ABSTRACT
Landed elites. From biblical days until the 1974 Marxist revolution, Ethiopia maintained three status hierarchies: hereditary, achieved, and appointed. 1 An Ethiopian could be a member of the nobility by birth, or by being granted that status by the emperor. Commoners were the non-nobility defined by birth. The third hierarchy was made up of the priests of the Orthodox Christian Church. Emperor Selassie reputed to be a direct descendant of King Solomon was the supreme noble, the imperial monarch of the Ethiopian society.
