View source for Na'akueto La'ab

{{Short description|King of Zagwe dynasty in the 13th century}}
{{Infobox monarch
| name               = Na'akueto La'ab
| image              = File:Priest with Large Canvas at the Church of the Monastery of Na’akuto La’ab (3425155404).jpg 
| caption            = Priest with large canvas at the monastery of Na'akueto La'ab, with a depiction of the legend of kings
| reign              = 1221–1261
| succession         = King of [[Zagwe dynasty]]
| predecessor        = [[Lalibela (Emperor of Ethiopia)|Gebre Maskel Lalibela]]
| successor          = [[Yetbarak]]
| spouse             = 
| issue              = 
| dynasty            = [[Zagwe dynasty]]
| father             = [[Kedus Harbe]]
| religion           = [[Ethiopian Orthodox Church]]
}}

'''Na'akueto La'ab''' ({{langx|gez|ንዓኩቶ ላዓብ}}) was the King of [[Zagwe dynasty]]. According to [[Taddesse Tamrat]], he was the son of [[Kedus Harbe]].<ref>Taddesse Tamrat, ''Church and State in Ethiopia'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p.&nbsp;56n.</ref> [[Richard Pankhurst (academic)|Richard Pankhurst]] credits him with the creation of the church located in a cave a half-day's journey from the town of [[Lalibela]].<ref>Richard Pankhurst, ''The Ethiopians: A History'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001), p.&nbsp;53</ref> According to a manuscript [[Pedro Páez]] and [[Manuel de Almeida]] saw at [[Axum]], Na'akueto La'ab ruled for 40 years, a suspiciously round number.<ref>G.W.B. Huntingford, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/611706 "'The Wealth of Kings' and the End of the Zāguē Dynasty"], ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', 28 (1965), p.&nbsp;8</ref>

==Reign==
A ''Gadla'' or [[hagiography]] of Na'akueto La'ab exists, in a manuscript written in the 17th century. According to Huntingford, it documents that Zagwe power had extended into [[Gojjam]], and credits the king with building two churches: one at Sewa'a "which is said to have been called Wagra Sehin ('mountain of incense') 'among Celestrial', and Ashetan or Asheten 'among Terrestrials'", which Huntingford identifies with an existing church named [[Ashetan Maryam]], a [[monolithic architecture|monolithic]] structure located a few kilometers east of [[Lalibela]]; the other in the land of Qoqhena, which was given a ''[[tabot]]'' from a desecrated church dedicated to Istifanos.<ref>G.W.B. Huntingford, ''Historical Geography of Ethiopia from the first century AD to 1704'' (London: British Academy, 1989), p. 68</ref>

Tradition states that queen Masqal Kibra convinced her husband, King [[Gebre Mesqel Lalibela|Lalibela]], to abdicate in favor of Na'akueto La'ab, but 18 months later when the young king's soldiers appropriated a poor farmer's only cow for the king's dinner table, she convinced Lalibela to resume the throne. Taddesse Tamrat suspects that the end of Lalibela's rule was not in truth this peaceful. He argues that this tradition masks a brief period when Na'akueto La'ab "was no doubt a rallying point for disaffected elements in the country, and although kept under close watch managed to usurp the throne for a brief period until [[Yetbarak]] managed to take his father's throne."<ref>Taddesse Tamrat, pp. 62ff</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150402151632/http://www.dacb.org/stories/ethiopia/naakweto_laab.html ''The Dictionary of Ethiopian Biography'': Nä'akweto-Lä-'Ab]

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg}}
{{s-bef | before = [[Gebre Mesqel Lalibela]] }}
{{s-ttl | title  = [[Emperor of Ethiopia]] }}
{{s-aft | after  = [[Yetbarak]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naakueto Laab}}
[[Category:13th-century monarchs in Africa]]
[[Category:Emperors of Ethiopia]]
[[Category:Zagwe dynasty]]
[[Category:13th-century Ethiopian people]]

{{Ethiopia-royal-stub}}