The Solomonic Kingdom, also known as the Solomonic dynasty or House of Solomon, was the ruling dynasty of the Ethiopian Empire from the 13th to the 20th centuries. The dynasty was founded by Yekuno Amlak, who overthrew the Zagwe dynasty in 1270. His successors claimed to be descended from the legendary king Menelik I, the supposed son of the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, in order to legitimize the dynastys assumption of power. However, there is no credible evidence that the dynasty was descended from Solomon or the Davidic line. The Solomonic dynasty remained in power until 1974, when its last emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown by a coup détat.
The Solomonic Kingdom was a bastion of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity and its rulers claimed to be the heirs to King Solomons kingdom, the New Israel. During the Solomonic period of Ethiopian history, the Christian highland and the Muslim coast were in constant fighting, often for the right to control trade routes. The Solomonic emperors did not utilize capital cities like preceding empires, instead, they had what were termed as instant or moving capitals. The emperor, his army, nobles, and other members of the monarchy lived in tents and huts, and they often did not stay in one place for more than four months at a time, moving only when they had exhausted the land or the residents.
