GDRT

GDRT
King of Aksum

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 Axum in the affairs of what is now Yemen. 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.

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. However 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.

The inscriptions of GDR represent the oldest surviving royal inscriptions in the Ge'ez alphabet. The oldest of these was found at Addi-Galamo in the regions of Atsbi and Dar'a in eastern Tigray Region in northern Ethiopia. The area is rich in pre-Aksumite artifacts, and inscriptions of a pre-Aksumite kingdom called Dʿmt have been found in the region. The inscription mentioning GDR is the only evidence of his existence from the western side of the Red Sea:

The Addi Galamo inscription was written on a sceptre or "boomerang-like object"; the linguist A.J. Drewes therefore interprets mzlt as meaning a sceptre or royal emblem. The inscription's meaning is uncertain, but if mzlt is taken to mean a sceptre, and ʾrg and lmq are taken to be place names (or sanctuaries), then, according to Alexander Sima, the text could mean "GDR, king of Aksum gave (this) sceptre into the possession of (the sanctuaries) ʾRG and LMQ." The South Arabian expert W.F. Albert Jamme, however, translates the inscription as "GDR king of Aksum occupied the passages of `RG and LMQ", or "Gedara, King of Axum is humbled before the [gods] Arg and Almouqah," (i.e. Almaqah or Ilmuqah), assuming that the ʾ in Ilmuqah was assimilated.

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