| Native Name: | ደዐመተ |
| Conventional Long Name: | Kingdom of Dʿmt |
| Common Name: | D'mt |
| Era: | Iron Age |
| Government Type: | Monarchy |
| Year Start: | 980 BC |
| Year End: | 650 BC |
| P1: | Sabaeans |
| S1: | Kingdom of Aksum |
| Image Map Caption: | Dʿmt is given as "Damot" on this map, not to be confused with the later and more southwestern Kingdom of Damot. |
| Capital: | Yeha |
Dʿmt (Unvocalized Ge'ez: ደዐመተ, DʿMT theoretically vocalized as ዳዓማት, *Daʿamat[1] or ዳዕማት, *Daʿəmat[2]) was a kingdom located in Eritrea and the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia which existed between the 10th and 5th centuries BC. Few inscriptions by or about this kingdom survive and very little archaeological work has taken place. As a result, it is not known whether Dʿmt ended as a civilization before the Kingdom of Aksum's early stages, evolved into the Aksumite state, or was one of the smaller states united in the Kingdom of Aksum possibly around 150 BC.[3]
Given the presence of a large temple complex, the capital of Dʿmt may have been present day Yeha, in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. At Yeha, the temple to the god Ilmuqah is still standing.[4]
The kingdom developed irrigation schemes, used plows, grew millet, and made iron tools and weapons.
Some modern historians including, Rodolfo Fattovich, Ayele Bekerie, Cain Felder, and Ephraim Isaac consider this civilization to be indigenous, although Sabaean-influenced due to the latter's dominance of the Red Sea, while others like Joseph Michels, Henri de Contenson, Tekle-Tsadik Mekouria, and Stanley Burstein have viewed Dʿmt as the result of a mixture of Sabaeans and indigenous peoples.[5] [6] Some sources consider the Sabaean influence to be minor, limited to a few localities, and disappeared after a few decades or a century, perhaps representing a trading or military colony in some sort of symbiosis or military alliance with the civilization of Dʿmt or some other proto-Aksumite state.[7] [8]
Archaeologist Rodolfo Fattovich believed that there was a division in the population of Dʿmt and northern Ethiopia due to the kings ruling over the
After the fall of Dʿmt in the 5th century BC, the plateau came to be dominated by smaller unknown successor kingdoms. This lasted until the rise of one of these polities during the first century BC, the Aksumite Kingdom.[10]
The following is a list of four known rulers of Dʿmt, in chronological order:
| Term | Name | Queen | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dates from ca. 700 BC to ca. 650 BC | |||
| Mlkn Wʿrn Ḥywt | ʿArky(t)n | contemporary of the Sabaean mukarrib Karib'il Watar | |
| Mkrb, Mlkn Rdʿm | Smʿt | ||
| Mkrb, Mlkn Ṣrʿn Rbḥ | Yrʿt | Son of Wʿrn Ḥywt, "King Ṣrʿn of the tribe YGʿḎ [=Agʿazi, cognate to [[Ge'ez language|Ge'ez]]], mkrb of DʿMT and SB'" | |
| Mkrb, Mlkn Ṣrʿn Lmn | ʿAdt | Son of Rbḥ, contemporary of the Sabaean mukarrib Sumuhu'alay, "King Ṣrʿn of the tribe YGʿḎ, mkrb of DʿMT and SB'" |