300’s                       Christian communities in Ethiopia.  

327                          The Kingdom of Ethiopia adopts Christianity; Ethiopian missionaries sent to convert the Himyarites; the church historian Philostorgios offers first evidence of a Jewish presence in the region.

    340                          Christian cathedral St Mary of Zion in Axium; either newly built or converted temple.

350                          Fall of island of Meroe to the Aksumite King Ezana; ancient capital of  Meroe abandoned to Noba, perhaps pastoralists from south.

c. 356                          Frumentius, shipwrecked, enslaved by king of “India ulterior”, becomes prime minister, goes to Alexandria to inform Athanasius, who ordains him bishop of Aksum—traditionally identified with Abba Salama, first apostle of Ethiopia; Aksumite inscriptions identify King Ezana and his brother Sazana, who convert

to Christianity; monks migrate to Aksum.

    4^th cent.                   Rufinus reports on Ethiopia.

c. 400                          Some Christian scriptures translated into in Ge'ez.

c. 490’s                        Arrival of “Nine Saints,” wandering Syrian monks; strongly influenced

Ethiopian Christianity.

    514–542                  King Kaleb of Axum.

522                          Ethiopian Christian forces attack the capital Zatar, but are driven back by the Himyarite army; Dhu Nuwas conducts a campaign against the Christians of Najran; Dhu Nuwas killed in battle in 525.

570                          The Battle of the Elephant, in which the Meccans defeat the invading army of Christian Ethiopia.

    6^th cent.                   Ethiopian church music composed by the monk Yared.

800–1000                Ethiopic Synaxary; 800s Christian empire in Ethiopia continues after the decline of Aksum; Arab and Persian merchants explore East African coast with trading stations at Malindi, Mombasa, Kilwa, and Mogadishu.

    c. 9^th cent.               Ruler Degna Jan; a period of military expansion and Christianization.

    1137­–1268              Zagwe Dynasty in Lasta.

    1187                        Chapel in Jerusalem granted to Ethiopian pilgrims by Sultan Saladdin.

c. 1190’s                      Lalibela rock churches; Lalibela seventh king of Zagwe dynasty.

    1268                        The recorded lineage of the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia begins with

                                    Yekuno Amlak.