Menelik I first Emperor of Ethiopia, traditionally believed to be the son of King Solomon of ancient Israel and Makeda, Queen of Sheba. Tradition credits him with bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia, following a visit to Jerusalem to meet his father upon reaching adulthood. According to the traditional Ethiopian royal chronicle, King Solomon had intended on sending one son of each of his nobles and one son each of each temple priest with Menelik upon his return to his mother's kingdom. He is supposed to have had a replica made of the Ark for them to take with them, but the son of Sadok the High Priest secretly switched the replica with the real Ark, and brought it into Ethiopia where it is said to remain to this day in the ancient town of Axum. Upon the death of Makeda, Queen of Sheba, Menelik assumed the throne with the new title of Emperor and King of Kings of Ethiopia. He founded the Solomonic Dynasty of Ethiopia that ruled Ethiopia with few interruptions for close to three thousand years and ended with the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974.