Zoskales

Zoskales Kingdom of Aksum

Zoskales (c. 100) was an ancient King in the Horn of Africa. His realm is thought to have included the Kingdom of Aksum.

History

The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea mentions Zoskales as the ruler of the port of Adulis.

At least as early as Henry Salt, some scholars, including Sergew Hable Sellassie^[1] and Y. M. Kobishchanov,^[2] have identified him with Za Haqala, who is listed in the King Lists of Ethiopia as having ruled for 13 years, and who ruled between Za Zalis and Za Dembalé.^[3] G.W.B. Huntingford points out, on the other hand, that there is not enough information to be certain of this identification. He argues instead that Zoskales was a petty king whose power was limited to only Adulis.^[4] Zoskales is believed to have been the first king of Aksum. He is most renown for the territories he conquered for Aksum. These territories included people along the Red Sea, the Blue Nile, and south western Arabia (Modern day Yemen).

Notes

1. Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270 (Addis Ababa: 1972), p. 72
2. Axum (University Park: 1979), pp. 54-5
3. Salt, A Voyage to Abyssinia (Philadelphia, 1816), p. 358
4. Quoted in Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 18