History

From Zagwe capital to living pilgrimage centre (the most precisely LalibelaEthiopia single Zagwe Dynasty 900 1270 CE Christian northern Ethiopia Moses ancestry Roha original name King Lalibela 1181 1221 CE renamed New Jerusalem Ethiopian Christian Orthodox Axum fall 8th century CE Arab expansion Red Sea coast Muslim states Zagwe inland Christian kingdom Crusades 12th century CE King Lalibela pilgrimage Jerusalem impossible Muslim control Ethiopia New Jerusalem rock churches tradition angel assistance UNESCO heritage: the Zagwe Dynasty context (the Zagwe Dynasty ruled from approximately 900 to 1270 CE from their capital at Lalibela (originally named Roha); the dynasty was Christian; the founding of the dynasty is mythologically connected to Moses (a common legitimizing claim in Ethiopian royal tradition); the fall of Axum (the previous Christian kingdom of Aksum (5th century BCE-8th century CE) was weakened by Arab expansion along the Red Sea coast; the Islamic states of the Horn of Africa cut off the maritime trade that supported Axum; the Zagwe emerged from inland Agaw communities that had long been in contact with Axum)); the construction period (approximately 1181-1221 CE: King Lalibela (named Gebre Meskel Lalibela at birth; the name Lalibela given after bees reportedly surrounded the infant; interpreted as a divine sign) commissioned or personally inspired the church complex; the Ethiopian tradition holds that the churches were begun in Lalibela’s lifetime; recent archaeological research (a German-Ethiopian team studying the mortar and construction techniques) suggests that parts of the complex may predate Lalibela and others may postdate him, but the core construction is 12th-13th century CE); the Solomonic restoration (1270 CE: the Zagwe Dynasty was replaced by the Solomonic Dynasty (who claimed descent from Solomon and Makeda, the Queen of Sheba); the new dynasty promoted the legend that Lalibela built the churches with angelic assistance, to legitimize the site as a sacred place (not belonging to the now-displaced Zagwe))) — the most precisely LalibelaEthiopia single Zagwe Dynasty 900 1270 CE Christian Ethiopia Moses ancestry Roha capital Axum fall 8th century CE Arab expansion Red Sea Muslim states Zagwe inland Christian King Lalibela 1181 1221 CE rock churches angel assistance tradition Solomonic 1270 CE Zagwe replaced Solomon Makeda Queen Sheba UNESCO heritage in any UNESCO world heritage site)).