[5] In 1329, during Amda Seyon I's conquests, he campaigned in the northern provinces of Semien, Wegera, Tselemt, and Tsegede, in which many had been converting to Judaism and where the Beta Israel had been gaining prominence.

According to modern Beta Israel tradition, their forefathers' land was called the "Kingdom of the Gideons", after the name of a putative dynasty of Jewish kings that are said to have ruled it.

[a] The beginning of a conversion process of the Kingdom of Axum to Christianity is thought to have occurred with the arrival of two Syrian brothers Frumentius and Aedesius, sometime in the reign of Ezana.

[9] The conversion, bringing with it Hebraizing elements, was partial, initially was limited to the court and probably affected only the caravan trading route areas between Axum and Adulis.

[11] A strong possibility exists that the Christian Kaleb of Axum, who had dispatched military contingents to fight against the Judaizing Dhu Nuwas of the Arabian peninsula kingdom of Himyar banished opponents to the Simien Mountains, which later emerged as a Beta Israel stronghold.

[11] By the 16th century, David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra accepted the Jewishness of the Beta Israel but knew they were wholly unfamiliar with the Talmud.

The drive towards religious and political unification took on momentum after Amda Seyon (1314–1344) came to power, and thereafter a succession of leaders campaigned in the north-west provinces of Simien, Wegera, Tselemt and Tsegede where the Judaized population were concentrated.