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EntityQ2554505· pop 6· linked from 28 articles

Also known as Mount Wehni

Wehni () is the name of one of the mountains of Ethiopia where most of the male heirs to the Emperor of Ethiopia were interned, usually for life. It was the last of the three such mountains, or amba, said to have been used for that purpose, the other two being Debre Damo and Amba Geshen.

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Amba Wehni zw. Addis Zemen u. Gonder.JPG

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Wehni () is the name of one of the mountains of Ethiopia where most of the male heirs to the Emperor of Ethiopia were interned, usually for life. It was the last of the three such mountains, or amba, said to have been used for that purpose, the other two being Debre Damo and Amba Geshen.

From some undetermined time in history, it was the custom that when the Emperor assumed the throne, his brothers and other male relatives would be taken to a royal prison, where they would live until either they were called forth to become the new emperor or died. Mount Wehni was first used as a prison by Fasilides, when he exiled his son Dawit there for leading a revolt. The mountain was abandoned as a prison during the Zemene Mesafint; more precisely in the 1790s, as Samuel Gobat learned from one Tekla Selassie, "a relative of the king" (that is, the Emperor of Ethiopia).

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