{{Infobox royalty|name=Sembroutheios|image=Ethio w3.jpg | succession = King of Aksum | reign = {{Circa}}240-260 | predecessor = ʽDBH | successor = DTWNS }} '''Sembrouthes''' was a King of the Kingdom of Aksum who most likely reigned sometime in the 3rd century. He is known only from a single inscription in Greek that was found at Dekemhare (ደቀምሓረ ድንበዛን), Hamasien in modern-day Eritrea, which is dated to his 24th regnal year. Sembrouthes was the first known ruler in the lands later ruled by the Emperor of Ethiopia to adopt the title "King of Kings".<ref name=Munro-Hay-185>Munro-Hay, "The Chronology of Aksum: A Reappraisal of the History and Development of the Aksumite State from Numismatic and Archeological Evidence" (University of London, 1978), p. 185</ref> He is a probable candidate for the king who erected the Monumentum Adulitanum.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bowersock |first=G. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X4BoAgAAQBAJ&dq=This+is+a+certain+sembrouthes&pg=PA57 |title=The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam |date=2013-04-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-933367-7 |pages=57 |language=en}}</ref>
His inscription reads as:
{{Quote frame|"King of kings of Aksum, great Sembrouthes came (and) dedicated (this inscription) in the year 24 of Sembrouthes the Great King"<ref>{{cite web |title=The Inscriptions |url=https://www.livingston.org/cms/lib4/NJ01000562/Centricity/Domain/602/aksum.pdf |access-date=2024-02-19 |archive-date=2024-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119191606/https://www.livingston.org/cms/lib4/NJ01000562/Centricity/Domain/602/aksum.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}
Discussing the evidence provided in the inscription and the absence of any coins issued with his name of them, Munro-Hay concludes that Sembrouthes "finds better into the earlier part of the Aksumite royal sequence.<ref>Munro-Hay, "The Chronology", p. 187</ref> In his later history of Aksum, Munro-Hay narrowed the date of his reign to a gap between `DBH and DTWNS, or c.250.<ref>Munro-Hay, ''Aksum'', p. 73</ref> However, W.R.O. Hahn, in a study published in 1983, assigns Sembrouthes to the 4th century, between Aphilas and Ezana. Hahn further identifies him with Ousanas or the legendary Ella Amida.<ref>As cited in Munro-Hay, ''Excavations at Axum'' (London: British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1989), p. 22</ref>
== Notes == {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-reg}} {{s-bef | before = `DBH | before2 = (uncertain) }} {{s-ttl | title = King of Axum }} {{s-aft | after = DTWNS | after2 = (uncertain) }} {{s-end}}
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Category:Kings of Axum Category:3rd-century monarchs in Africa