Embet Ilen

Embet Ilen (c. 1801-1851) was a woman important in Eritrean politics.[1] There is little known about her early life.[2] Her father, for example, is named as Aite Hagos in Historical Dictionary of Eritrea, but named as Ayte Fisseha in Traditions de Tsazzega et Hazzega. I: Textes Tigrigna, while A Biography of Ras Woldemichael uses both names alternately.[3][4][5] She was married off to Ayte Solomon, who ruled much of the highlands around Asmara.[2] Ayte Solomon attacked a neighboring district and was defeated, and Embet twice tried to avenge his defeat but was herself defeated both times.[1] However, she then entered into an alliance with the ruler of Tigray, Shum-Agame Subagadis, who subdued highland Eritrea and appointed her as the governor of all the highlands around Asmara.[1][2] After Shum-Agame Subagadis died, Dejjazmatch Wubé, who ruled the northern provinces from 1831-1855, became her ally.[2] Ayte Solomon died around 1837.[2] In the late 1840s she retired and became a nun.[2] Subsequently her old enemy Kantiba Woldegaber visited her, and after he left from visiting her he was murdered.[2] His relatives blamed her, and she fled from them into a neighboring subdistrict.[2] But people there were afraid her enemies would attack them and so extradited her with two of her grandchildren, who were tortured to death.[2] This was one of the reasons for her son Ras Woldemichael's hatred of the highlands around Asmara for the next thirty years.[2] Aside from Ras Woldemichael, she also had a daughter and another son by Ayte Solomon, as well as two more children from political liaisons after Ayte's death.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong; Mr. Steven J. Niven (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. pp. 151–. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong; Mr. Steven J. Niven (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. pp. 152–. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
  3. ↑ Historical Dictionary of Eritrea, by Tom Killion. Lanham, Md.: The Scarecrow Press, 1998.
  4. ↑ Kolmodin, Johannes. Traditions de Tsazzega et Hazzega. I: Textes Tigrigna, by Johannes Kolomodin. Rome: Casa Editrice Italiana di Carlo Luigi, 1912
  5. ↑ Embiyale Weldu Gomida—Tarikh RaȾessi Welde-MikaȾel (meaning A Biography of Ras Woldemichael), by Yesehaq Yosef. Asmara, Eritrea: MBY Press, 2000.
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