Last paragraph, please replace as follows:

‘By the way, Prof. Ayele, the Ge’ez alphabet is more related to the Egyptian hieroglyphics according to some historians & alphabet experts. What’s your take on that?’

You are missing the whole point! What the good professor is saying is – that the horn of Africa is the starting point of history for all humankind!! It is Ethiopian influence you would find in South Arabia and not the other way around. The so called ‘Sabean’ inscriptions you find on stelea in South Arabia should actually be named Axumite and not Sabean!

If the connection you are trying to establish with South Arabia is based on the assumption that it all started in the Horns, then we have no problem. Civilizations evolved in so many places,i.e., Ancient Egypt in the north (which by the way is an African civilization), Axum in the Horn – which by the way is preceded by another civilization Da’amat, Zimbabwe in Southern Africa, Songhai in West Africa etc. Here, I’m talking only about Africa. Then there are the Asian civilizations of Babylon/Mesopotamia, Persia, India China etc. All these precede European civilizations of Rome & Greece. The two way street came after that because of trade, wars etc. Nobody denies that. But terms like ‘..What does Africa means anyway really?’ ‘..fashionable to be afrocentric’??? to say the least divulge blatant complacency!

Pleeease don’t miss the point Prof. Ayele is trying to make. We are fed up of history written from the point of view of Europeans. We should thank historians like Ayele for trying to dig out what really happened thousands of years back!

By the way, Prof. Ayele, the Ge’ez alphabet if more related to the hieroglyphics of Egypt to some people (including me). What’s your take on that.

Just examine the Logic “What does African mean anyway really? Like it or not, Axumite history is not related to Kenyan or Conglese history. The horn of Africa is a distinctly different part of Africa whose civilization and language is related to Middle East Sudan and Egypt, maybe even India.”The diversity within Africa–between Kenyan culture or Ethiopian Culture is being used to Deafricanise Axum. This is like saying that Italian culture is distinct from Northern European culture, so Italy should not be thought of as European.

And its one thing to talk about links betweeen North East Africa and the Middle East culture–after all the semitic languages spoken in the Middle East developed in Ethiopia.But India? What are the links between Indian culture and North East African culture, besides ancient trade? So we can describe Axum as Vaguely Indian but not African, despite the fact of its geography? The wonders of self delusion!

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,473358,00.html

What you are touching upon is, I think, the tip of the Iceberg! That would be the Day when the Full Edifice, Down to the Core, is bared and stands in Full Glory of Day Light. I am looking forward to the day; at least, my grandchildren will have Ethiopian History 101 for what it is and ought to have been.

Here is few suggestion for whatever it is worth:

1. In an Afterword for his groundbreaking book Orientalism the late Edward W Said writes:

“What makes all these fluid and extraordinarily rich actualities difficult to accept is that most people resist the underlying notion: that human identity is not only not natural and stable, but constructed, and occasionally invented t outright. Part of the resistance and hostility generated by books like Orientalism. Or after it, The Invention of Tradition and Black Athena is that they seem to undermine the naïve belief in the certain positivity and unchanging historicity of culture, a self, a national identity”

I am sure and hope you read this and his other books. If by any chance not, you will enjoy and be able to benefit from the specificity and the Big Picture he paints in a very detached and astute way. I recommend him to one and all.

2. Avery erudite Afari Ethiopian friend of mine, Yusuf Yasin, has recently presented a paper in San Jose, California on the murky relation ship between the former allies TPLF and TPLF and its aftermath. Among the important points he raises though was what Said refers to as occasional invited .That, or some aspect of it, is exactly taking place right now in Eritrea. Since this paper is on line on EMF you may take look at it and defiantly benefit from it, I believe
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3. I think it must have been June 1974 when I walked into the office of the late Poet Laureate Thegaye GM. to say Hello! and exchanging on the latest Talk of the Town and the Nation. So much was going and there was no time to sift and digest. As usual, with out much ado he picked up a book and started reading a poem. At the end he signed the book and gave it to me. The poem was Maneh? (Who are You?) and the book was his collection of his poems Esat wey Abeba. It was the first piece on the collection. It is a lamentation for lost self, lost identity. The Blues, if you will, in African American sense. That seqoqaw was the Ethiopian version of Trail of Tears here in the USA. It is painted in multi color with words. Since then I have forever been reading it and what is more have read for hundreds of people in my prolonged detention years. I am sure you have read it. Taking one more look will enhance you undertaking. What is more, you will be able to see others have also tried to tackle the very same area in a different format.

4. One last thing . The other day I was watching Aljezzera (AJE) and watched a forum where how this conflicted issue of individual identity, nationality and religion is being handled in Lebanon. Incidentally Yusuf too mention Lebanon in connection with Eritrea.
I very much admire and appreciate what you do. It an endeavor that needs a great sensitivity and sensibility. It seems you have them. and look forward that it comes out in a book format

With Regards

Óiechá Óní_Óné

You are a true scholar and educator. I have followed your regular history column on TADIAS Magazine for sometime now, I thought I would write you this note to say your work is appreciated! Thank you for sharing!

I have always enjoyed your informative and sometimes thought provoking articles. I especially like this one because it shines light on the often ignored but rather more inclusive aspect of Ethiopian history. In my opinion, it is possible to find a middle ground between the two paradigms. Both share mostly the same facts, and as you have correctly pointed out, it is a matter of interpretation and most importantly, it is a matter of doing more research.

Is it true that the non-Africanization of Ethiopia in European literature started in earnest after the victory at Adwa in 1896? Do you agree?

Thank you much!