Lion of Judah

The association between the Judahites and the lion can first be found in the blessing given by Jacob to his fourth son, Judah, in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible.

[citation needed] It was depicted on a map of the Upper Nile published in 1683 by the German Hiob Ludolf describing the Lion of Judah symbol as the royal insignia of the Ethiopian Empire.

The Lion of Judah served as the hereditary title of the Solomonic Ethiopian emperors and nobles including Sabagadis Woldu, Kenfu Hailu, Wube Haile Mariam, Tewodros II, Yohannes IV, Menelik, and Haile Selassie and was depicted on the flag of Ethiopia from 1897 to 1974.

After the collapse of the Derg in 1990, a minor political party bearing the name Mo'a Anbessa' made its appearance.

[7][8][9] Both Christian and Jewish Ethiopian history have it that there were also immigrants of the Tribes of Dan and Judah that accompanied Makeda back from her visit to Solomon; hence the Ge'ez motto Mo`a 'Anbessa Ze'imnegede Yihuda ("The Lion of Judah has conquered"), included among the titles of the Emperor throughout the Solomonic Dynasty.