Order of Menelik II

The Order of Emperor Menelik II was established by the Regent Ras Tefer in 1924 during the reign of Empress Zaudith .

In various sources, the order was named differently: the Order of the Lions of Judea, the Order of the Ethiopian Lion and the Order of Menelik II, nevertheless implying the same order, but in 1996 the Ethiopian Crown Council (in exile) decided to divide the award into two orders in order to further eliminate confusion.

The highest degrees of the Order of Menelik II were awarded to senior officers of the armed forces and senior officials of the court, who could count on receiving awards after retirement. The order was awarded to the Swedish prince Bertil in 1945 .

The badges of the order were made by Artus-Bertrand in Paris . There is a version that the design of the order was borrowed from the Montenegrin Order of Prince Danilo ^[1] , which was also made by Artus-Bertrand.

In 1974, the Order of Emperor Menelik II was abolished by the communist authorities, but preserved as a dynastic award of the Ethiopian Imperial Dynasty.

The order has five degrees:

• Grand Cross - the badge of the order on a wide shoulder tape and the star of the order
• Knight Commander - Badge of the Order on the Neckband and Star of the Order
• Commander - badge of the order on the neckband
• Officer - badge of the order on the chest ribbon
• Chevalier - badge of the order on the chest ribbon

Awarded with various degrees of the order can indicate the initials of degrees of the order in the official title - GCEM (Knight of the Big Cross), GOEM (Knight Commander), CEM (Commander), OEM (Officer), and MEM (Cavalier).

The badge of the order is a cross in the form of the Templar cross of red enamel with a wide edging of green enamel. In the center of the cross is a green enamel medallion with a gold image of the small coat of arms of the Ethiopian Empire - crowned by the Ethiopian imperial crown , who is on the alert heraldically to the left of the lion of Judea, carrying a golden staff in the left paw with a pommel in the shape of a cross and two ribbons with a fringe on the grassy foot. The medallion has a red enamel edging with inscription in gold letters in the Gyyz language (Mo'a Anbasa ZY), the abbreviation for “The lion of the tribe of Judah” (Mo'a Anbessa Zemene Gede Yehuda). The crown is crowned with a golden Ethiopian imperial crown.

The reverse of the sign repeats the obverse with the exception of the image in the medallion - the monogram of Emperor Menelik II.

The star of the order includes the badge of the order without a crown, superimposed on a golden faceted eight-pointed star with a multi-beam radiance between the rays.

• Order of Menelik II on the page of the Crown Council of Ethiopia
• Order of Menelik II on the page of Yuri Yashnev
• Order of Menelik II on the page of Megan Robertson
• Order of Emperor Menelik II