Aster Aweke: A Glimpse

Aster Aweke: A Glimpse

Sometimes referred to as “Ethiopia’s Aretha Franklin”, Aster Aweke is an Ethiopian singer who lives in the United States. Aweke was born in 1961 in Gondar, Ethiopia and was raised in the capital city of Addis Ababa. Her father was a senior civil servant in the Imperial government.

By the age of 13 she was determined to become a musician, and started her career at Hager Fikir Theatre in Addis Ababa.By her late teens, she was singing in Addis Ababa clubs and hotels with such bands as the Continental Band, Hotel D'Afrique Band, Shebele Band, and the Ibex Band before they became the internationally known as Roha Band.

Aweke's distinct style has been influenced by other Ethiopian singers such as Bizunesh Bekele. Launching a solo career, she was encouraged by musical entrepreneur Ali Tango, who financed and released five cassettes and two singles of her music.

By 1981, she had become disillusioned by Ethiopia's oppressive political climate following the death of iconic leader Emperor Haile Selassie and relocated to the United States. Temporarily settling in the Bay Area of California with plans to pursue an education; within two years, she settled in Washington, D.C.,which hosts one of the largest Ethiopian expatriate communities in the country.Here she became increasingly popular within the Ethiopian community, performing in restaurants and clubs. She also remains popular in Ethiopia; in 1997 she performed in Addis Ababa for a crowd of over 50,000 people.

Discography

Ethiopian Groove - The Golden Seventies, Paris, 1994, Buda Musique (contains three of her very first recordings)
1989 Aster (Triple Earth / Columbia Records)
1991 Kabu (Triple Earth / Columbia Records)
1993 Ebo (Barkhanns)
1997 Live in London (Barkhanns)
1999 Hagere (Kabu Records)
2002 Sugar (Kabu Records)
2004 Asters Ballads (Kabu Records)
2006 Fikir

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Comment: I have never had an opportunity to talk to Aster Aweke, even in the three – years long of a journalistic work when I was Arts editor with the daily Addis Zemen (Amharic national news paper) in the early 1980s. I don’t know why she didn’t come to mind for invitation for interview.Anyhow, when I compiled the life and works of world and Ethiopian great musicians with a colleague 14 years ago, Aster Aweke figured prominently in the collection. This collection of great value is still waiting for publication. Lack of financial resource has become a great obstacle. Any publisher interested in the life and work of great musicians can extend a helping hand.Coming back to Aster’s work, a month ago I watched her well-staged and lively performance at a newly built stage in Addis Ababa during the celebration of the beginning of the third Ethiopian Millennium. I have learned that the majority audiences love her music, while the minority doesn’t. Reason; though she dramatizes her actions on stages and captivates the whole attention of her audience her voice is not so much attractive. However, they appreciate that Aster is a famous artiste who has dramatically changed the Ethiopian music style in a new fashion. In a word, she is a pioneer of Ethiopian modern music.

Was Ethiopia Under Egyptian Rule During Sheba’s Reign?

“Her I loved and sought out from my youth, And I sought to take her for my bride, And I became enamoured by her beauty, She glorifies her noble birth in that it is given her to live with god, And the sovereign Lord of all loved her, For she is initiated into the knowledge of god, But if riches are a desired possession in life, What is richer than wisdom?”

A tribute to the wisdom of the Queen of Sheba, in her role as the goddess Ma’at. Wisdom of Solomon 8:2.

I recently discovered the fascinating and controversial book, “Solomon -- Falcon of Sheba”, with the subtitle, “The Tombs of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba Discovered”. The author is Mr. Ralph Ellis, a London-based historian who has written a number of other controversial books related to the Bible.

As I read through many chapters, I encountered very radical ideas, which shook my religious foundation. I have always known that Sheba was the legendary Queen of Ethiopia but the author claims that she is an Egyptian queen or princess. He also claims that he found the tombs of King David and Solomon in Upper Egypt.

This is a radical shift from the Biblical story that states the two famous and saintly kings of Israel were buried at the town of Bethlehem, the same place where Jesus Christ was also born. This is the main reason behind the writing of this article.

The other thing was the revelation of the Queen of Sheba as Yemeni. First, I got this information from one of my closest friends, who is half-Ethiopian and half-Yemeni. He told me the ruins of her temple are visible at Marib, a town some kilometers away from Aden, the capital of Yemen.

As I said, all throughout my life, I have been taught and told that the Queen of Sheba was an Ethiopian Queen who ruled what is now Northern Ethiopia for many years, and who had a son, Menilik I, by King Solomon. So, which should we follow, whom should we believe?

Here follow some excerpts from scriptures and other literature.

Let us begin with the Biblical story:

As stated in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Sheba heard of the great wisdom of Solomon of Israel and journeyed there with gifts of spices, gold, precious stones, and beautiful wood to test him with questions, as recorded in First Kings 10:1-13 (largely copied in 2 Chronicles 9:1-12). The Queen was surprised by Solomon’s wisdom and wealth and pronounced a blessing on Solomon’s God. Solomon reciprocated with lavish gifts, “everything she desired”.

Whereupon the Queen returned to her country, the Queen was apparently quite rich herself, as she brought 4.5 tonnes of gold with her to give to Solomon (1 Kings: 10). The Song of Solomon (Song of Songs) contains some references, which have been at various times interpreted as referring to love between Solomon and Queen Sheba. Thus, the female lover at 1:5 (Kings) declares:

“I am black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon, Look not upon me because I am black, Because the sun hath scorched me.”

Legend had it to say that the young woman continued to deny the romantic advances of King Solomon. However, during one of her visits it is believed that the king said she could not take anything without asking first. That night after eating a spicy meal that the king had given her; the Queen of Sheba experienced a great thirst and drank the cup of water next to her without asking. When King Solomon found out, he demanded that she sleep with him as punishment. This has never been proved, but many think that it actually happened.

In the Quran, the story of the Queen of Sheba runs as follows:

In the chapter, “The Ant” verse 27:12, it was stated that Solomon, the successor of David, was thought to speak the tongues of birds, and was endowed with all good things. “His forces of jinn (Satan’s devils) and men and birds were called to Solomon’s presence, and ranged in battle array. When they came to the Valley of the Ants an ant said, “Go in to your dwellings, ants, lest Solomon and his warriors should unwittingly crush you.”

Solomon shouted at the word of the ant and said, “Inspire me, Lord, to render thanks for the favours you have bestowed on me and on my parents, and to do good works that will please you. Admit me, through your mercy, among your righteous servants.”

The Quran goes on to state that when Solomon inspired the birds, he couldn’t find the lapwing and threatened to punish him if he didn’t show up to the assembly of the birds. Fortunately enough, the bird suddenly learned and told Solomon a new story that he came from Sheba where he found a woman reigning over the people. The bird recounted, “She is possessed of every virtue and has a splendid throne. I found that she and her subjects worship the sun instead of God. Satan has seduced them and debarred them from the right path, so that they might not be guided to the worship of God, who brings to light all that is hidden in the heavens and the earth, and knows what you conceal and what you reveal: there is no god, but Him, the Lord of the Glorious throne.”

In his response, according to the Quran, Solomon said that he would realize what was said was true and ordered the bird to convey his message to Sheba. Sheba called her noblemen (counselors) and told them that she had received a message from Solomon and sought their advice.

Her advisors replied, “We are a valiant and mighty people. It is for you to decide; so consider what you should ordain.” Here it is implicit that the message from Solomon was a warning that Sheba should submit herself and possibly pay tribute to him. This is clear from the response of Sheba who shed light on the message when she replied, “When kings invade a city, they ravage it and abase the mightiest of its people. These men will do the same. But I shall send them a present and see with what reply the envoy will return.”

Sheba sent an envoy to Solomon with the gifts of gold which the king declared scornfully “Is it gold that you would give me? That which God has bestowed on me is better than all the riches he has given you. Yet you glory in your gift. Go back to your people; we will march against them with forces they cannot oppose and drive them from their land humbled and crushed.”

Solomon was angry and impatient, so much so, as to give instructions to his nobles to bring Sheba’s throne from her country to his palace. This time, not a bird but a demon among the devils, gave a response to Solomon. He assured the king that he would bring the queen’s throne in a twinkling, which he did, miraculously. Solomon was grateful to the Lord God who gave him this favour.

Solomon played a trick by changing Sheba’s throne and posed a question whether that throne was hers or not. Sheba answered, “It looks as though it were the same.” Solomon exalted himself saying that he was endowed with knowledge and that before she left, she must submit to the Lord God. He described her as a poor Queen who was under the control of false gods, and her country as unbelieving. As a result, Sheba became a convert to Christianity.

Afterwards, Sheba was allowed to enter Solomon’s palace, which she did naked. She was astonished by the beauty of the palace, the floors of which in her own words resembled a pool of water. On his part, Solomon described the palace as a palace paved with glass.

In her departing words, Sheba said, “Lord, I have sinned against my own. Now I submit with Solomon to God, Lord of the Universe”, the Quran concludes.

One can easily understand from both the Bible and the Quran that the story of the legendary queen was told in different ways. While the Bible acknowledges the unique and unparalled wisdom of Solomon, the Quran on its part, reveals that Solomon had supernatural power which enabled him to know the languages of the birds and a power to control and instruct the jinns, the demons. Sheba’s identity and the location of her kingdom were also not mentioned in the two scriptures.

The country Sheba or Saba, whose name means Host of Heaven and Peace was Abyssinia, located in southwest Arabia on the eastern tip of the red sea. Sheba occupied 483,000 sq. miles (1,250,000 sq. kilometers) of mountains, valley and deserts in the area of present day Yemen. Some historians claim that Ethiopia, on the western end of the Red Sea, was also part of Sheba’s territory.

Sheba was a wealthy country, advanced in irrigation techniques and hydraulic power. Its people, the Sabaens, built dams as high as sixty feet (20 meters) and large earthen weir which contributed to their thriving agriculture and beautiful gardens. Rich in gold and other precious stones, as well as incense and exotic spices sought by neighbouring kingdoms, Sheba engaged in a lucrative caravan trade. By 1000 B.C., camels frequently traveled the 1400 miles (2,250 km) up the “Incense Road” and along the Red Sea to Israel.

The spices of Sheba were highly prized. Frankincense, an offering to the gods, was heaped on funeral pyres, and given as an antidote for poison, and as a cure for chest pains, hemorrhoids, and paralysis. Myrrh, an ingredient in fragrant oils and cosmetics, was used in preparing bodies for burial; for healing ear, eye, and nose ailments; and inducing menstruation. Other Sabaen spices were saffron, cumin, aloes, and galbanum.

The Sabeans have been described as a tall and commanding people, both woolly haired and straight-haired. Semitic in origin, they are believed to have been descendants of the Cush of the Bible. The sacred Ethiopian book which establishes the founder of the Ethiopian dynasty as the son of Solomon and Sheba, suggests that the Sabeans were black. “Ye are black of face -- but if God illumineth your hearts, nothing can endure you,” priest Azariah says to the Queen and her people in the Kibrenegest (The Chronicles of the Ethiopian Emperors).

Because of its isolation, Sheba was secure from military invasion for at least 500 years, and was independent and at peace with its neighbours during the 10th and 11th century B.C. History reveals that at least five kings preceded the Queen of Sheba, among them Iti’amra and Karibi-ilu. Yet Arabian documents portray all of Arabia as matriarchal and ruled by queens for over 1000 years. In Ethiopia, the Kibrenegest refers to a law established in Sheba that only a woman could reign and that she must be a virgin queen.

The earliest known Arabian temple was at Marib, capital of Sheba, and was called Mahram Bilques, “precincts of the Queen of Sheba”. In Arab law, this queen was named Bilques of Balkis; in Ethiopia, she was called Makda (also Magda, Maqda, and Makera), meaning “Greatness”. Years later, the historian, Josephus, referred to her as Nikaulis, queen of Ethiopia and Egypt.

According to the free Wikipedia, the Queen of Sheba, referred to in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Quran, and Ethiopian history, was the ruler of the ancient kingdom of Sheba. The actual location of the historical kingdom is disputed between Ethiopia and Yemen.
Known to the Ethiopian people as Makeda, which, in Ethiopic languages, means "pillow", she has been called a variety of names by different peoples in different times. In Islamic tradition she was Bilqis. To King Solomon of Israel she was the Queen of Sheba. She supposedly lived in the 10th century BC.

In the Old Testament genealogy of the nations (Genesis 10:7), Sheba, along with Dedan, is listed as one of the descendants of Noah's son Ham (as son of Raamah, son of Cush, son of Ham).

Ethiopian and Eritrean Account

The imperial family of Ethiopia claims its origin directly from the offspring of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

The etymology of her name is uncertain, but there are two principal opinions about its source. One group, which includes the British scholar Edward Ullendorff, holds that it is a corruption of "Candace", the Ethiopian queen mentioned in the New Testament Acts; the other group connects the name with Macedonia, and relates this story to the Ethiopian legends about Alexander the Great.

The Italian scholar Carlo Conti Rossini, however, was unconvinced by either of these theories and believed the matter unresolved.

The Ethiopian narrative Kebra Negast ('the Glory of Kings'), is supposed to record the history of Makeda and her descendants. King Solomon is said in this account to have seduced the Queen, and sired a son by her, who would eventually become Menelik I, the first Emperor of Ethiopia.

The account given - which has no parallel in the original Biblical story - is that during one of the Queen's visits, King Solomon said she could not take anything without asking first. That night, after eating a spicy meal the king had given her, the Queen of Sheba experienced a great thirst and drank the cup of water next to her without asking. When King Solomon found out, he demanded that she sleep with him as punishment.

The tradition that the Biblical Queen of Sheba was a ruler of Ethiopia who visited King Solomon in Jerusalem in ancient Israel is supported by the 1st century AD Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who identified Solomon’s visitor as a queen of Egypt and Ethiopia.

While there are no traditions of matriarchal rule in Yemen during the early first millennium BC, the earliest inscriptions of the rulers of D'mt in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea mention queens of very high status, possibly equal to their kings.

For the Ethiopian Monarchy, the Solomonic/Sheba lineage was of considerable political and cultural importance. Ethiopia had been converted to Christianity by Egyptian Copts, and the Coptic Church strove for centuries to keep the Ethiopians in dependant and subservient condition, which the Ethiopian Emperors greatly resented.

The Solomonic descent made the Ethiopians senior by far to the Copts, their involvement in Biblical affairs long predating Christianity itself. Indeed, since The New Testament starts with Jesus' genealogy back to Kings David and Solomon, the Ethiopian Emperors were in effect Jesus' own cousins (albeit distant ones).

Christian Interpretations

The Queen of Sheba is mentioned as the "Queen of the South" in the Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:31 in the New Testament, where Jesus indicates that she and the Ninevites will judge the generation of Jesus' contemporaries who rejected him.

Christian interpretations of the Queen of Sheba scriptures in the Hebrew Bible typically have emphasized both the historical and metaphorical values in the story. The account of the Queen of Sheba can be interpreted as Christian metaphor and analogy. The Queen's visit to Solomon has been compared to the metaphorical marriage of the Church to Christ where Solomon is the anointed one or messiah and Sheba represents a Gentile population submitting to the messiah.

The Queen of Sheba's chastity has also been depicted as a foreshadowing of the Virgin Mary, and the three gifts that she brought (gold, spices and stones) have been seen as analogous to the gifts of the Magi (gold, frankincense, and myrrh), which is consistent with a passage from Isaiah 60:6; And they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring forth gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.

Medieval Depictions

Art in the Middle Ages depicting the visit of the Queen of Sheba includes the Portal of the Mother of God at the 13th Century Amiens Cathedral, which is included as an analogy as part of a larger depiction of the gifts of the Magi. The 12th century cathedrals at Strasbourg, Chartres, Rochester and Canterbury include artistic renditions in such elements as stained glass windows and door jamb decorations.

Renaissance Depictions

Renaissance relief of the Queen of Sheba meeting Salomo (gate of Florence Baptistry)

Boccaccio's On Famous Women (Latin: De Mulieribus Claris) follows Josephus in calling her Nicaula. Boccaccio goes on to explain that not only was she the queen of Ethiopia and Egypt, but also the queen of Arabia. She supposedly also had a grand palace on "a very large island" called Menroe which was located someplace on the Nile "practically on the other side of the world."

From here Nicaula crossed the deserts of Arabia, through Ethiopia and Egypt, and up the coast of the Red Sea, to come to Jerusalem to see the great King Solomon. Boccaccio also explains that Nicaula was also known as the Queen of Sheba in the "Sacred Scriptures".

Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies continues the convention of calling the Queen of Sheba, Nicaula. Piero della Francesca's frescoes in Arezzo (ca 1466) on the Legend of the True Cross, contain two panels on the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. The legend links the beams of Solomon's palace (adored by Queen of Sheba) to the wood of the crucifixion. The Renaissance continuation of the metaphorical view of the Queen of Sheba as an analogy to the gifts of the Magi is also clearly evident in the Triptych of the Adoration of the Magi, ca. 1510 by Hieronymus Bosch. Bosch chooses to depict a scene of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon in an ornately decorated collar worn by one of the Magi For some reason, the Queen of Sheba is usually depicted as having hairy feet, or being entirely covered in hair, thousands of years after the fact. Marlowe's Doctor Faustus refers to the Queen of Sheba as "Saba", when Mephistopheles is trying to persuade Faustus of the wisdom of the women with whom he shall supposedly be presented every morning.

Modern Theories

A theory has been voiced that the meeting between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba was not for love or admiration but a discussion about trade. According to the Bible, Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber. The theory is that Solomon intended to routinely sail to East Africa and there trade, bypassing the South Arabian kingdom of Sheba which previously acted as middleman in this trade.

In Popular Culture

In Britain and Canada, there is a common colloquial remark "And I'm the Queen of Sheba" or "If (that is so), then I'm the Queen of Sheba", meaning "I do not believe that statement".

Another common colloquial usage in the UK and North America is to poke fun at another person who has dressed up fancily, or has perhaps displayed superior behavioral traits, resulting in someone remarking, "Who does she think she is, The Queen of Sheba?".

Songs

• Bonnie Raitt makes a reference to the Queen of Sheba in the song "Thing Called Love" by saying "Baby, you know I ain't no Queen of Sheba." The song was written by John Hiatt.

• Dolly Dots makes a reference to The Queen of Sheba in the song "Leila Queen of Sheba" by saying "this day about a story talk by Leila Queen of Sheba"

• Cassandra Wilson refers to the Queen of Sheba as Makeda in the second verse of the song "Solomon Sang".

• Nas makes a reference to the Queen of Sheba in the song "Big Girl" from his Nastradamus CD, saying "I need her, I'll eat her / Do anything to please her / My ghetto queen of Sheba".

• Les Nubians make reference to the Queen of Sheba as the subject of their song "Makeda"

• Jandek refers to the Queen of Sheba in the song "Sheba Doesn't Have". ("The Queen of Sheba/Doesn’t have nothing on you/You dance on my necktie/Like it was your tattoo/i fall on my face here and dribble all about"). Its on Newcastle Sunday recorded live at the Sage Gateshead in Newcastle.

• The Poor Righteous Teachers include the Queen of Sheba in a list of important black women throughout history in the film clip to their song "Shakiyla"

• The Raii musician Cheb Khaled also describes Aicha's glamor as that of the Queen of Sheba, "Elle est passée a cote de moi. Sans un regard, Reine de Sabbat."

• The Norwegian blues-rock band "Divin´Ducks", have a song called "Queen of Sheba". Where they sing about the queen of Sheba and King Solomon.

• World Wide Message Tribe has a song titled "Return of the Queen of Sheba" on their 1997 titled album “Revived”.

• The Queen of Sheba is referred to in U2's newly released song "Wave of Sorrow", which was originally written during the 1980s as a reflection of lead singer Bono's experiences volunteering with the Ethiopian famine.

Operas

• George Frideric Handel, oratorio Solomon (1749). The Act III symphony is entitled 'The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba' and is probably the best known piece from this work.

• Charles Gounod, Reine de Saba (1862)

• Karl Goldmark, Die Königin von Saba (1875)

Ballets

• Ottorino Respighi, Belkis, regina di Saba (1930–31)

Movies

• Queen of Sheba's Pearls (2004), starring Nathan Eby and Swedish actress Helena Bergström, who played the Princess of Sheba.

• The Queen of Sheba (1921), starring Betty Blythe.

• Solomon and Sheba (1959), starring Yul Brynner and Gina Lollobrigida.

• The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man (1963), directed by Ron Rice

• Solomon and Sheba (1995), starring Halle Berry

Books

• Wisdom's Daughter: A Novel of Solomon and Sheba (2005), written by India Edghill.

• Small explicitly sexual role in American Gods (2002), as Bilquis, written by Neil Gaiman.

• "Queen of Sheba and Biblical Scholarship", written by Dr Bernard Leeman, Queensland Academic Press 2005, (3rd edition 2007) ISBN 0-9758022-0-8

• "Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen" (2001), written by Nicholas Clapp

• Brief appearance in The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1874), by Flaubert

• "Sandstorm", a novel written by James Rollins. The Queen of Sheba is featured prominently.

• "Queen Sheba's Ring" (1910), by H. Rider Haggard.

• The Butterfly that Stamped: one of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, featuring the queen "wise Balkis of Sheba" who is said to be married to the polygamist King Solomon son of David. She is the only one of 1000 wives who does not quarrel with Solomon, out of her adoration for him, and so is herself sad when the incessant quarrels of the other 999 wives saddens their husband. She eventually tricks Solomon into making all the other queens frightened of his power, so that they will not argue again.

• "Menachem's seed", a novel published by Carl Djerassi in 1996 features the Queen of Sheba, when Menachem—the main male character of the novel—uses his interpretation of Solomon's relationship to the Queen as a vehicle to impress Melanie—the main female character.

• Made mention to briefly in The English Patient (1993) by Michael Ondaatje

Poems

• "Poem for Flora" by Nikki Giovanni

• "Solomon to Sheba" by W.B. Yeats

Sport

• Queen of the South, a football club in Scotland.

Ralph Ellis, the author of the book mentioned above, in Chapter III states: “Current opinions give two possible locations for the lands and kingdom of Sheba. The Kebrenegest (the Chronicle of the Egyptian Kings) and the sum of the biblical texts place Sheba in the heart of the Egyptian highlands, while the historical fraternity have instead located her capital in the land of Saba, which lies in modern Yemen.”

He elaborates by saying that the modern name for this area, Saba, is the Republic of Yemen, but 2000 years ago, a small section of the highlands, which lie just to the north of modern Aden, was called Saba, and this region was the home of the famous Sabean nation.

After making some statements and analyses full of contradictions and wild guesses, the author poses a question saying that “If this analysis seems to seriously undermine the classical interpretations for the history of the Queen of Sheba, and if the location of Ethiopia is equally unlikely as her homeland – as will be shown later – then exactly where did this illustrious Queen come from?”

After juggling unnecessary comparisons, wild speculation with no physical evidence, his usual belittling of the historical significance of the Bible, Ralph Ellis quotes the Prophet Isaiah who said of the patriarch Jacob, and the lands that he controlled.

For I am the Lord thy Lord… I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia, and Seba for thee (Bible, Isaiah 43:3).

In the new international version of the Holy Bible, this point has been further elaborated thus: “… I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush (that is, the Upper Nile region) and Seba in your stead.” (ibid)

Ellis’ argument here on this point appears to be sensible and strong, instead of his previous weak arguments. But again the problem is that Seba and Sheba are quite different. I leave this point of the argument for theologians and historians to ponder and offer us a resolution.

A final point: To quote Ellis at length again: “This explanation would make some sense; Jacob was being given Lower Egypt (Seba) and Ethiopia but he had no control over Upper Egypt, and this explanation concurs with our knowledge of Ethiopian history. As is mentioned in many Egyptian texts, the Hyksos Pharoahs (the Pharaoh Jacob) presided over an alliance of both Lower Egypt and Ethiopia in their battle for Upper Egypt. In this case, Isaiah was right and Jacob had forfeited Egypt (Thebes and Upper Egypt), but was given the lands of Seba (Avaris, Memphis, and Lower Egypt) and Ethiopia.

So then what shall we say? Can we conclude that ancient Ethiopia was part of Egypt?