The D’mt Kingdom, Da’amat, also Dʿmt, (Ge’ez: ደዐመተ, Tigrigna: ደኣማት) was a kingdom located in Yeha, Tigrai. Its territory included present-day Eritrea and northern Ethiopia. It existed during the 10th to 5th centuries BC. Few inscriptions by or about this kingdom survive and very little archaeological work has taken place. As a result, it is not known whether Dʿmt ended as a civilization before the Kingdom of Axum‘s early stages, evolved into the Aksumite state, or was one of the smaller states united in the Kingdom of Axum possibly around the beginning of the 1st century.
The capital of Dʿmt was at Yeha, a center of mysterious excavations, and home to a large temple complex, the temple to the god Ilmuqah is still standing. Al-maqah, Ilmuqah or Al-muqh (Sabaean: ?????) was the moon God (and hence the temple of the moon) of the ancient kingdoms of Yemeni, Dʿmt and Aksum.
Daʿamat دعمت in Arabic translates as ‘supported’ or ‘columned’ and may refer to the columns and obelisks (or Hawelti) of Matara or Qohaito.
Despite the many tangible old-aged heritages they left behind, little is told about the Da’amat and Axumites, the owners of the Habesha and Abyssinia names. They have had unparalleled power, contribution, and history in the whole of Africa. There were many dynasties and kingdoms that were born and died for several centuries until the 21st revolution of Tegaru terminated the process and up-scaled the country into a federated system.
Read more about this and Yeha.
