Sayadar
fl. late 13th century
Orthodox
Ethiopia

Sayadar b. Mahrawal was a legendary Christian king in the Harär area. Following the Fath Madinat Harar, an unpublished legendary history of Harär in the 13th century A.D., Sayadar was the last king of the infidels fighting against the Haräri under the leadership of their most important saint Abadir 'Umar ar-Rida and his followers. In the Fath, Sayadar is anachronistically designated as a "Portuguese." He succeeded his niece Markaniš after she had been killed in battle in 689 H. (1290 A.D.). He was defeated by the Haräri in 699 H. (1299 A.D.).

Ewald Wagner

R. Paret, "Eine fraqwürdige arabische Chronic von Harar," IV Congresso Internazionale di Studi Etiopici, Roma 1972, Vol. I (Roma, 1974), 435.

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.