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nt)'iiged Mertinon, fiippofcd to he the fame with Mcnes and 

 Amenophis, to retire iirft to Memphis, and then i:i'.o Ethio- 

 pia. In about thirteen 3';;ar:-, he returned, with hi.i fon RameU'es, 

 at the head of a huge army, and compelled the Canaanitiih 

 forces to abandon the Lower Egypt ; and ll-.is event io de- 

 nominated by the Egyptian writers ihe feconj cx/'u/jlon of the 

 ahrphcrds. Sir I'anc Newton fuppofes, that the Memnon 

 jull mentioned built, or at leall fortified Memphis, in order 

 to prevent the Egyptians from penetrating into Ethiopia, 

 and that he died at a very advanced age, about go years 

 after the deceale of Solomon. In his time the Argonautic 

 expedition is faid to have happened. He was fucceeded by 

 RamelTes ; and his fuccelfor Moeris adorned Memphis, and 

 made it the capital of his empire, about two generations af- 

 ter the Trojan war. Cheops, Capluenus, Mycerinus, and 

 his filter Nitocris, fucceeded one another ; and in the reign 

 of Afychls, the fucceflbr of Nitocris, Ethiopia and AfTyria 

 revolted trom Egypt, which being partitioned into feveral 

 fmall kingdoms, was foou fubdued by Sabacon or So, the 

 emperor of Etluopia. Tiiis monarch, forming an alliance 

 witli Hofliea, king of Ifrael, occafioncd his revolt from' the 

 Aflyrians ; in confequence of wljich, an end was put to the 

 kingdom of Ifrael by Shalnianafer king of AfTyria, in tlie 

 24th year of the xra of Nabonaflar, and the 720th before 

 the commencement of the Chriftian a-ra. Sabacon was fuc- 

 ceeded by Sethon, who marched witK a powerful army 

 againll Sennacherib Ling of AfTyria, and defeated him. • In 

 the ySth year of the a:ra of Nabon-iffar, Ethiopia was fub- 

 dued by Elar-Haddon king of AfTyria, who over-run both 

 thefe countricE for three years, when the Ethiopians affeited 

 their independence, which they preferved till the time of 

 Cyrus, whofe dominion, according to Xenophon, extended 

 to Ethiopia. After his death the Ethiopians revolted; and 

 their empire was fo powerful, that Cambyfes found it imprac- 

 ticable to penetrate into the countiy ; though Sir Ifaac 

 Newton fuggells that he fubdued them about the year 

 223, or 224, of NabonalTar. But others are of a dif- 

 ferent opinion. Herodotus aflerts, that they reduced feme 

 of tlie provinces contiguous to Egypt ; and it appears, that 

 the Pei-Iians proceeded as far as Cyrene ; but it is not pro- 

 bable thrt they brought under fubjection the whole Ethio- 

 pia Propria of the ancients, which comprehended Scnnaar, 

 Abaflia, and other countries. We have no account of any 

 expedition undertaken by Alexander the Great againft Ethio- 

 pia, though he was very defirous of exploring the fource of 

 the Nile. With this view Ptolemy Euergetes advanced in- 

 to the countiy ; but if he made any conquells, he does not 

 feem to have long retained them, for nothing of importance 

 relating to Ethiopia occurs till the days of Auguftus. 

 About this time, i. e. the year of Rome 725, Car.jlace, 

 queen of Ethiopia, or rather of the kingdom of Meroc, 

 made an irruption into the province of Thebais, and being 

 repuifed by Petronius, was obliged to fue for peace, which, 

 as we have already mentioned, was granted to her by Au- 

 guftus. From this time the Romar.s confidered thtmfehcs 

 as mafters of Ethiopia. Menilek, according to the Abyl- 

 fini:iii records, fucceeded to the throne in the 986th year 

 before Chrift, and they reckon twenty-two kings from Meni- 

 lek to Ba/.en, the eighth year of whofe reign coincides with 

 the sera of the birth of Chrift. But this account muft be 

 very erroneous, becaufe each reign will amount to more than 

 forty -four years, which is impoi'ible. In the reign of Ile- 

 liogabalus, about the year of Chrift 220, there feeir.s to 

 have been an intercourfe between the Roman empire and 

 the Ethiopians : and we learn from Procopius, (De Bell. 

 Perf. 1. i. c. 19.) that before the reign of Dioclefian, the 

 frontiers of the Roman er.ipire extended fo fur into Ethlopin, 



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that they WTrc not above twcnty-tlirce days journey diilanC 

 f.om the capital. Notliing remarkable occurs in ihc hiftoiy 

 of the Etiiiopians from the time of this cir.perc r lo ihc pe- 

 riod of their eonverfion to Ciirillian'ty, which event toolc 

 place under Abrcha and Atzbcha, or a; they arc alfo colicd 

 Abra and Aft'a, who are confidered by Mr. IVucc -as ouc 

 prince, and by others as joint fovereignf^, ahuut 333 y ;'ar J 

 after Chrift. I'Vumeiitius was confecralcd bilhop of Ar:u:na 

 by St. Athanafuis, and deputed liy liini lo propagate the 

 Clirillian religion in Ethiopia. Of this Frumcnlius it is fiild, 

 tliat whilft he was young, ho accompanied Miropius, n phi- 

 lofopher of Tyre, who, in a voyage on (lie Ited Se-.i to In- 

 dia, was caft away on the coaft of Abyffinia. Mtropiiig 

 was (lain by the natives, but Frunientius, who had beai li- 

 berally educated, was coiidui5\cd lo Axum, where the com I 

 then relided. Here he was entrufted by iJic queen with li;c 

 education of the young prince; and having inllruiiled iiim 

 in various parts of learning, and iini)ren"<.d liis mind with a 

 veneration for the Chriftian r'-ligion, he found him difpuled 

 to embrace Chriftianity on his return from Alexandria in dif- 

 charge of the commiftion entrufted with. Iii.T liy Alhanalius. 

 The greateft part of AbylTiaia followed the example of ihcir 

 prince, and the church of Ethiopia continued iii u.iity with 

 this bifhop to the time of his death. When Couftantius the 

 emperor embraced Aiianifm, an attempt was made to depofe 

 Frumentiiis, becaufe he refufed to fanelion it willi his example 

 and authority. About this time an expedition into Auibia 

 Felix produced, what the Arabian writers, and Mahomet in 

 the koran, have called the War of the Elephant. Tiie otca- 

 fion was this : the temple of fvlecca had been held in hiijh 

 veneration for 1400 years, beeaufe, as the Arabs fay, 

 Adam, when expelled from Paradife, pitched liis tent upon 

 this fpot ; and they alio ftiew a black ftone, where Jacob 

 repofed when he faw the vifion, mentioned Gen'.fis xxviii. 

 12. But Mr. Bruce thinks it to be much more probable, 

 that this temple was built by Sefoftris, and tliat he was wor- 

 fhipped here under the title of Ofiris. This temple, vene- 

 rated by neighbouring nations, was made the emporium of 

 the trade between India and Africa, but Abreha wifliir.g to 

 render it more convenient for his dominions, built a veiy 

 large chiuch or temple in the country of the Homeritcs, and 

 nearer the Indian ocean, and extended to it all the privileges 

 b^-longing to the pagan temple of Mecca. A tribe of Arabs, 

 called Beni Koreilh, who had the care of the Caaba at Mecca, 

 alarmed by the profpecl of having their temple dcferted, entered 

 Abieha's temple, burned eveiy part of it that could be con- 

 fumed, and polluted the reft by befmearing it with human 

 excrements. This infult exalpcrated Abreha, who, mounltd 

 upon a white elephant at the head of a large nnny, rc- 

 folved to deftroy the temple of Mecca. The temple, luuv- 

 ever, was miraeuloufly preferved, according to the Ar::ljian 

 writers ; but the more probable account is, that the Abyf- 

 finian army fell a facrifice to the fmall-pox and mcallcs, with 

 which they were infecled at this fiege. This kippentj 

 about the year ^56. Abreha's church, near the Indian 

 ocean, was finally deftroycd in the khalifat of Omar. In 

 the year 522, Juftin, the Greek emperor, fent an einbady 

 to Caleb, or Elftiaas, Tring of Abyliinia, inlreatiiig liis in- 

 terference in favour of the Chriftians in Arabia, who were 

 feverely perfecuted by Fiiineas, a Jewilh prince, and otiieij 

 of the fame profeirion, then in poftellion of the connliy. 

 Phineas was defeated by Aretas, an Arabian prince, before 

 Abreha, C.nleb's general, arrived ; but the Jewirti kingdom; 

 were not wholly overturned, as loine of them eon) ii/jcd till 

 after the Hegira. To this period, or the nign of Elftiaas, the 

 Arabian hiilorir.ns refer the War of the Elephant, ; nd the 

 mlr.'.cu'.ouf dilccmf.ture of the Ethiopian army. The ron- 



M 2 I'ufiiiU 



