The chronology of the kings of Ethiopia after Tir- hakah cannot yet be attempted. Professor Lepsius arranges all the Ethiopians under four periods : 1st. The 25th dynasty, first and second kings. 2d. Kings of Napata, beginning with Tirhakah, wlio, in his opin- ion, retired from Ej;ypt, and made this his capital : of these kings, one, named Nastes-ses, or Nastes-nex, has left a tablet at Dongolah, recording the taking in his wars of enormous booty in cattle and gold (Lep- sius, Denkmdkr, v, 16 ; Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr. i, 163, 164). 3d. Older kings of Meroe, among whom is a queen Kentahi, in whom a Candace is immediately recognised, and also Mi-Amen Asru and Arkamen, the latter Ergamenes, the contemporar)' of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who iiad, according to Diodorus Siculus, received a Greek training, and changed tlie customs of Ethiopia (iii, 6). Some of these princes had an ex- tensive dominion. The name of Ergamenes is found from Lower Nubia to Meroii. ' 4th. Later kings of Me- roe, some, at least, of whom ruled both Meroe and Na- pata, though the former seems to have been the favor- ite capital in the later period {Koiiigsbuch, pi. Ixxi, Ixxii, Ixxiii). The importance of queens is remarka- bly characteristic of an African people. See Meroe.
The spread of Christianity in Ethiopia is a remark- able event in the history of the country, and one in which the truth of "the sure word of prophecy" has been especially evident. In this case, as in others, the Law may have been the predecessor of tlie Gospel. The pious eunuch, " Ebed-melecli the Ethiopian," who befriended Jeremiah (xxxviii, 7-13; xxxix, 15-18), may have been one of many converts from pagan- ism, but it is scarcely likely that any of these returned to their native land. The Abyssinian Jews, being probal)ly a colon}' of those of Arabia, were perhaps of later origin than the time of the introduction of Chris- tianity. But in the case of the Etliiopian eunuch, who had charge of all the treasure of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, and who, on his return from worshipping at Jerusalem, was baptized by Pliilip the deacon, we see evidence of the spread of the old dispensation in Ethiopia, and of the reception tliere of the new (Acts viii, 27-39). In Psalm Ixviii (31), in Isaiah (xlv, 14), and probably in Zephaniah (iii, 10), the calling of Ethi-
opia to God's service is foretold. "Whether conversion to the Law or to Christianity, or indeed to both, is in- tended, it is remarkable that, though long deprived of its actual geographical contact with the Coptic Church, of which it is a branch, by the falling away of Nubia, the Abyssinian Church yet remains, and the empire and the kingdom of Slioa are the only Christian sov- ereignties in the whole of Africa. See Abyssinian Church.
The ancient monuments of Ethiopia may be sepa- rated into two great classes, the Egyptian and the Egypto-Ethiopian. In Lower Nubia the Egyptian are almost universal ; at Napat i we find Egypto-Ethio- pian, as well as higher up in the island of Meroe. In the monuments north of Napata, of which the chief lie between the first and second cataracts, we perceive no difference from those of Egj'pt save in the occurrence of the names of two Ethiopian kings — Arkamen, or Ergamenes, and Atsherajiex. The remains attest the wealth of the kings of Egypt rather than that of the country in which they are found ; their aljundance is partly owing to the scanty modern population's not having required the ancient masonrj' for building ma- terials. The nearness of the mountains on either side to the river, and the value of the little tracts of allu- vial soil, have rendered wholly or partly rock-hewa temples numerous here. Tombs are few and unim- portant. Above the second cataract there are some similar remains, until the traveller reaches Jebel Ber- kel, the sacred mountain beneath which stood Napata, where, besides the remains of temples, he is struck with the sight of many i>yramids. Other pyramids are seen in the neighborliood. They are peculiar in construction, the proportion of the height to the base being much greater than in the pj^ramids of Egypt. The temples are of Egyptian character, and one of th-m is wholly, and another partly, of the reign of Tirhakah. The pyramids are later, and are thorough- ly Ethiopian. Yet higher up the river are the monu- ments of jMeroii and neighl)oring places. They are pyramids, like those of Napata, and temples, with other buildings, of a more Ethiopian style than the temples of the other capital. The size and importance of these monuments prove that the sovereigns who ruled at Meroii must have been very rich, if not Avarlike. The farthest vestiges oPancient civilization that have Ijcen found are remains of an Egyptian character at Sobah, on the Blue Nile, not far south of the junction of the two rivers. The name suggests the Biblical Seba, which, as a kingdom, may correspond to that of Me- roe ; but such resemblances are dangerous. The ten- dency of Ethiopian art was to imitate the earliest Egyptian forms of building, and even subjects of sculpture. This is plain in the adoption of pyramids. The same feeling is strongly evident in Egypt under the 26th djmast}', when there was a renaissance of the style of the pyramid period, though no pyramids seem to have been built. This renaissance appears to have begun under, or immediately after, the later part of the 25th dynasty, and is seen in the subjects of sculp- ture and the use of titles. The monuments of Ethio- pian princes, at first as good as those of Egypt at the same time, become rapidlj' inferior, and at last are ex- tremely barbarous, more so than any of Egypt. The use of hieroglyphics continues to the last for royal names, but the language seems, after the earlier pe- riod, to have been little understood. An Ethiopian demotic character has been found of the period, which succeeded tlie hicroglj'phic for common use, and even for some inscriptions. "We do not offer any opinion on the language of this character. The subject re- quires full investigation. The early Abyssinian re- mains, as the obelisk at Axum, do not seem to have any connection with those of more northern Ethiopia : they are of later times, and probably are of Arab ori- gin. Throughout Ethiopia we find no traces of an original art or civilization, all the ancient monuments,