1938 ORIGINAL ETHIOPIA PRINCE DESTA 1934-74 PHOTO HAILE SELASSIE VINTAGE EXECUTE

Description

A VERY RARE VINTAGE ORIGINAL PHOTO FROM 1938 OF PRINCE DEATS GRANDSON OF EMPEROR HAILE SELASSIE MEASURING 7 1/8 X 9 INCHES
Rear Admiral Iskinder Desta (6 August 1934 – 23 November 1974) was a member of the Ethiopian Imperial family and naval officer. A grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie I, he served as the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Ethiopian Navy, its most senior officer, from 1958 until his execution by the Derg in 1974.
The Solomonic dynasty, also known as the House of Solomon, is the former ruling dynasty of the Ethiopian Empire. Its members are lineal descent from the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Tradition asserts that the queen gave birth to Menelik I after her biblically described visit to Solomon in Jerusalem.[2] In 1270, the Zagwe dynasty of Ethiopia was overthrown by Yekuno Amlak, who claimed descent from Solomon and reinitiated the Solomonic era of Ethiopia. The dynasty lasted until 1974, ended by a coup d'état and deposition of Haile Selassie (who was a Solomonic prince through his grandmother).
Contents
1
History
2
Coat of arms
3
See also
4
References
5
Bibliography
History
See also: History of Ethiopia and Ethiopian historiography
Imperial Standard (obverse)
Imperial Family of Ethiopia
Imperial coat of arms of Ethiopia (Haile Selassie).svg
HIH The Crown Prince
HIH Princess Lideta Zera Yacob
HIH Prince Samson Fikre Selassie
HIH Prince Bekere Fikre Selassie
HIH Princess Donna Fikre Selassie
HIH Prince Yisehaq Fikre Selassie
HIH Princess Rahel Fikre Selassie
HIH Princess Aster Fikre Selassie
HIH Princess Meheret Fikre Selassie
HIH Princess Maryam Senna
HIH Princess Sehin Azebe
HIH Princess Sifrash Bizu
Extended family[show]
Extended family[show]
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The Solomonic dynasty was a bastion of Judaism and later of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. It is claimed that this dynasty ruled Ethiopia as early as the 10th century BC, although there is no historical evidence to support this claim. Records of the dynasty's history were supposedly maintained by the Ethiopian Orthodox monasteries to near antiquity; however, if such records existed, most were lost as a result of the destruction of Orthodox monasteries by the resurgent Judaic Judith I around 960 AD/CE. Yekuno Amlak, an Amhara prince from the old province Bet Amhara, re-established the dynasty, tracing his ancestry to the last Solomonic King of Axum, Dil Na'od (or Anbesa Wudm). The Dynasty re-established itself on 10 Nehasé 1262 EC[3] (10 August 1270 CE) when Yekuno Amlak overthrew the last ruler of the Zagwe dynasty.
Contemporary painting of Yekuno Amlak, Lalibela
13th century Solomonic hand cross.
Yekuno Amlak claimed direct male line descent from the old Axumite royal house that the Zagwes had replaced on the throne. Menelik II, and later his daughter Zewditu I, would be the last Ethiopian monarchs who could claim uninterrupted direct male descent from Solomon of Israel and the Queen of Sheba (both Iyasu V and Haile Selassie I were in the female line, Iyasu V through his mother Shewarega Menelik, and Haile Selassie I through his paternal grandmother, Tenagnework Sahle Selassie). The male line, through the descendants of Menelik's cousin Dejazmatch Taye Gulilat, still existed, but had been pushed aside largely because of Menelik's personal distaste for this branch of his family.[4]The Solomonic Dynasty continued to rule Ethiopia with few interruptions until 1974, when the last emperor, Haile Selassie I, was deposed. The royal family is currently non-regnant. Members of the family in Ethiopia at the time of the 1974 revolution were imprisoned; some were executed and others exiled. In 1976, ten great grandchildren of Haile Selassie I were extracted from Ethiopia in an undertaking later detailed in a book by Jodie Collins titled Code Word: Catherine. The women of the dynasty were released by the regime from prison in 1989, and the men were released in 1990. Several members were then allowed to leave the country in mid-1990, and the rest left in 1991 upon the fall of the communist régime. Many members of the Imperial family have since returned to live in Ethiopia.
Imperial sarcophagi of the Solomonic dynasty King Haile Selassie I and his wife at the Holy Trinity Cathedral.
During much of the dynasty's existence, its effective realm was the northwestern quadrant of present-day Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Highlands. The Empire expanded and contracted over the centuries, sometimes incorporating parts of modern-day Sudan and South Sudan, and coastal areas of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Southern and eastern regions were permanently incorporated during the last two centuries, some by Shewan kings and some by Emperors Menelik II and Haile Selassie I; although much of the central and southern regions were previously incorporated into the empire under Amda Seyon I and Zara Yaqob, peripheral areas were lost after the invasion of Ahmad Gragn.[5][6]In the modern era, the Imperial dynasty has several cadet branches. The elder Gondarine Amhara line, starting with Susenyos in 1606 (although often credited to his son Fasilides who established his capital at Gondar) ended its rule with the fall of the largely powerless Yohannes III in 1855 and the coming to power of Tewodros II, whose later claims of Solomonic descent were never widely accepted. Following Tewodros, Wagshum Gobeze claimed the throne linking himself to the last independent Gondare emperors through his mother, Aychesh Tedla, a descendant of Iyasu I, and reigned as emperor of Ethiopia with the title Tekle Giorgis II for some years, highly investing in the renovation of churches and monuments in Gondar. Being also an heir to the Zagwe throne, his reign was meant to be a unification of both dynasties in the enthronement of a king bearing both lineages. Tekle Giorgis II fought a battle with the Tigrean Claimant Kassai Mercha (Yohannes IV), and the latter, who had retrieved superior weaponry and armament from the British in return for his assistance in the defeat of Tewodros II, would be able to defeat Tekle Giorgis II's army, imprisoning and killing him. The Tigrean line came to power briefly with the enthronement of Yohannes IV in 1872, and although this line did not persist on the Imperial throne after the Emperor was killed in battle with the Mahdists in 1889, the heirs of this cadet branch ruled Tigre until the revolution of 1974 toppled the Ethiopian monarchy.[7]
The Tigrean Cadet branch (along with its various sub-branches) traces its lineage to the main Solomonic line of Emperors through at least two female lines. The more recent link was through Woizero Aster Iyasu (wife of Ras Mikael Sehul, daughter of Mentewab and her lover, Melmal Iyasu, a Solomonic prince and nephew of Mentewab's late husband Bakaffa).
Prince Asfa-Wossen Asserate, a member of the Solomonic dynasty.
The Shewan line was next on the Imperial throne with the coronation of Menelik II, previously Menelik King of Shewa, in 1889. The Shewan Branch of the Imperial Solomonic dynasty, like the Gondarine line, could trace uninterrupted male line descent from King Yekonu Amlak, though Abeto Negassi Yisaq, the grandson of Dawit II by his youngest son Abeto Yaqob. The direct male line ended with Menelik II – who was succeeded first by the son of his daughter Lij Iyasu from 1913 to 1916, then by his daughter Zewditu until 1930, and finally by the son of a first cousin in the female line, Haile Selassie I. Haile Selassie's reign lasted until 1974, when the dynasty was removed from power. His grandson Prince Zera Yacob is his legal heir and therefore the current head of the imperial dynasty. The Shewan branch has several sub-branches, most notably the Selalle line established by Menelik II's uncle Ras Darge.[7]
The oldest junior cadet branch of the Solomonic Dynasty is the Gojjam branch which traces its ancestry through various lines of the main branch of the Solomonic dynasty. One of the more prominent lines comes from Princess Walata Israel, the daughter of Melmal Iyasu and Empress Mentewab. She would later marry Dejazmach Yosedek who would later give rise to the Gojam Imperial House by way of their child "Talaku" Ras Hailu. The Princes of Gojam which include Ras Merid Hailu ( son of Ras Hailu Yosedek), Ras Goshu Zewde, Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam, Dejazmach Tadla Gwalu and Ras Desta Tadla all claim royal blood through the main Gonder Imperial House through Empress Mentewab and the Solomonic Prince Melmal Iyasu. Its most recent members include Tekle Haimanot King of Gojjam, his son Leul Ras Hailu Tekle Haimanot, who was the most senior Ethiopian noble who submitted to the Italian occupation of 1936–1941; and his nephew Ras Hailu Belew who was a noted figure in the resistance against the Italian occupation.[8]
Coat of arms
See also: Emblem of Ethiopia
Lion of the Tribe of Judah
The Imperial Coat of arms was adopted by Haile Selassie I, and is currently held by his direct heir in the male line, Prince Zera Yacob, and by the Crown Council of Ethiopia. The arms are composed of an Imperial Throne flanked by two angels, one holding a sword and a pair of scales, the other holding the Imperial scepter. The throne is often shown with a Christian cross, and a Star of David, (representing the Christian and Jewish traditions). It is surmounted by a red mantle with the Imperial Crown, and before the throne is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The Lion of Judah was the central emblem of the Ethiopian tri-color flag during the reign of the monarchy, and now serves as the chief symbol of the Ethiopian monarchist movement. The Lion of Judah has also been adopted as the leading religious symbol for the Rastafari movement (a Western, African diaspora movement) that regards Emperor Haile Selassie as divine.[7]
The phrase "Moa Ambassa ze imnegede Yehuda", (Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah) appeared on the arms, and always preceded the Emperor's official style and titles. The official Imperial Dynastic motto was "Ityopia tabetsih edewiha habe Igziabiher" (Ethiopia stretches her hands unto God), a quote from the Psalm 68:31.[9][8]
The full title of the Emperor of Ethiopia was Negusa Nagast and Seyoume Igziabeher (Ge'ez: ሥዩመ እግዚአብሔር; "Elect of God"). The title Moa Anbessa Ze Imnegede Yehuda ("Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah") always preceded the titles of the Emperor. It was not a personal title but rather referred to the title of Jesus and placed the office of Christ ahead of the Emperor's name in an act of Imperial submission. Until the reign of Yohannes IV, the Emperor was also Neguse Tsion(Ge'ez: ንጉሠ ጽዮን, 'nəgusä tsiyon)', "King of Zion"), whose seat was at Axum, and which conferred hegemony over much of the north of the Empire (See: Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles).[10]
See also
List of Emperors of Ethiopia
Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles
Crown Council of Ethiopia
Order of Solomon
he Ethiopian royal family base their right to rule on a dynastic line stretching back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, though Bahru Zewde in A History of Modern Ethiopia: 1855-1974, says the association between Solomon – king of Israel, son of David, builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem, and husband of 700 wives and 300 concubines – and the Queen of Sheba, fabled monarch of the ancient kingdom of what is now Yemen, has "scarcely any scientific basis".
Scientific basis or not, the story of Solomon and Sheba has given us the great legend of the Solomonic dynasty.
It begins around the 10th century BC. In the Bible, she arrives at the court of King Solomon to test his renowned wisdom with "hard questions". So impressed is she with Solomon's good judgment and justice that she gives him fine spices and gold, and in return, "King Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty."
In the 14th century Ethiopian compilation of legends, the Kebra Nagast ("The Glory of Kings"), Solomon's granting of royal bounty to Sheba is interpreted to mean sexual relations. According to the Kebra Nagast, Sheba subsequently gave birth to a son who became Menelik, King of Axum. And if legend is to be believed, Menelik became the founder of the ruling Ethiopian dynasty.
Haile Selassie – born Tafari Mekonnen – became emperor in 1930. In Ethiopian tradition, succession to the throne could be claimed by any male blood relative of the emperor. Selassie claimed distant descent through his father. He believed he was called to be king. In his autobiography, My Life and Ethiopia's Progress 1892-1937, written in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, Selassie set out his claim to nobility. "Thus We Ourselves, by virtue of Our descent from the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, ever since We accepted in trust ... first the regency of the Ethiopian realm and later the Imperial dignity, right up to the present, We have set out to the best of Our ability to improve, gradually, internal administration by introducing into the country western modes of civilisation through which Our people may attain a higher level; hence Our conscience does not rebuke Us." He wrote the book while living in England, in Bath, in exile – Mussolini had invaded Ethiopia in 1935.
Haile Selassie's reign is extraordinary for many reasons, not least because it was claimed during his lifetime that he was an incarnation of Jesus. He is worshipped to this day by Rastafarians, who take their name from "Ras", meaning "head" or "duke", and "Tafari", being Selassie's original family name.
Selassie's reign is bookended by two great works exploring the meaning of royalty. In 1931, Evelyn Waugh published Remote People, an account of Selassie's coronation. And in 1978 the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski published The Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat, detailing the last days of his reign as "the whole court – though slowly and with dignity – was sliding toward the edge of the cliff". Selassie was deposed in 1974. He died in prison, in mysterious circumstances, in 1975.
Rear Admiral Iskinder Desta (6 August 1934 – 23 November 1974) was a member of the Ethiopian Imperial family and naval officer. A grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie I, he served as the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Ethiopian Navy, its most senior officer, from 1958 until his execution by the Derg in 1974.
Contents
1
Early life and education
2
Military career
3
Personal life
3.1
Ancestry
4
References
Early life and education
(Prince) Iskinder (also Iskander/Eskander) was born on 6 August 1934 in Addis Ababa, the child of Ras Desta Damtew, a senior military commander and noble, and Princess Tenagnework, daughter of Emperor Haile Selassie I. In 1935, not long after his birth, the imperial family was forced to flee the Fascist Italian invasion into exile in Bath, Somerset; Ras Desta remained in the country to command the imperial forces fighting in the south of the country and was captured and executed in 1937. Iskinder was educated primarily in the United Kingdom. Desta was at Wellington College 1948-1951 (Wellington College Register).[1]
Military career
In 1952, Iskinder entered as a candidate in the Britannia Royal Naval College and passed as a midshipman. In 1955 he was commissioned into the newly established Imperial Ethiopian Navy as a sub-lieutenant, and in 1958, at the age of 21, he was made its Deputy Commander, with the rank of Commander. Despite his reputation as a "vigorous and progressive" commander and ties to the Imperial Family, Iskinder was a minor figure in Ethiopian politics. While some sources suggest that Iskinder was a possible successor to Emperor Haile Selassie, others maintain the emperor did not trust him and did not give him significant positions of responsibility. [1] As a result Iskinder often performed minor governmental duties such as serving on the Executive Committee of the International Christian Fellowship and representing the Emperor at foreign royal events, such as in 1960, the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator in Portugal and the wedding of King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola of Belgium. [1]
One source even claims that Iskender worked to curry support among the officer corps and educated civilians by sponsoring scholarships in the 1960s and 1970s, and that on 14 September 1973, Eskinder hijacked the imperial plane and held the Emperor at gunpoint in an attempt to force a change to the succession. [2] This is contradicted by others who maintain that the Prince remained close to his grandfather to the end, and had dinner with him almost daily.
Following a naval mutiny of 25-26 February 1974, he fled the naval base in Massawa, staying in Djibouti for a few weeks until called back to Addis Ababa on 8 March. On 12 September, when the Emperor was overthrown by the Derg, Iskinder was placed into detention by the military junta. [3] He was one of sixty imperial officials executed on 23 November 1974.
Personal life
He was married to Leult (Princess) Sofia Amanuel, daughter of 'Ato Amanuel Abraham, GCVO, Minister of Education. They had one daughter, Naomi Iskinder, born in 1969.[4]