E. A. Wallis Budge provides an account of the most familiar tradition about Degna Djan on his deathbed, that he asked Abuna Peter to decide which of his two sons should succeed him.
Mennas returned with forged papers that made him Abuna, and he consecrated 'Anbasa Wedem as king.
[2] Taddesse Tamrat repeats traditions that Degna Djan both led military expeditions as far south as Ennarea, and commanded missionary activities in the highlands of Angot and the later province of Amhara.
[3] Because the Gadla of Tekle Haymanot states that Degna Djan lived 18 generations, or 400–600 years, before the saint (c. 1215), "this brings Digna-Jan to the first half of the ninth century.
"[4] Taddesse Tamrat also mentions a tradition that makes him, not his son Dil Na'od, the last king of Axum.