Kebra Negast on Women

While reading the two excerpts from the Kebra Negast, a few passages jumped out at me. I was struck by the casual and indifferent manner in which women from this text were treated. In the first reading, the passages that most evidence this point are on pages 30 and 31 where it discusses Solomon’s 400 wives and 600 concubines. The text goes on to further illustrate this point by saying that Solomon didn’t believe that this was fornication, and his main purpose in having 1000 women was procreation to further his lineage. Even with this explanation, I feel that this is still an indifferent way of looking at women because although this was not technically forbidden, “no law had been laid down for him in respect of women, and no blame can be imputed to him in respect of marrying many wives” (31), this is still degrading and disrespectful to women because their only purpose is to serve for Solomon. Even the text, while not outright forbidding this practice, does state, “Those who marry many wives seek their own punishment. He who marrieth one wife hath no sin.” (31). In the second reading, the King is speaking to Menyelek and offering him women as prizes, “and I will make a marriage for thee, an I will give thee as many queens and concubines as thou desirest.” (50). I think that this casual regard to women, as evidenced in the Kebra Negast and many other religious texts, is directly related to Genesis in the Bible. In Genesis, God deliberately puts man higher than woman, and it is woman (Eve) who caused the fall and created the concept of sin. Because of this connection, I think that many other religious texts have adopted a similar attitude toward women that remains unchanged for many years after.