Zoskales

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Zoskales (c. 100) was an ancient king in the Horn of Africa. His realm is thought to have included Axum.

History

The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea mentions Zoskales as ruler of the port of Adulis, whose territory extended "from the Moschophagoi ['calf-eaters'] to the rest of Barbaria ... a stickler about his possessions and always holding out for getting more, but in other respects a fine person and well versed in reading and writing Greek".[1]

At least as early as Henry Salt, some scholars, including Sergew Hable Sellassie[2] and Y. M. Kobishchanov,[3] have identified him with Za Haqala, who is listed in the King Lists of Ethiopia as having ruled for 13 years, and who ruled between Za Zalis and Za Dembalé.[4] G.W.B. Huntingford points out, on the other hand, that there is not enough information to be certain of this identification, and argues instead that Zoskales was a petty king whose power was limited to only Adulis.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ Chapter 5 Online translation
  2. ↑ Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270 (Addis Ababa: 1972), p. 72
  3. ↑ Axum (University Park: 1979), pp. 54-5
  4. ↑ Salt, A Voyage to Abyssinia (Philadelphia, 1816), p. 358
  5. ↑ Quoted in Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 18
Regnal titles
Unknown King of Axum Unknown
Next known title holder:
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