Canaanite-Israelite background of the Chronicle of Kanem-Bornu D LANGE

Hausa History in the Context of the Ancient Near Eascern World The Chronicle of Kanem-Bornu introduces two concepts of origin: one turns the South Arabian hero Sayf b. Dhi Yazan of the late pre-Islamic period into the great ancestral figure of the... More

Hausa History in the Context of the Ancient Near Eascern World The Chronicle of Kanem-Bornu introduces two concepts of origin: one turns the South Arabian hero Sayf b. Dhi Yazan of the late pre-Islamic period into the great ancestral figure of the Chadic state, and the other ptoposes a genealogical link of the Kanem-Bornu rulers with the long line of biblical patriarchs down to Abraham and Ishmael. Although it is documented äs early äs the thirteenth Century, the connection with Sayf b. Dhi Yazan is certainly due to Islamic Feedback. 98 It might have resulted from the attempt to tutn an earlier clan deity called Sef — perhaps idendcal with the Arabic-Canaanite Isäf and the Canaanite Baal Safon" - into a legendary figure by identifying it, on account of the similarity of names, with the Yemenite hero Sayf {b. Dhi Yazan). The genealogical list at the beginning of the Chronicle furtner refers to the mother of the hero äs a princess of Baghdad. An ancient legend ca Less