Menelik I

Menelik I

Menelik I (Ge'ez: ምኒልክ, Mənilək) was the legendary first Emperor of Ethiopia. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Menelik I has received more than 1,201,836 page views. His biography is available in 26 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 23 in 2019). Menelik I is the 2,050th most popular politician (up from 3,045th in 2019), the 6th most popular biography from Ethiopia (up from 8th in 2019) and the 5th most popular Ethiopian Politician.

Menelik I was a legendary figure in Ethiopian history who is believed to have been the son of King Solomon of Israel and the Queen of Sheba. According to tradition, Menelik traveled to Jerusalem as a young man to visit his father and was anointed as the next king of Ethiopia by the priests there. He then returned to Ethiopia with a group of Israelites, bringing with him the Ark of the Covenant, which has been revered as a sacred relic in Ethiopia ever since. Menelik is considered the founder of the Ethiopian Solomonic dynasty, which ruled the country for nearly 3,000 years, and he is still celebrated as a national hero and a symbol of Ethiopia's ancient and enduring culture.