Vfrdtyky

Dʿmt ደዐመተ
c. 980 BC–c. 400 BC
Capital	Yeha (Likely)[1]
Common languages	Ge'ez,Other South Semitic languages
Religion	Traditional African religions
Government	Monarchy
Historical era	Iron Age
• Established	c. 980 BC
• Disestablished	c. 400 BC
Succeeded by Aksumite Empire

Dʿmt (South Arabian alphabet :  ; Unvocalized Ge'ez : ደዐመተ, DʿMT theoretically vocalized as ዳዓማት, Daʿamat^[2] or ዳዕማት, Daʿəmat^[3]) was a kingdom located in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia that existed during the 10th to 5th centuries BC. Few inscriptions by or about this kingdom survive and very little archaeological work has taken place. As a result, it is not known whether Dʿmt ended as a civilization before the Kingdom of Aksum's early stages, evolved into the Aksumite state, or was one of the smaller states united in the Kingdom of Aksum possibly around the beginning of the 1st century.^[4]

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Part of a series on the
History of Ethiopia
Early history Prehistory   Antiquity to 1st century BC Aksum to 10th century AD
Middle Ages Prehistory   Antiquity to 1st century BC Aksum to 10th century AD Zagwe dynasty to 1268 Early Solomonic period 1270–1529
Early modern history Ethiopian–Adal War 1527–1543 Oromo migrations 1543 – 17th century Habesh Eyalet 1557 – 17th century Early Gondar period 1632–1769 Aussa Sultanate 1734–1974 Zemene Mesafint 1769–1855
Modern history Unification 1855–1913 First Italo–Ethiopian War 1895–1896 Pre-Italian Modernization 1913–1936 Second Italo–Ethiopian War 1935–1936 Italian East Africa 1936–1941 East African Campaign 1941 Italian guerrilla war 1941–1943 Post-Italian Modernization 1941–1974 Federation with Eritrea 1952–1962 Eritrean Independence 1961–1991 Ethiopian Civil War 1974–1991
Recent history Ethiopian general election 2005 Ogaden conflict 2007–2008 War in Somalia 2006–2009
Topics Military Aristocracy Currency (Aksumite) Emperor
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History

Given the presence of a large temple complex and fertile surroundings, the capital of Dʿmt may have been present day Yeha, in Tigray, Ethiopia.^[1] At Yeha the temple to the god Ilmuqah is still standing.^[5]

The kingdom developed irrigation schemes, used plows, grew millet, and made iron tools and weapons.

Some modern historians including Stuart Munro-Hay, Rodolfo Fattovich, Ayele Bekerie, Cain Felder, and Ephraim Isaac consider this civilization to be indigenous, although Sabaean-influenced due to the latter's dominance of the Red Sea, while others like Joseph Michels, Henri de Contenson, Tekle-Tsadik Mekouria, and Stanley Burstein have viewed Dʿmt as the result of a mixture of Sabaeans and indigenous peoples.^[6][7] The most recent research, however, shows that Ge'ez, the ancient Semitic language spoken in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia in ancient times, is not derived from Sabaean.^[8] There is evidence of a Semitic-speaking presence in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia at least as early as 2000 BC.^[7][9] Some sources consider the Sabaean influence to be minor, limited to a few localities, and disappeared after a few decades or a century, perhaps representing a trading or military colony in some sort of symbiosis or military alliance with the civilization of Dʿmt or some other proto-Aksumite state.^[10][11] However other sources hold that D'mt, though having indigenous roots, was under strong South Arabian economic and cultural influence. ^[12]

After the fall of Dʿmt in the 5th century BC, the plateau came to be dominated by smaller unknown successor kingdoms. This lasted until the rise of one of these polities during the first century BC, the Aksumite Kingdom. The ancestor of medieval and modern day Ethiopia, Aksum was able to reunite the area.^[13]

Name

Due to the similarity of the name of Dʿmt and Damot when transcribed into Latin characters, these two kingdoms are often confused or conflated with one another, but there is no evidence of any relationship to Damot, a kingdom far to the south. Daʿamat دعمت in Arabic translates as 'supported' or 'columned', and may refer to the columns and obelisks (or Hawulti) of Matara or Qohaito.

Known rulers

The following is a list of four known rulers of Dʿmt, in chronological order:^[7]

See also

• History of Eritrea


• History of Ethiopia


• Kingdom of Aksum


• Ethiopian Empire


• Land of Punt

References