A palace for the Hairy King: An Ethiopian political and religious riddle

Abstract

This chapter proposes to revise the strict distinction between materiality and immateriality in the consideration of the intersections between archaeological evidence, written documentation and oral sources in the study of the of sixteenth–seventeenth century Ethiopia. It traces the meaning of an enigmatic lead offered by Amhara and Agäw oral historical legends that refer to the building of royal palaces in the Gondär region, Northern Ethiopia, and the complex political and religious tensions the region witnessed at the time. By considering the narrative trope of the lascivious hairy king who doubles as an apostate of the established Christian Orthodox faith, it analyses the dynamics of othering and assimilating local communities in the context of the renewal of state power in the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia / Ethiopia.