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The Agame (Tigrinya ዓጋመ ʿāgāme, Amharic ዓጋሜ āgāmē, "fruitful") is a former province located in northern Ethiopia, now part of the Tigray Region. Its inhabitants include the Irob people, a region where tradition states the legendary Makeda (the Queen of Sheba) was born and raised. The aristocratic house had its capital at Adigrat.

Agame also includes Zalambessa; a piece of land Ethiopia and Eritrea have recently fought over.^[1]

Agame is one of the oldest regions of Ethiopia, being part of the Kingdom of D'mt in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea that would develop into the Kingdom of Aksum. Along with Akkele Guzay in Eritrea, it was a main center of Aksumite culture (second only to Western Tigray, where the capital was located), with a distinct sub-culture that separated the two regions from that of Western Tigray (Shire, Axum, Yeha), Central Eritrea (Seraye, Hamasien, and Adulis), and frontier areas in northern Eritrea and Central Ethiopia.^[2][3] The first mention of Agame was in the Monumentum Adulitanum of the early 3rd century, where it is listed as one of the districts conquered by the unnamed king of the inscription.^[4][5] During medieval times, Agame was part of a larger province of Bur in Ethiopia, which also included Akkele Guzay, some northeastern Afar lowlands, and the Buri peninsula; Agame and Akkele Guzay were part of "Upper" (La'ilay) Bur, while the lowlands were further distinguished as "Lower" (Tahtay). ^[6]

The local noble family had ruled over Agame from the "Era of Princes" until Mengistu deposed Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. This family retained sufficient power and respect following the Italian conquest in 1936, that the Italian Viceroy Pietro Badoglio proposed in a telegram to Mussolini that some of the old Ethiopian ruling class be co-opted into Italian East Africa: "In the region between Shoa and Eritrea, there were local noble families which it was not convenient to slight because they had exercised command for generations and have authority and prestige which can be valuable for us."^[7]

"Official" Ethiopian records traces the origins of this family to the marriage of King Margedir of Rome and Eleni, sister of King Solomon.^[8] The current lineage of the rulers of Agame as as follows:

Kumenit begot Woldu,

Woldu begot Sabagadis,

Sabagadis begot Aregawi,

Aregawi begot Sebhat,

Sebhat begot (daughter) Bizu, (who married Desta)

Desta and Bizu, begot Atsbeha,

Atsbeha begot Buzunish. ^[9]

Short clip from a documentary on what its like to be a white descendent of the Agame dynasty.