The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
This beautifully copied and bound Ethiopian Psalter likely belonged to one of the princes of the Gonderite royal family, whose reign ended in 1769. The main text of this undecorated manuscript is written in the ecclesiastical language of Gǝ‛ǝz while the minor texts are in Amharic, added at a later time. While the colophon and the hand suggest that the original manuscript only contained the 151 Psalms of David, which is in an early eighteenth-century hand, the other texts such as the fifteen Canticles, Song of Songs, Weddase Maryam (Encomium of Mary) and the Anqasa Berhan (Porch of Light) were added in the nineteenth century to create a more complete Psalter. More unusual texts, unrelated to the Psalter, have also been added, for it begins with a homily admonishing the clergy to conduct themselves well spiritually, and ends with directions for undoing charms. The life of the manuscript can be traced not only in these cumulative texts, but also in added prayers for later owners, of which there are at least twelve appended to the ends of the Biblical texts.
Principal cataloger: Getatchew Haile, .
Cataloger: Herbert, Lynley
Contributor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Isaac, Ephraim
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Pizzinato, Riccardo
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
St. Strelcyn. "Le Psaume 151 dans la tradition ethiopienne," Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. 23 (1978), pp. 316-329. See this for apocryphal Psalm 151.
The Ethiopic Version of the Song of Songs. Edited and translated by H. C. Cleave. London, 1951. See this for Song of Songs of Solomon.
Weddâsê Mârjâm. Ein äthiopischer Lobgesang an Maria, nach mehreren Handschriften herausgegeben und übersetzt. Edited and translated by Karl Fries. Leipzig, 1892. See this for Praises of Mary (Wǝddase Maryam).
Äthiopische Marienhymnen. Herausgegeben, übersetzt und erläutert. Edited and translated by Adolf Grohman. Leipzig, 1919. See this for Praises of Mary (Anqäṣä Bǝrhan).
Getatchew Haile et al. Catalogue of the Ethiopic Manuscript Imaging Project. Eugene, Oregon, vol 1, 2009, pp. xxxiii-l. See this for religio-magical prayers.
"Bulletin Codicologique," Scriptorium, Vol. 26, 1972, p. 208, no. 402.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
Ethiopia
Early 18th century and 19th century CE
book
Original Binding
Blind-tooled, stamped goatskin with cross design over wooden boards
The primary language in this manuscript is Geez. The secondary language of this manuscript is Amharic.
Probably created for one of the princes of the Gonderite royal family, whose reign ended in 1769
Names of Wälättä Ḥǝywät and Wälättä Kidan, who added texts in the nineteenth century, mentioned repeatedly in later added prayers
Purchased by the Walters Art Museum through the S. & A. P. Fund, January 1960
Ethiopia
Early 18th century and 19th century CE
book
The primary language in this manuscript is Geez. The secondary language of this manuscript is Amharic.
Probably created for one of the princes of the Gonderite royal family, whose reign ended in 1769
Names of Wälättä Ḥǝywät and Wälättä Kidan, who added texts in the nineteenth century, mentioned repeatedly in later added prayers
Purchased by the Walters Art Museum through the S. & A. P. Fund, January 1960
This beautifully copied and bound Ethiopian Psalter likely belonged to one of the princes of the Gonderite royal family, whose reign ended in 1769. The main text of this undecorated manuscript is written in the ecclesiastical language of Gǝ‛ǝz while the minor texts are in Amharic, added at a later time. While the colophon and the hand suggest that the original manuscript only contained the 151 Psalms of David, which is in an early eighteenth-century hand, the other texts such as the fifteen Canticles, Song of Songs, Weddase Maryam (Encomium of Mary) and the Anqasa Berhan (Porch of Light) were added in the nineteenth century to create a more complete Psalter. More unusual texts, unrelated to the Psalter, have also been added, for it begins with a homily admonishing the clergy to conduct themselves well spiritually, and ends with directions for undoing charms. The life of the manuscript can be traced not only in these cumulative texts, but also in added prayers for later owners, of which there are at least twelve appended to the ends of the Biblical texts.
Principal cataloger: Getatchew Haile, .
Cataloger: Herbert, Lynley
Contributor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Isaac, Ephraim
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Pizzinato, Riccardo
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
St. Strelcyn. "Le Psaume 151 dans la tradition ethiopienne," Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. 23 (1978), pp. 316-329. See this for apocryphal Psalm 151.
The Ethiopic Version of the Song of Songs. Edited and translated by H. C. Cleave. London, 1951. See this for Song of Songs of Solomon.
Weddâsê Mârjâm. Ein äthiopischer Lobgesang an Maria, nach mehreren Handschriften herausgegeben und übersetzt. Edited and translated by Karl Fries. Leipzig, 1892. See this for Praises of Mary (Wǝddase Maryam).
Äthiopische Marienhymnen. Herausgegeben, übersetzt und erläutert. Edited and translated by Adolf Grohman. Leipzig, 1919. See this for Praises of Mary (Anqäṣä Bǝrhan).
Getatchew Haile et al. Catalogue of the Ethiopic Manuscript Imaging Project. Eugene, Oregon, vol 1, 2009, pp. xxxiii-l. See this for religio-magical prayers.
"Bulletin Codicologique," Scriptorium, Vol. 26, 1972, p. 208, no. 402.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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