Salomon III of Ethiopia

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Salomon III or Solomon III was the Emperor of Ethiopia (20 May 1796 – 15 July 1797 and 16 June – 25 July 1799^[1]) and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Tekle Haymanot II. 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.^[2]

He was largely a figurehead, appointed Emperor by Ras Wolde Selassie of Tigray and Ras Mare'ed in 1796. He spent the next year struggling with his rival, the former Emperor Tekle Giyorgis; while preoccupied with Tekle Giyorgis, the Gondar was surrounded in May 1797 by the rebel Master of Horse 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 where he lived under the protection of Ras Wolde Selassie.^[3]

He was restored as Emperor briefly in 1799, but deposed and put into chains by Dejazmach Gugsa and Dejazach Alula, who replaced him with Demetros, the son of Arqadewos Afnin.^[4] By 1802, Salomon was a prisoner in Tigray.^[5]

E. A. Wallis Budge notes some authorities believe he was the same person as Baeda Maryam II.^[6]

[edit] Notes

^ Weld Blundell, H. (1922). The Royal chronicle of Abyssinia, 1769-1840. Cambridge: University Press. Wallis Budge, E. A. [1928] (1970). A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia. Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications. states he ruled for a few days, starting on 20 May.
^ Salt, Henry [1814] (1958). A Voyage to Abyssinia and Travels into the Interior of that Country. London: Frank Cass.
^ Pankhurst, Richard K. P. (1982). History of Ethiopian Towns. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag.
^ Weld Blundell, Royal chronicle, p. 462
^ Weld Blundell, Royal chronicle, p. 471
^ Wallis Budge, A History, p. 479