Amhara, which word is at present only used to designate the Christian population of Abyssinia, was, previous to the introduction of the Mahomedan religion, the descriptive appellation of an extensive red people, who principally occupied the eastern border of the Abyssinian table land, from the latitude of Massoah in the north to that of lake Zui in the south. To the west of these, and occupying the portion of the table land in that direction, lived a people decidedly different in their complexion, their features, their language, their religion, and their customs. These were the Gongas, or Agows, who I believe to have been the original possessors of the whole plateau, until a period remarkable in history, when the Emperor of Meroë or Ethiopia located upon a portion of their country, those disaffected soldiers of Psammeticus who had sought an asylum in his kingdom. Were I not convinced that the Amhara population of Abyssinia, at the present day, can be physically demonstrated to be the descendants of these fugitives from Egypt, I would not venture to advance such an innovation upon the generally received opinion, that the Amhara are aborigines of the country they now inhabit.
Under the term Abyssins, Dr. Prichard, in his invaluable work upon the natural history of man, includes all the different nations that now inhabit the lofty plain of Abisha or Abyssinia. Of one of these nations, the Amhara, he remarks, “So striking is the resemblance between the modern Abyssinians and the Hebrews of old, that we can hardly look upon them but as branches of one nation, and if we had not convincing evidence to the contrary, and knew not for certain that the Abramidæ originated in Chaldæa, and to the northward and eastward of Palestine, we might frame a very probable hypothesis, which would bring them down as a band of wandering shepherds from the mountains of Habesh, and identify them with the pastor kings, who, according to Manetho, multiplied their bands in the land of the Pharaohs, and being, after some centuries, expelled thence by the will of the gods, sought refuge in Judea, and built the walls of Jerusalem. Such an hypothesis would explain the existence of an almost Israelitish people, and the preservation of a language so nearly approaching to the Hebrew in intertropical Africa.” The learned ethnologist goes on to observe—“It is certainly untrue; and we find no other easy explanation of the facts which the history of Abyssinia presents, and particularly of the early extension of the Jewish religion and customs through that country, for the legend which makes the royal house of Menilek descend from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, is as idle a story as ever monks invented to abuse the reverent ignorance of their lay brethren.”
Herodotus, and other ancient historians and geographers, have recorded the migration of a vast body of discontented native soldiers from Egypt, in the time of Psammeticus. These, we are told, to the number of 240,000, retired to the country of Ethiopia, where they were kindly received by the Emperor. They assisted him in his wars, and in return were apportioned, as a residence, some country on the confines of Ethiopia, from which they were to drive a rebellious people to make room for themselves. Herodotus places this country “upon the Nile, at about the same distance beyond Meroë as this last is from Elephantine, or fifty days’ journey;” and he also adds, that “the Antomali (deserters) are known by the name of Asmach, which, being translated, signifies ‘standing on the left hand’ of the King.” It is a most remarkable circumstance that the reason or origin of the name of the country of Gurague, literally “on the left side,” has long been a question of interest with every Abyssinian traveller, but none have given any satisfactory explanation for what reason this particular, and evidently significant, name was first applied. The situation of the Amhara with respect to the Abi or Bruce’s Nile at once accounts for the designation, as they live upon the left hand of the stream as it flows south from lake Dembea, whilst that portion of this people still retaining their ancient name and purity of descent, the present Gurague occupy a country similarly situated with respect to the river Zebee, or Azzabi, or Assabinus, the Ethiopian Jupiter. Abi and Abiah, other names for branches of the Nile in Abyssinia, are expressive of father or king, evidently from having been, at a former period, the chief objects of worship by the people inhabiting their banks. “Asmach,” and “Gurague,” bear, therefore, the same interpretation, “to the left of the king,” and none other can explain the circumstance of the latter name being given to the Amhara. It appears, however to have been bestowed in contra-distinction to the “Gongas,” or “Kongue,” a people who originally occupied the right banks solely of the Abi and Abiah.
This singular correspondence between “Asmach” of the Grecian historian, and “Gurague” of modern travellers, would be alone, perhaps, inconclusive evidence that these terms apply to the same people or country, but some additional evidence may be drawn from the account which Pliny gives of these Egyptian fugitives. On the authority of Aristocreon, he states, that “Seventeen days from Meroë is Esar, a city of those Egyptians who fled from Psammeticus, and entered the service of the monarch of that country, and in return received a considerable tract of territory upon the confines, from which the Ethiopian prince ordered them to expel a tribe of people, at that time in rebellion against him, and this migration of the Egyptian troops, introducing the arts and manners of a refined nation, had a very sensible effect in civilizing the Ethiopians.” The most interesting particulars we gather from this information, is the name of the city, or, as I presume, the chief seat of these fugitives, Esar.
By a singular coincidence in the Old Testament, we are told that Esau is Edom, and although I am not going to infer from this alone, any connexion between that patriarch and the Ethiopian city, Esar, yet the philological analogy between the scriptural proper names, curiously enough, also exists between those of profane history; for the Esar and Amhara of our subject, express the very same idea as Esau and Edom, which by all Biblical commentators, is allowed to be the colour red. “And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.” (Genesis xxv. 25.)
In the present Dankalli language, and I think also, in that of ancient Meroë, Assar signifies red. In the Persian, I am given to understand that the planet Mars is called Azer, from its characteristic colour, a circumstance of significant import when it is considered that the word Calla, from which is derived Galla, “Ab” the root of Abi, and “Nil,” from which comes Nile, with others I have yet to speak of, as designations of places in Abyssinia, are all referable to the same language. To return, however, to Esar, and its connexion with the colour red, for it is the same with Esau, and that it is the same as Edom in Hebrew, I advance the testimony of Dr. Stukeley, who, speaking of the Red Sea, remarks, “That sea had its name from Erythras, as the Greeks and the same Pliny write; who is Edom, or Esau, brother of Jacob. The words are synonymous, signifying red.”[1] Amhara, also bears the same interpretation in Amharic, and although it has another meaning, that of beautiful, this is only because of the national taste directing the name of the favourite complexion among them, to be employed as the term for beauty itself. The Dankalli slave-merchant well understands this, for a light-red Abyssinian girl is the Circassian of oriental harems. In Arabia, where the original word still conveys the more common idea, we find “hamah” employed to express the colour red.
In this manner, I connect the “Asmach” of Herodotus, with Gurague of modern travellers, and the Esar of Pliny, with the Amhara of the present day, and from these two mutually corroborating correspondencies, the identity of the modern Abyssinians of Dr. Prichard with the Automali of Herodotus may perhaps be deduced, and the difficulty of accounting for a Hebrew people, situated on the Abyssinian plateau only requires proof to be advanced that the revolted soldiers of Psammeticus were of the same family of man as the fugitive Israelites who sought a refuge, under nearly similar circumstances, in Syria, and built the walls of Jerusalem; and as their languages are nearly the same, as also their manners, customs, and ancient religion, previous to the introduction of Christianity, it will not, perhaps, be difficult to adduce such evidence. For my part, I am inclined to believe in this national relationship, because it is partly confirmed by the received account of the brothers, Esau and Jacob, contained in the book of Genesis, and the connexion between the two patriarchs, and the country of Egypt, will perhaps receive some illustration from the opinion I have ventured to advance upon the subject. In the elder brother, Esau, I perceive the father of the royal shepherds, and among the list of the dukes, his descendants may be found, perhaps the pastor kings who held for some time the sovereign power in Egypt.
The connexion also of the name Esau, or Esar, with the profession of soldiers, is evident, for in oriental mythology it is identified with the god Mars; whilst on the other hand, the word Israel, in Hebrew, I believe, as in Amharic has an immediate reference to labour, as the name Jacob has also to the heel, which coincides very singularly with the idea prevalent in India, that the labouring class have all sprung from the foot of Brahmah. It would be very interesting, if future discoveries in hieroglyphics, or other cotemporary histories, which, I believe, do exist in central Africa, should prove that the appearance of the Jews as a family of man, under the patriarch Abraham, marks the disruption of an African community of castes, where the Priest class, excited by the ambition of a Psammeticus, should determine upon the expulsion of the soldiers, who thereupon fled to Ethiopia; and, also, that after a tyrannical and cruel oppression should ultimately occasion the flight of the workmen, or Israelites, into Palestine. I leave the question, however, now, to more profound ethnologists, and shall conclude this, I am afraid, very uninteresting subject, with a short but necessary description of the features and physical characteristics of the present Amhara population of Abyssinia.
In the British Museum are many Egyptian statues that possess exactly the features of the genuine Amhara race. One more, especially of a woman in the lower saloon marked 16, I will particularize, to enable those who have the opportunity of examining these relics of an extinct nation to form a proper idea of the physiognomy of the people I am speaking of.
Their general complexion cannot be better described by reference to a familiar object than comparing it with that of red unpolished copper. Their skin is soft and delicate; the general stature is below the middle height of Europeans. Their forms are not fully developed until they have arrived at the same years of puberty as ourselves; and it is very uncommon for women under seventeen to bear children. The features of the women conform to a general characteristic type, and less variations from this are observed among them than in the men. This observation extends to other races besides the Amhara, for I have invariably found more consistency of countenance, more nationality preserved in the features of females than in the males of the many different people I have met with in my travels in Abyssinia.