'Dil Na'od' was the last ''
negus'' of
Axum before the
Zagwe dynasty of
Ethiopia. He lived in either the
9th or
10th centuries. Dil Na'od was the younger son of Ged'a Jan (or
Degna Djan), and succeeded his older brother
'Anbasa Wedem as ''negus''.
[1] According to
Wallis Budge, "The reign of Delna'ad was short, perhaps about ten years."
[2]
Dil Na'od is recorded as both campaigning in the
Ethiopian highlands south of
Axum, and sending missionaries into that region. With
Abuna Salama I, he helped to build the church of
Debre Igziabher overlooking
Lake Hayq.
[3]
He was defeated by
Mara Takla Haymanot, a prince from Lasta province, who married Dil Na'od's daughter, Masaba Warq. According to tradition, a son of Dil Na'od was carried to
Amhara, (possibly to present day
Ambassel, near Lake Hayq) where he was harbored, until his descendants overthrew the Zagwe, and reëstablished the
Solomonic dynasty.
References
1. Taddesse Tamrat, ''Church and State in Ethiopia'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 55 n.3.
2. E. A. Walis Budge, ''A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia'', 1928 (Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970), p. 276.
3. Paul B. Henze, ''Layers of Time'' (New York: Palgrave, 2000), pp. 47f.
External link
★
Biography of Del Na'ad by Belaynesh Michael for ''The Dictionary of Ethiopian Biography''