The myth says Selassie is descended from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who was an Ethiopian queen named Makeda. They had a son named Menelik, who when he came of age travelled to Jerusalem to meet Solomon, who recognized him as his son. When Menelik returned to Ethiopia he took the Ark of the Covenant with him, became the first Emperor of Ethiopia and founder of the Solominic Dynasty, all the way down to Selassie.

OK so first off, the queen of Sheba almost certainly wasn't from Ethiopia so the myth isn't literally true. BUT if there was a queen of Sheba she'd have been from Saba in south Yemen, which is where Ethiopians are descended from (in part), so there is a link there.

Also there's a theory that the Ark might actually be in Ethiopia, that it was removed from the Temple in Jerusalem to prevent it from being looted or destroyed by whoever was sacking Jerusalem at the time, and was brought into Egypt and hidden on Elephantine island in the Nile (there was in fact a Jewish settlement on the island for several centuries during this time period). Then when Elephantine was ransaked the Ark wass again removed and taken up the nile, this time all the way into Ethiopia which was remote enough to keep it safe.

There's no real proof of this, but there is alot of interesting circumstantial evidence pointing to it. I read a book called The Sign and the Seal about it that makes a pretty convincing case that it's at least a strong possibility. I don't know if it actually is there but it seems plausible at least.

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