Religious statecraft: Constantinianism in the figure of Nagashi Kaleb

Rugare Rukuni

doi:10.4102/hts.v76i4.5885

Abstract

The Himyarite invasion of 525 CE by Kaleb of Aksum was a definitive war in the narrative of global religion and politics. The accounts surrounding the war corroborate the notion of an impressed Constantinian modus of establishing religious statecraft. Whereas there has been much anthropological and archaeological work on the South Arabian–Aksumite relations from the 4th to the 6th centuries, revisionism in perspective of literary sources and respective evidence retains significance given the dynamism of Ethiopianism as a concept. Implicative document analysis, cultural historiography and archaeology of religion are relevant methods used in this study. There are parallels between Kaleb’s new Zion agenda and Constantine’s nova Roma persona, both resembling an emergent Christian-religious state. It is from this religious (Christian) state that a geopolitical policy that defined the trajectory of their respective nations emerged. The replete epigraphy and literary evidence on Ethiopia and its Byzantine connection aggregately affirms the explicit existence of a Christianised foreign policy.Contribution: The research revises the narrative of Ethiopian Christianity with a lens of political-religious dynamics thereby contributing to the field of theology and history.

Highlights

The concept of religious statecraft is a generic lens for decoding the geopolitical dynamics and domestic political religious complex of nations
The kingly personality of Kaleb and Ella Asbeha when read against the background of Constantinian religious-political policy becomes enhanced
The Christianpolitical matrix in Ethiopia found a match in the Himyarite establishment

Summary

Introduction

The concept of religious statecraft is a generic lens for decoding the geopolitical dynamics and domestic political religious complex of nations. The Himyarite monarch Abikarib ‘Asad, in inscriptions dated to have been from the late 4th century CE, claimed to be King of the tribes, that is, Saba, dhu-Raydan, Hadramawt, Yemen, the Tawd and Tihama (Robin 2009:47–58). This claim was buttressed later on by Yusuf the ‘king of the tribes’ with the support of local clans such as the Y az’anids. Describing the Himyarite war as a narrative of confluence between religious statecrafts is a logical possibility in the perspective of the preceding observations

Methodology

Data availability statement