A HISTORY OF THE TABOT OF ATRONƎSÄ MARYAM IN AMHARA (ETHIOPIA)

Author(s): GETATCHEW HAILE

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Paideuma, Bd. 34 (1988), pp. 13-22
Published by: Frobenius Institute
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23076467 .
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Paideuma 34, 1988

A HISTORY OF THE TABOT OF ATRON=|SÄ MARY AM IN AMHARA

(ETHIOPIA)

GETATCHEW HAILE

Introduction

As in the present case, the history of a church in Ethiopia is, in part, the history of its

tabot. A tabot is a tablet (called ssllat) on which the Ga'sz version of the Ten Command
ments is supposed to be engraved, and the box in which the tablet is contained.1 The tablet

(the ssllat) by itself can also be called tabot. It is supposed to be a replica of the original ta
bot or ssllat or the Ark of the Covenant which was brought to Ethiopia from Jerusalem and

is kept in the church of Aksum Sayon. As Ullendorff rightly notes, "The theme of the tabot
is one of great prominence throughout the Kebra Naqast,"2
Nevertheless, the ssllat is a simple square slab in most cases with only the name of the

saint to which it is dedicated, the location of the church where it is housed, and sometimes

the words or the alphabetical names (of God) alfa wä-o, beta wä-yota engraved on it. Today,

very few tabots or ssllats have the Ten Commandments inscribed on them. The tradition of

having tabots with, as well as without, the Ten Commandments goes back at least as far as to

the time of Emperor Zär'a Ya'sqob (1434—1468) who once noted: wä-kwsllu tabot zä-bo

10tä qalatä 'abiyy ws'stu "Every tabot with the Ten Commandments is exalted."3 Some
ssllat may have miniatures of the saints or are simply decorated with elaborate designs,
haräg. During Mass, the Eucharistie bread is offered or sacrificed on the tablet. A tablet is

usually made from special wood by men reputed for their righteous life. Some ssllat are
made of marble, some even of gold. The Sínodos ("Synodicon"), received by the Ethiopian
Church, recognizes two objects among the holy articles which a church should have, a tabot

or tabotä hsgg "Ark of the Covenant" (The Ten Commandments), and a mobile altar,

mss'wa', besides the fixed one.4 The mobile altar, is likened to "the slab [lit. stone] of the

Children of Israel which they carried in the wilderness from place to place", kämä sbnä

däqiqä 3sra 'el zä-konä yssawwsrswwo bä-qädam sm-mäkan wsstä mäkan. The confusion of

having tabots with and without the Ten Commandments may have stemmed from combining
the two objects into one.

1 The meaning of tabot is "container", a box in which the tablet is placed, and "ark", as in the "Ark of
the Covenant" - the covenant (in
Ethiopia, "the Law") being the tablet(s) - and the "ark of Noah",
hence "boat", see, for example, Guidi 1961: 316 (line 8). It also means "testimony" as in Lev. 16,13.
For more on the etymology and significance of the tabot or the Ark of the Covenant, see Ollendorff
1968:
82-87. For pictures of the object, see Hanssens and Raes 1951: 442-3, Buxton 1970, plates
100-1, and the description on: 162.
2 The Kebra Nagast, whose importance for the Christian Ethiopian Empire may be compared with that
of the Aeneid for the Roman Empire, is a state myth which draws upon the legends of Christianity
and of the Old Testament. It deals with the founding of the Solomonic dynasty and with Ethiopia's
redemptive mission. Cf. Ollendorff 1968: 83.
3 B1 Or 481, f. 209 a, Wright 1877: 6.
4 Cod. aeth. Borg. 2, f. 112ab, Grébaut-Tisserant 1935: 767-782.
 Getatchew Haile

Each tabot is blessed or consecrated by a bishop or metropolitan and dedicated to or

christened with the name of one of the saints (angels, martyrs, holy monks, etc.) or one of

the several names of God (God the Father, Emmanuel, Jesus, Saviour of the World, etc.). At

this stage the tabot becomes more than a carrier of the name of the saint. It becomes the

symbol or the representative of the saint, etc., whose name it took. In the mentality of the

average Ethiopian Christians, God or the saint himself/herself dwells in that church "per
sonified" in the tabot. For example, in a church dedicated do Mary, that is to say, in a church
which housed a tabot dedicated to Mary, dwells Mary herself, because Mary the tabot, not

simply the tabot dedicated to Mary, dwells in it. Since the tabot personifies the saint, "it"
takes the gender of the saint. Mary the tabot is a she and, being Mary, she performs miracles
as in the present story. In fact, people often seem to forget that the object is a tabot, or a
slate and its container. It becomes Mary or Gabriel, etc., endowed with a supernatural power
to heal or kill. It is terrifyingto see a tabot. It is like coming face to face with a deity; at the
occasion one prostrates oneself to the ground in awe, dread and respect.
Some tabots are more famous than the others in being provoked, working miracles and

fulfilling the wish of those who pray "to them". For example, the tabot of St. Gabriel in
Qullubi, near the city of Harär, is more famous for "his" miracles than many tabots, even

those of the same Archangel.

In the text of the history of the church of Atronasä Hgza'atanä Maryam, which I will

give below, the tabot, following the tradition described above, is referred to with the pro
noun "she" because it represents or personifies or is a woman saint, Our Lady Mary.
It is interesting to note that our text uses the verb angäsa "to honour", "to inaugurate", "to

elevate a tabot", when referring to Emperor Bä'adä Maryam's relation to the tabot of the

church of Atronasä Maryam. Bä'adä Maryam (1468—1478) did indeed name the tabot and

the site, where he built the church for it, Atronasä Maryam. But he was not responsible for
the creation of the tabot itself or for chosing the site for it. From the chronicle of his reign
we learn that the site was a private property of Emperor Sayfá Ara'ad (1344—1371/2) who

"bought it with his own money to build a church on it, but he did not build one. And then

[Emperor] Zär'a Ya'aqob, when he was in Däbrä Barhan, sent a tabot [there] so that they
may set her on it. He called its name Däbrä Päraqlitos.5 The work of building it, however,
was not possible for him. So he had a small chapel built to put her6 [there]. He died before
he materialized his thought. But his son Bä'adä Maryam hastened its construction staying
there."7 Sixty-seven years, the time mentioned in the text as the period which the tabot

spent in "Sako" from the beginning to the infamous 21st year of the reign of Emperor

Labnä Dangal (1508—1540), brings its beginning to 1462, that is, acceptably to the reign
ofZär'a Ya'aqob (1434-1468).
The church of Atronasä Maryam itself was built by Bä'adä Maryam in 1468, a few days
after the commemoration, täzkar, of the fortieth day of the death of Emperor Zär'a Ya'aqob
which should have taken place on 6 or 7 Taqamt E.C. (= 3 or 4 Oct. 1468 A.D.). The church
was under the jurisdiction of the monastery of Däbrä Líbanos. "Nagus Bä'adä Maryam built

two cathedrals (mäkanat). One [of them], which he called Atronasä Maryam, he gave to [the

monastery of] Däbrä Líbanos."8 The building was probably completed by Emperor Hskandar

5 "Mount Paraclete" or "Mountain of Paraclele".

6 That is, "the tabot".
7 Perruchon 1893: 121.
8 EMML 7346, f. 57b (not yet catalogued).
 A History of the Tabot of Atronasä Maryam

(1474—1497) who, like Bä'sdä Maryam, was buried there.9 The original name of the place

was Klanto; here it is called Sako, apparently a name of the district where Klanot was. "The

name of the country was Sako Mälza. In his [Wällo's] name it was called Wällo."10 In the
course of time, the church fame for its wealth - Bä'adä himself its
acquired Maryam being
donour — and for harbouring the remains of eighteen of the earlier
generous metropolitans
and emperors, starting with Yskunno Amlak (1270—1285).11 In 1531, during the "Holy
War" of the Muslims against the Christian Ethiopian Empire, one of the contingents of their
Leader "Graññ", commanded by wazlr Nur, plundered its property and set on fire the
church and the treasury which contained what they could not carry away. It is clear now
that the tabot itself, assumed to have been burned down with the church,12 was moved
before the onslaught. For the sake of clarification and completeness of the story, I include
herein my translation of the relevant part of the Futiih al-Habasa\13
The imam called the Arabs who were with him, and said to them, "Is there in Constantinople

(Riim) or India or anywhere else [a building] such as this house [= Atronasä Maryam] and
its paintings and gold?" They said, "We have neither seen nor heard about one like it in
Constantinople or India or in the world." Near the church [of Mäkänä Sallase] there were
three houses for the king to reside in. They were filled with wonder for whoever sees
them. The imam entered into one of the houses and occupied it. One house he gave to
amir Ahmusa and amir Abu Bakr Qattin. The two amirs entered the house with their

soldiers; and it contained them [all]. The third house the imam made a mosque.
As for wazir Nùr, he arrived at the church of Atrús(a) Maryam. They entered it and
were astounded by its workmanship. But gold they found none in it. Its owners, the

polytheists, had already taken away the gold that was in it. There they found four monks.
wazir Nur said to the monks, "Where is the treasury of the church?" They said, "We will
not show it to you; we rather die in the religion of Mary." So the Muslims killed them.
One of the Muslims called Farsaham 'Ali stood up and [there] he saw a house bolted with

iron near the church. He broke it and let his head in to see what was in it. He saw boxes,
one on top the other, from the floor of the house until they reached close to the ceiling.
He returned to wazir Nur and informed him about the house. The wazir came with him

to the house and stood at its door. He counted about 100 men from the soldiers, and said

to them, "Go in and bring out the money." Each one of them carried a load of brocade

and brought out several times, and [the content of] the house was still as it was. They
were tired of carrying; so they rested. The wazir said to them, "Why are you sitting

[idle], is what is in the house exhausted?" They said, "We have not taken out from it a

thing yet. It is still as it was. But we are tired." He said to them, "You did not bring out

but brocade of tamsä, velvet, plush and silk. Is there no gold in it?" They said, "The gold
is in [the other] side in the house. We started taking out from the side of the boxes con
taining the brocade." He said to the others, "You take out the gold; forget the brocade."

They enetered and brought out for him the gold and silver and gold utensils, such as the

9 Perruchon 1894: 340-1. It is not very clear from the text that Sskandar did complete the construc
tion of an unfinished church.
10 EMML 5731, f. 28b (not yet catalogued).
11 Perruchon 1893: 171.
12 Pankhurst 1965: 329.
13 This is the Muslim chronicle of the Holy War in Ethiopia (for the year 1531), Basset 1897-1909:
213-214.
 Getatchew Haile

censers and chalices which were of pure gold. Ten strong men carried them out and placed
them before him. The wazïr called his — were one thousand men — and said
people they
to them, "This is my share and the share of the imam. You go into the house and take
out for yourself whatever is in it. Anything that each grabs, that is his." They entered,
and each one of them carried red gold, silver and silk. Some of them took out three loads,
and some of them took out four loads. continued like this — out the mo
They bringing
— from noon to dusk and from dusk to dawn. Then the wazïr said to them, "Now
ney

you should be satiated; you do not have camels [lit. camel driver] to load them on. You

have loaded your slaves and mules. The house is still full of money and silk. We shall not
leave this much silk for the polytheists; rather we will burn it." He then said, "Bum the
house!" They burned it with its brocade. They also burned the church, and it became

ashes.

Then they set out to return to the imäm. They arrived as he was sitting in the king's

palace. The imäm gave out his share of gold and brocade. The gold was innumerable. It

included a block which has four legs. Its name with them is tab'ut. Its weight was over

1000 ounces. There was also a golden book - which had of men and minia
miniature(s)

ture^) of birds and predatory animals — and golden dishes from (one of) which four
people may eat. From these the imam gave ..
The block of gold — called gslgäl "young animal" in Amharic (hence 'igl "calf' by the
Arabic author of Futúh) — mentioned here as having been taken away by the Muslims can
not be the tabot of Atronasa Maiyam but possibly that of Mäkanä Sallase, whose memory,
therefore, is fading away, unlike that of Atronasa Maryam, a famous monastery still in use

today.
The tabot was apparently able to come back to her original site after "57 years" of exile.

But about three decades had to pass for Hafa Krastos to rebuild her church possibly in 1616
— nine since the beginning of the reign of Susanayos in 1607 — "at mountain
years apparently
pinnacle over the Blue Nile Gorge, opposite Martula Maryam in Gojjam."14 After spending
ninety-four years "in happiness" in her new church, the Pagan Galla/Oromo were there on
23 August, 1710, this time not only to pillage her property but also to take the tabot herself

"captive". An Ethiopian chronicle records the following (my translation):15

Bä'adä Maryam, his [Zär'a Ya'aqob's] son, reigned ten years. He had the icon of Mary and
Jesus made in the hand of a färäng [European], For this reason the people of Ethiopia
murmured.16 The icon was in [the church of] Atronasä Maryam until the third year of

the reign of/z<zzeTewofalos(l 708-1717). At that time the Galla entered Atronasä Maryam
breaking its gates, and killed its priests and took captive all (lay) men and women. That
icon and the remains of Bä'adä Maryam the Galla hurled over a precipice on Sunday [sic],
the 19th of Nähase. The death date of haze Bä'adä Maryam is 12 Hadar.

Hafä Krastos, "son of Hamälmal," who rebuilt the church of Atronasä Maryam in
1616 is probably the older brother of Emperor Susanayos (1607-1632). As däggazmac,
he appears to have been the ruler of Amhara which included today's Sayant in Boräna,

14 Spencer 1972: 73.

15 Basset 1881: 326.
16 The icon was painted in a mansucript of the Four Gospels belonging to the church, EMML 1264, f. 5 a,
Getatchew Haile 1979: 262-3. The objection of the Ethiopian faithful was apparently to the fact that
the icon was made by a stranger to Ethiopian Christianity, a non-Ethiopian/Coptic Christian, not to
the style as is commonly believed.
 A History of the Tabot of Atronosä Maryam

southern Wällo where Atronasä Maryam is located.17 He was living there when his nephew
came to see him and discuss with him a serious political problem.18 When däggazmac Hafâ
Krastos was demoted, his office was given to Särzä Krastos, the nephew of the Emperor.
This new officer became safälam (governor) of Amhara and head, mäkbab, of (the regions

of) Atronasä Maryam and Mänzah.19 It seems, therefore, that our Hafä Krastos was this

däggazmac, "son of Yste Hamälmal", but it remains curious that he should be identified, as

this text seems to do, by "his mother", and not by his father, possibly ras Zäkrastos of Shoa.

Hamälmal had apparently three children from this ruler of Shoa before she had the illigitimate

son, Emperor Susanayos, from Prince Fasil the Fool (gär).20 Hamälmal is also a masculine

name, making it possible that it could be his father's name. One dignitary with such a name

is the son of Princess Romanä Warq, daughter of haze Na'od.21 It is not known to me if this

or any other hamälmal had a son called Hafä Krastos and who was in a position to be such a

benefactor of Atronasä Maryam. According to our note, the other important personality in

the life of Atronasä Maryam is däggazmac Wädag, son of Yämanä Krastos, who discovered

the tabot after about eighteen years of captivity in unspecified regions and who, for the oc

casion, made a feast, preparing food and drink lavishly, reminiscent of the feast of King So

lomon at the dedication of the Temple he build for the tabot of Zion. This däggazmac ruled

the of aze Bäkkaffa and his successors the province of Amhara —

during reign (1721—1730)

including the region where Atronasä Maryam is — which Hafä Krastos ruled during the reign

of aze Susanayos.22
It may be worth mentioning at this point that countless tabots, as holy as they are, had

fallen into the hands of non-Christians during campaigns and raids and counter raids.23 Some

of those that had not been used as firewood or as utensils had been returned after several

years of captivity. The case of the present tabot is an example. Another example may be

found in the gädl "acts" of Abunä Täklä Haymanot who is reported to have found at the

court of Motälome of Damot a tabot, consecrated by Abba Sälama.24 A contemporaneous

note records how 'Amdä Sayón (1314—1344) came back from his campaign in Damot with

a tabot dedicated to Jesus.25 A further example is found in one of the miracles of Mary
where it is recorded that "the heathens [= Moslems] took the tabot captive."26 The tabot of

Jesus Christ of Gamga Bet in Gondär was also lost and found in Kämbat(a).27 Many tabots

have fallen in the hands of travellers. Defiled tabots, such as these, have to be reconsecrated.

The manuscript from which our note is taken, EMML (= Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm

Library, Addis Ababa/Collegeville, Minnesota) 4273 is an undated (early 17th century?),

17 For its precise location, see Pereira 1900: 461.

18 Täklä Sallase Tinno 1892: 171.
19 Täklä Sallase Tinno 1892: 15. Mäkbab means "head of an organization, institution, etc. It was de
signated (but not coined) by Bä'adä Maryam to be the title of the head of Atronasä Maryam.
20 According to Portuguese sources, Hamälmal's husband was Sà'rzâ Krastos, See Beccari 1969: 301, but
see EMML 7334, f. 41 ab. (The folio numbers are invisible on the microfilm. - not yet catalogued.)
21 Basset 1881: 339.
22 Guidi 1961: 319 (section 11). Wädag(e) was demoted from the governorship of Amhara by lyyo'as in
1759. He died as azzaz of Yababa in the same year and was buried at the church of Qwasqwam, Guidi
1910: 192-3.
23 Christians always carried with them one or more tabots when they compaigned. Both sides carried
their respective patron tabots when the fight was among Christians.
24 EMML 1834, f. 92a, Getatchew Haile and Macomber 1981: 313.
25 EMML 1832, f. 29a, Getatchew Haile and Macomber 1981: 279 (varia 24).
26 Getatchew Haile 1980: 76.
27 Conti Rossini 1961: 65-6.
 Getatchew Haile

186ff., 3 cols, 33 lines) copy of the srnkssar "Synaxary" and the arke greetings/hymns, for
the first half of the year, from the beginning of Mäskäräm to the end of Yäkkatit, copied in
a very beautiful hand, but, though legible, not very well preserved. Each entry is concluded
with a prayer for Hafä Krastos, obviously our benefactor. As it has no colophon, it is impos
sible to know its original owner or donour. At the time of its microfilming it belonged to

Angoläla Kidanä Mahrät, described in its seal as mäkanä hdätu wä-tsmqätu lä-'aze msni

hk, na[gus'ä] nä[gäst] zä-Itsyoppsya ("birth and baptismal place of aze Manilak [the Se
cond], Ki[ng of] Ki[ngs] of Ethiopia")· Although the Synaxary does not have an entry for
Bä'adä Maryam for 12 Hadar, as some manuscripts do, it is most that the original
probable
owner of the manuscript was the church of Atronasa Maryam in Sayant, a good reason for

the note to be found in it.

The note itself seems to be contemporaneaous with the reign of Bäkkaffa (1721-1730);
nevertheless, the information it provides is rich and apparently very accurate. One wonders

from where the author received this much history about one tabot.

It is clear that someone knowledgeable has tried to edit the text, correcting the grammar
and adding information he thought was missing. If this person had read the text first, he

would have found out that he did not need to insert the name of azzaz Bätro in the wrong

place.

Translation

In the name of God the Trinity who is three in persons and one in divinity, we write the

history of Atronasä 3gza'atanä Maryam which nagus Bä'adä Maryam inaugurated. She [the

tabot] lived in happiness in the land of Sako untili the 21st year of the happy times of

Labnä Dangal. All her peaceful time there was 67 years. Then came Graññ and she was

exiled, moving from one country to another for 57 years. Then she came to this place [in
the hand of azzaz Bätro]1 during the reign of SuSanayos. And Hafä Krastos, son of Hamäl

mal, built her sanctuary in a good workmanship in the ninth year of the reign of this risgus.

The one who brought her to this place was azzaz Bätro. First she lived 94 years in happiness.

Then she was taken captive by the hand of the Arami [the Galla/Oromo] and all her count

less property was plundered. And her priests and the people of her courtyard2 all perished.

On that day she worked a big wonder: At the threshhold of her door she killed the [Christian]
guide of the Arami whose name was Mäzmur; and the other one, whose name was Kanfä

Masqat, she amputated one [of] his leg[s] at his foot with the sword of disease. Then she
killed him in a strange country in the hand of the Arami. Their death was wicked as the

Scripture says, "The death of the sinner is wicked."3 She lived [in captivity] seventeen years
and seven months. Then she came back to her precinct on the eighth year of the reign of

Bäkkaffa — who trusted in the and the wretched that were for
oppressed they righteous,4
his word is trusted — in the hand of däggazmac son of Yämanä in the Year
Wädag, Krastos,

1 Inserted later, wrongly.

2 Teachers, students, servants, the poor, etc.
3 Cf. Ps. 33 (34), 21.
4 An allusion to Lk, 18. 9.
 EMML 4273, f. 90b

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íh6->·· fé?]·· HLM'· o bufivi'faqeh1 abe*
fyh'· Sh'hñ'· hpwh*
"QèOt'cD-pñ' "¡-fíC'faóJtx
 A History of the Tabot of Atronssä Maryam

of Mercy 7221, in the Year of Matthew [the Evangelist], on the 13th of the month ofHadar

[= 20 November, 1728 A.D.]. He [Wädag?] made a big basin [for the drink] and prepared a
table of superfluous [meal] in the open field until the birds of the sky were satiated with

what was left over by the poor. He also covered the nakedness of her priests with many
clothes.
We further write [about] the money5 which, on top of this generosity of his, he gave, be

fore she returned into her house: [money] for the double fence round [?] Abib Amba; for
fences round [?] the two ambas-, [and] for the five saläqas [(Divisions of) captains] who were
guards6 [he gave] four hundred samma-clothes, six hundred [mule-loads of] grain, [and] one
thousand amóles.1 And for the church [he gave] a cape with its decorations, Indian [?] shirt,
mantle (särf), parasol [made of material] from Koza, [manuscripts of the] Haymanotä abäw

[and Four] Gospel[s], 3 small carpets [?] (bast), 1 [large] carpet (basât),8 China shirts [?]9
and cup[s?], an iron [pot?], 1 garment10, again 1 iron [pot?]. Her officials who came with
her at that time were qesä gäbäz Anorewos, ra'asä däbr Mahadärä Mäläkot, mslu' täbbagi

geta Sälama, sduq täbbaqi [. . ,]n, gra geta Ayäksos, qän geta Näbälbal [and] märigeta
Gä[b]rä [?]12 Iyyäsus.13 [There were also] two curtains. All this is her property. May he who

destroys [any or all of these] and who scrapes the inscription of this history be anathematiz

ed by the authority of Peter and Paul. He also gave [manuscripts of] [of the Apostles and]
Pauline Epistles.

Abbreviations and Bibliography

Basset, M. René: "Etudes sur l'histoire d'Éthiopie", JA, 7e série 17, 1881.
-, ed.: Histoire de la conquête de l'Abyssinie (XVIe siècle) par Chihab Eddin Ahmed Ben Abd el Qàder
surnommé Arab-Faqih, Paris 1897—1909.
Beccari, C., S.J., ed.: Rerum Aethiopicarum Scriptores Occidentales Inediti, vol. 3, reprint Bruxelles 1969.
Buxton, David: The Abyssinians, Southampton 1970.
Cod. aeth. Borg. = Codices aethiopici Borgiani.
Conti Rossini, K., ed.: Historia Regis Sarsa Dengel (Malak Sagad) (= CSCO, reprint vol. 20, script, aeth. t.
3) Louvain 1961.
CSCO = Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium.
EMML = Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa/Collegeville, Minnesota.
Getatchew Haile: A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Micro
film Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville, Vol. IV, College
ville (Minnesota) 1979.
—: "A Note on Writing History from Forgotten Documents", Northeast African Studies, vol. 2/1, 1980:
71-75.

5 Or "property".
6 These were, apparently, garrisions and (their) settlements.
7 Bars of salt, used as currency.
8 Bast is listed as different from basat\ see also Guidi 1961: 152 (lines 29-30), 213 (line 6) and 304
(lines 3-4); and Guidi 1953: 332, where basât is made plural of bast (from Arabic bisdt).
9 Normally sini is "cup". But here it is a kind of cloth: wä-albäsomu sini wä-käfäwi"He clothed them
(with) sini and satin", Guidi 1961: 213 (lines 2-3).
10 The word is motaht, but several sources have motat, see, for example, Zotenberg 1877: 35 (col. 1,
line 4).
11 Illegible.
12 Insufficiently legible.
13 No attempt has been made to identify these members of the clergy of Atronssä Maryam.
 Getatchew Haile

Getatchew Haile and William F. Macomber: A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the
Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library,
Collegeville, Vol. V, Collegeville, (Minnesota) 1981.
Grébaut, Silvanus et Eugenius Tisserant: Codices aethiopici Vaticani et Borgiani Barberinianus Orientalis 2
Rossianus 865, Vatican 1935.
Guidi, Ignazio: Annales Regum lyâsu il et Iyo'as (= CSCO, script, aeth., text. ser. alt., t. 6), Lipsiae 1910.
Vocabolario Amarico-Italiano, reprint Rome 1953.
-, ed.: Annales lohannis I 'lyâsu I et Bakâffà, part II (= CSCO, vol. 24, script, eath. t. 7) Louvain 1961.
Hanssens, J. M., and A. Raes: "Une collection de tâbots au Musée Chrétien de la Bibliothèque Vaticane",
Orientalia Christiana Periodica, vol. 17, 1951: 435-50.
JA = Journal asiatique.
Pankhurst, Sylvia: Ethiopia: A Cultural History, London 1965.
Pereira, F.M. Esteves, tr.: Chronica de Susenyos, Re de Ethiopia, vol. II, Lisbon 1900.
Perruchon, Jules: Les chroniques de Zar'a Yâ'egôb et de Ba'eda Mâryâm, rois d'Ethiopie de 1434 a 1478,
Paris 1893.
-: "Histoire d'Eskender, d"Amda-Seyon II et de Nâ'od", JA, 9e série, 3, 1894: 319—366.
Spencer, Diana: "In Search of St. Luke Ikons in Ethiopia", Journal of Ethiopian Studies, vol. 10/2,
1972: 67-95.
Täklä Sallase Tinno (F. M. Esteves Pereira, ed.), Chronica de Susenyos, Re de Ethiopia, vol. I, Lisbon
1892.
Ollendorff, Edward: Ethiopia and the Bible, London 1968.
Wright, William: Catalogue of Ethiopie Manuscripts in the British Museum Acquired since the Year 1847,
London 1877.
Zotenberg, H.: Catalogue des manuscrits éthiopiens (Geez et Amharique) de la Bibliothèque Nationale,
Paris 1877.