Hezbä-Baräk
fl. c. 8th or 9th century
Orthodox
Ethiopia

Hezbä-Baräk, (perhaps fl. c. 8th or 9th century A.D.), was an ancestor of St. Täklä-Haymanot, and is said to have lived a few generations after the Emperors 'Abreha and 'Asbeha. He reputedly moved from Tegré to Amhara, where he settled in Dawent. His son Täklä-Qä'at married a woman of Mäqdäla in Amhara, and their son, Abba 'Asqä-Léwi, was responsible for spreading the Gospel widely in the area. The historicity of these characters is perhaps not to be taken very seriously, but their activities probably reflect a genuine southwards movement of Aksumite influence round about the eighth century, when Islam had isolated Aksum from her former contacts in Egypt and Constantinople.

A. K. Irvine

E. A. Wallis Budge, The Life and Miracle of Takla Haymânôt (London, 1906).
C. Conti Rossini, Storia d'Etiopia (Bergamo, 1928), 267.

This article is reproduced, with permission, from The Dictionary of Ethiopian Biography, Vol. 1 'From Early Times to the End of the Zagwé Dynasty c. 1270 A.D.,' copyright © 1975, edited by Belaynesh Michael, S. Chojnacki and Richard Pankhurst, Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All rights reserved.