the term “Elect by God” be taken out from the titles naming the Emperor. When I reported the matter to the Emperor, he said “Were it not the will of God, how do you think that I came to this position?” and he mean it.

Professor Getatchew Haile, Ph.D., F.B.A., is Cataloguer Emeritus of Oriental Manuscripts and Regents Professor of Medieval Studies at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library of Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota (USA). He studied theology at the Coptic Theological College, Cairo, Egypt (B.A., 1957); Social Sciences at the American University in Cairo, Egypt (B.A., 1957); and Semitic Philology at the Eberhard-Karls-Univertität Tübingen, Germany (Ph.D., 1962). He taught for over ten years at the Haile Sellassie I (now Addis Ababa) University, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), before he and his family moved to Minnesota, USA, in 1976, where he published several catalogues of Ethiopic manuscripts on microfilm and a few books and many articles on Ethiopian Studies. His latest book is an Amharic autobiography, Andafta Lawgachihu, which appeared in 2008. He is Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, winner of the MacArthur Foundation Award, member of the Academy of Social Sciences of the Addis Ababa University and member of editorial boards of several international scholarly journals. Professor Getatchew Haile and his wife Weyzero Misrak Amare are parents of six accomplished children and grandparents of seven grandchildren.