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The
Order of the Queen of Sheba: founded by Empress Zauditu
in 192. Awarded in a superior class (Collar-reserved
for the Emperor and Empress,members of the Imperial
Family,Foreign Heads os State, and a maximum of five
ordinary recipients), and five classes (1, Grand
Cordon-limited to fifteen,2, Grand Officer-limited
to twenty-five ,3. Commander-limited to thirty-five,
4. Officer- limited to forty-five, and 5-Chevalier
- limited to fifty- five) 
Order of Emperor Menelike II: was founded
in 1924 by the Regent, Ras Tafari Makonen,
during the reign of Empress Zauditu, and
is one of the most attractive of the Imperial
Orders. It is also sometimes referred to
as "The Order of the Lion of Judah" or as
"The Order of the Ethiopian Lion"; undeed,
these names appear to have applied to what
was essentially one comprehensive honour.In
1996, the Crown Council decided to end
this anomaly by establishing two separate
Orders with distinct insignia and ri bands:
the old insignia designated for Menelik
and the new design for the Lion. Thus both
Orders (Emperor Menelik II and the Ethiopian
Lion ) can be said to have been found in
1924 with modification into two Order,
while Spink, in London, has made the Order
of the Ethiopian Lion.
The
founder of Ethiopia (or Abyssinia) and the founder
of the Imperial dynasty are held to be Menelik I,
son of Solomon, King of Israel, and of Makeda, the
Queen of Sheba. According to legend, the brother
Kings Ella Abrecha and Ella Asbeha, together with
their mother, were converted to Christianity by the
Coptic monk Frumentius of Alexandria in 330 AD. Their
successor, King Kaleb, considerably expanded the
kingdom to include parts of South Arabia. However,
the state came under increasing pressure from the
expanding Islamic world, gradually being pushed back
into the interior of Ethiopia. The Solomonic dynasty
lost power to the Zagwe dynasty of Lasta from 1117
until 1268. The former being confined to their traditional
fiefs in Showa. According to legend, the Ethiopian
Saint Takla Haymanot persuaded Emperor Nakuto Le-Ab
to relinquish power in favors of Tasfa Iyasus, a
descendant of the Solomonic dynasty. The settlement
so engineered, granted the head of the Zewde dynasty
the hereditary title of Wagshum together with rule
over the Wag region and precedence immediately after
the Emperor, together with the right to be seated
in his presence on a silver throne one step below
his and to the right. Tasfa Iyasus was crowned as
Emperor Yekonu Amulak in 1270, and became the ancestor
of a line of Emperors who ruled for six hundred years. They succeeded in strengthening
the state and expanding their power under several
able rulers, including Emperors Amda Seyun I and Zara
Yakub. However, increasing threats from surrounding
Islamic states prompted an alliance with the Portuguese
and a reproachment with Rome. Although initially helpful
in stemming the Islamic threat during the sixteenth
century, by the early seventeenth century, rivalry
between the Roman and Coptic churches had become acute.
Emperor Susenyos [Malak Sagad III] was eventually
forced to abdicate in favour of his son as a consequence.
During the reign of Iyasu the Great, a shift in power
at court resulted in the rise to prominence of a number
of Galla nobles, eroding the powers of the traditional
supporters of the dynasty from Tigray and Amhara.
By the end of the eighteenth century, these Muslim
Galla noble families were continuously competing for
the important positions at court. The Emperors were
gradually reduced to puppets. Princes of the dynasty
being raised to the throne and deposed with the ebb
and flow of military strength amongst the 
Gallas. This period being known in history as the
Zamana Masafint or "Era of the Princes". The provinces
regained much of their autonomy, but this resulted
in increasing competition between the local rulers.
Dejazmatch Kassa, a minor nobleman from Qwara, at
the battles of Taqusa and Ayshal, defeated the Gallas
in 1855. He did away with the practice of appointing
a puppet Emperor, and assumed the Imperial mantle
himself as Emperor Tewodros II. He came into conflict
with most of his neighbors, and incurred British
wrath by imprisoning several British representatives.
A punitive expedition under General Napier resulted
in Tewodros committing suicide in his mountain fortress
at Magdala in 1868. A short period of chaos ended
with the seizure of the Imperial crown by Wagshum
Gobaze, of Lasta, as Emperor Takla Giyorgis II. He
was in turn defeated in battle and imprisoned by
another provincial lord, Kassa Mirtcha of Tigray,
in 1871. Emperor Yohannes IV died in battle against
the Mahdist invaders from the Sudan. His long-time
opponent, Menelik II, King of Showa, stepped into
the Imperial breach in 1889. As a direct descendant
in the male line, from Emperor Lebna Dengel, Menelik's
accession marked the restoration of the ancient Solomonic
line. * 
