This Gospel Book was written in Tǝgray, Northern Ethiopia, in the early fourteenth century, and was once owned by the church of St. George in Däbrä Mä‛ar. It was written by the scribe Mäṭre Krǝstos (መጥሬ፡ ክርስቶስ፡) in the official liturgical language of Ethiopia, Gǝ‛ǝz. Most notable is its prefatory image cycle, which makes references to holy places in Jerusalem, such as Golgotha and the Holy Sepulcher, as they appeared in the sixth century. The manuscript therefore appears to be based on a sixth-century exemplar containing images connected to the Byzantine cult of holy places. Several related manuscripts have been identified that seem to be based on the same prototype, most notably Paris, Bibliothèque nationale eth. 32, a fragment in the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, Inventory No. 3475 a-b, and another fragment in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, NM B 2034. The Paris manuscript contains a mid-fourteenth-century colophon which helps date the group. Although water has damaged some of its elaborately decorated pages, this Gospel Book is still an important record of the resurgence of monasticism that flourished in fourteenth-century Ethiopia.
A modern hand has attempted to correct the text in some places (especially obvious on fol. 246r).
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
መጽሐፈ፡ ቅዳሴ። በግዕዝና፡ በአማርኛ። አዲስ፡ አበባ፡ ፲፱፻፶፩፡ ዓመተ፡ ምሕረት። (Mäṣḥafä Qǝddase. bä-Gǝ‘ǝz-ǝnna bä-Amarǝñña. Addis Ababa 1951 EC. = 1958/9 AD.), pp.39-41(parag. 160-175). Used for added prayer, fols. 122v-123r.
Daoud, Marcos and Marsie Hazen. The Liturgy of the Ethiopian Church. Cairo: The Egyptian Book Press, 1959, pp. 48-50 (parag. 160-175). Used for added prayer, fols. 122v-123r.
Heldman, Marilyn. "An Early Gospel Frontispiece in Ethiopia." Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, 48, 1979, pp. 107-121.
Novum Testamentum Aethiopice: The Synoptic Gospels. General Introduction. Edition of the Gospel of Mark. Edited by Rochus Zuurmond. Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1989. Edition used for Mark text.
Heldman, Marilyn, Stuart C. Munro-Hay and Roderick Grierson. African Zion: The Sacred Art of Ethiopia. Yale University Press, 1993, pp. 130-131.
Vikan, Gary. "Recent Acquisitions: Ethiopian Art at the Walters." 49, No.7. The Walters Monthly Bulletin. 10/1996:cover, fig. 2 (fol. 7r); pp. 2-3.
Novum Testamentum Aethiopice Part III. Edited by Rochus Zuurmond. Harrasowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2001. Edition used for Matthew text - it is clearly a copy of what Zuurmond calls B-Text.
Ethiopian Art: The Walters Art Museum. Third Millennium Publishing, 2001, pp. 96-97, cat. no. 10 (fols. 6v-7r).
Evangelium Iohannis Aethiopicum. Edited by Michael G. Wechsler. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientaliun, vol. 617, script. aeth. t. 109 (2005).
Tǝgray, Northern Ethiopia
Early 14th century CE
book
Non-original Binding
Bound in Tǝgray, Ethiopia; plain wooden boards, broken and stitched, front and back; chain stitching at four points
The primary language in this manuscript is Geez.
Copied by Mäṭre Krǝstos
Note of donation of the manuscript "to [the church of] Mary [of] Ṣǝku‛"
Owned by church of St. George at Dabra Ma'ar before 1973
Robert and Nancy Nooter collection
Alton W. Jones Foundation Acquisition Fund purchase from the Robert and Nancy Nooter Collection, 1996
Tǝgray, Northern Ethiopia
Early 14th century CE
book
The primary language in this manuscript is Geez.
Copied by Mäṭre Krǝstos
Note of donation of the manuscript "to [the church of] Mary [of] Ṣǝku‛"
Owned by church of St. George at Dabra Ma'ar before 1973
Robert and Nancy Nooter collection
Alton W. Jones Foundation Acquisition Fund purchase from the Robert and Nancy Nooter Collection, 1996
This Gospel Book was written in Tǝgray, Northern Ethiopia, in the early fourteenth century, and was once owned by the church of St. George in Däbrä Mä‛ar. It was written by the scribe Mäṭre Krǝstos (መጥሬ፡ ክርስቶስ፡) in the official liturgical language of Ethiopia, Gǝ‛ǝz. Most notable is its prefatory image cycle, which makes references to holy places in Jerusalem, such as Golgotha and the Holy Sepulcher, as they appeared in the sixth century. The manuscript therefore appears to be based on a sixth-century exemplar containing images connected to the Byzantine cult of holy places. Several related manuscripts have been identified that seem to be based on the same prototype, most notably Paris, Bibliothèque nationale eth. 32, a fragment in the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, Inventory No. 3475 a-b, and another fragment in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, NM B 2034. The Paris manuscript contains a mid-fourteenth-century colophon which helps date the group. Although water has damaged some of its elaborately decorated pages, this Gospel Book is still an important record of the resurgence of monasticism that flourished in fourteenth-century Ethiopia.
A modern hand has attempted to correct the text in some places (especially obvious on fol. 246r).
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
መጽሐፈ፡ ቅዳሴ። በግዕዝና፡ በአማርኛ። አዲስ፡ አበባ፡ ፲፱፻፶፩፡ ዓመተ፡ ምሕረት። (Mäṣḥafä Qǝddase. bä-Gǝ‘ǝz-ǝnna bä-Amarǝñña. Addis Ababa 1951 EC. = 1958/9 AD.), pp.39-41(parag. 160-175). Used for added prayer, fols. 122v-123r.
Daoud, Marcos and Marsie Hazen. The Liturgy of the Ethiopian Church. Cairo: The Egyptian Book Press, 1959, pp. 48-50 (parag. 160-175). Used for added prayer, fols. 122v-123r.
Heldman, Marilyn. "An Early Gospel Frontispiece in Ethiopia." Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, 48, 1979, pp. 107-121.
Novum Testamentum Aethiopice: The Synoptic Gospels. General Introduction. Edition of the Gospel of Mark. Edited by Rochus Zuurmond. Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1989. Edition used for Mark text.
Heldman, Marilyn, Stuart C. Munro-Hay and Roderick Grierson. African Zion: The Sacred Art of Ethiopia. Yale University Press, 1993, pp. 130-131.
Vikan, Gary. "Recent Acquisitions: Ethiopian Art at the Walters." 49, No.7. The Walters Monthly Bulletin. 10/1996:cover, fig. 2 (fol. 7r); pp. 2-3.
Novum Testamentum Aethiopice Part III. Edited by Rochus Zuurmond. Harrasowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2001. Edition used for Matthew text - it is clearly a copy of what Zuurmond calls B-Text.
Ethiopian Art: The Walters Art Museum. Third Millennium Publishing, 2001, pp. 96-97, cat. no. 10 (fols. 6v-7r).
Evangelium Iohannis Aethiopicum. Edited by Michael G. Wechsler. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientaliun, vol. 617, script. aeth. t. 109 (2005).
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