GDRT

See also: GDRT (disambiguation)
GDRT
King of Axum
Reignc.200 – 230
SuccessorʽDBH
IssueBYGT

GDRT (also GDR, vocalized by historians as Gadarat) was a King of the Kingdom of Aksum (c. 200), known for being the first king to involve Aksum in South Arabian affairs. He is known primarily from inscriptions in South Arabia that mention him and his son BYGT (also vocalized as "Beyga" or "Beygat"). GDRT is thought to be the same person as GDR, the name inscribed on a bronze wand or sceptre that was found in an area near Atsbi and Dar'a/Addi-Galamo in northern Ethiopia.[1]

GDRT has been equated with the anonymous king of the Monumentum Adulitanum, which would date his reign c. 200 – c. 230. However, the two rulers are usually thought to be distinct.[2] Further, the French scholar Christian Robin, studying the inscriptions at al-Mis`al in Yemen, has shown that GDRT and his successor `DBH lived in the earlier half of the 3rd century.[3]

  1. ^ Munro-Hay, Stuart. Aksum: an African Civilization of Late Antiquity (Edinburgh: University Press, 1991), p. 75
  2. ^ Identification with the king of Monumentum Adulitanum: Alexander Sima, "GDR(T)", in Siegbert Uhlig, ed., Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005), p.719.
  3. ^ Cited in S. C. Munro-Hay, Excavations at Aksum: an account of research at the ancient Ethiopian capital directed in 1972-4 by the late Dr Neville Chittick (London: British Institute in East Africa, 1989), p. 23