http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpSJoxTs7s4

Asmara   Marathon Mai-Bela   ኣስመራ ማራቶንማይ-በላ House of Life Maison de La VieMemory of  Queen of Sheba www.mlv-hol.net   ዋርሳይ ኣትሌቲክስAsmara,Eritrea                                                             www.mlv-hol.net   ዋርሳይ ኣትሌቲክስ
This  special video of Marathon is  dedicated for  the history of the city of Asmara . It is the first ever held entirely in the city of Asmara with the participation of the war handicaps the Un members and young and adult runners of the city.  We called the Marathon Maie Bela, since the river used to flow in the middle of the city and is the main  reason of the founding of the city by the Queen of Sheba 3000 years ago, making it one of the oldest cites in the world. The city is marked by three  significant dates in its history. The first is 1000 BCE, the time of the reign of the Queen of Sheba,  her empire extended on both side of the Red sea including Eritrea, Ethiopia & Yemen of today. The main theme of the Marathon is Mie-Bela, which means she had cried for water. The delivery place of The Queen of Sheba is found in the city of Asmara itself. The Queen delivering her son Menelik I(David II)   cried for water while in  labor beside a river. Since, the same river is named as Maie-Bela. The city of Asmara was found three thousand years ago by the Queen of  Sheba herself on both side of this holy  river. The fate of the river is sealed 1st by the Italians planting brick factory at its source for the building the Great Cathedral at the center of the city. Later the Military regime of  Ethiopia  did not made a proper sewerage system for the city and used it as waste discharge and sealed it with cement definitively. Today the same river continue to be sealed by the new government of the country used as a main discharge of the city’s waste.The 2nd date is  13th century AD, when four  rival clans fought against each other for the control of the city  at the fall of the Zagwe Dynasty  in 1273 at the reestablishment of the Solomonic dynasty in the Shoan highland of  today’s Ethiopia at the city called Ankober. This left the four clans namely the Gheza Gurtom,  Gheza Shelele, the Gheza Serenser and Gheza Asmae fought  for its  control. Their wives declared armistices after meeting in the church of Bale Egzabhier  which is found on the  hill of  the source of river Mie Bela, which is celebrated every 29th of ancient Enoch’s   (Geez) calendar.It is made in the similitude of the old city of Jerusalem. It has four gates, the ester one is closed like the sealed gold gate of Jerusalem. Around the golden gate of this church there is  a cemetery in parallel to the valley of the dead in Jerusalem whidh is going to be opened at the coming of the Messiah in the last days of   Shello.  Thus the four sister made a peace and the city took the name Asemre meaning made peace from Hebrew word Lishomre to keep peace later the name was given as Asmara by the Italians. Till today the area is called arabate Asmara or the four Asmara in the memory of the four sisters who named it at the source of the holy water mai -Bela. The late emperor Haile Selassie, Negus had built a stale  one like Axum on the top of the hill in the memory of Jerusalem.  At the place of the delivery of Menelik he used to sacrifice 60 cows every year in the area called Stazega since he is the 226th king from the son of the queen of Sheba who was delivered on the river side. There existed to this day   after being bombarded by the Communist regime of Mengistue Haile Mariam  in mid 80’s.The third Important day   in the history of the city is that of the Italian naming it as Asmara  and moved their capital  from Masswa port after making peace with the King of Kings Menelik II at his victory at Adwa in Ethiopia.We have dedicated the marathon to  the history of the city and especially the founder Queen of Sheba three thousand years ago- Mie Bela .  By Prof. Muse Tegegne

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