Monument to the Lion of Judah patriot and national hero. The work was made by the French sculptor Georges Gardet in 1930, on the occasion of the coronation of Emperor Hailé Selassié on November 2, 1930. At the end of the so-called March of the Iron Will (in italian: "Marcia della ferrea volontà") that led to the occupation of Addis Ababa by the Italian army, the statue was transported to Rome, Italy in 1935 at the end of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. The Lion of Judah sculpture was placed just beyond Piazza dei Cinquecento, under the obelisk of the Italian Heroes of the Battle of Dogali
Kings of Judah The Davidic dynasty began when the tribe of Judah made David its king, following the death of Saul. The Davidic line continued when David became king of the reunited Kingdom of Israel. When the united kingdom split, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the Davidic line. Following the exile of Judah, the Davidic line was respected by the exiles in Babylon, who regarded the exilarchs as kings-in-exile. More complete biographies of the Kings of Judah than that of the Hebrew Bible were written by Iddo the Seer and in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, both