The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant

Book excerpt: In a chapel in the old crenellated church of Mary of Zion in Aksum, Ethiopia is kept an object that emperors, patriarchs and priests have assured the world is the most important religious relic of all time: the tabota Seyon, Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of Zion. This Ark is alleged to be no other than the Ark that Moses had constructed at Sinai and which destroyed the walls of Jericho. It was brought into Jerusalem by King David and installed in a magnificent temple by King Solomon. Then, the story goes, it came to Ethiopia of its own choice with the half-Ethiopian, half-Jewish son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Are the legends true? Or is this story a monumental deception? Is there any real proof or is it the faith of a people alone that has created this Ark? From ancient texts to local stories, from the Bible to the writings of sixteenth and seventeenth century Jesuits, Stuart Munro-Hay traces the extraordinary legend of Ethiopia's Ark in what is a triumph of historical detective work. Munro-Hay scrutinises every mention of the Ark in Ethiopian records and tests every theory before he reaches his shocking conclusion. "The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant" promises to settle the mystery of the Ark of the Covenant for once and for all.