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AFRICAN ZION.: The Sacred Art of Ethiopia
Abstract
The art of highland Christian Ethiopia - with its icon paintings on wood, metal processional crosses, gold coins, and manuscripts - is largely unknown in the West. This book presents a survey of this art from the 4th to the 18th centuries, and addresses the function of art within Ethiopian society.
... The first royal portraits were issued in the form of currency beginning in the third century A.D. under King Endubis. Stuart Munro-Hay, a prolific writer on Aksumite coinage wrote, "The symbolism of the coinage was of crucial importance in a world where such mobile items formed an excellent medium for propaganda" (Heldman 1993). The propaganda the author discusses surrounds the divine affiliation of the king. ...
... The king's bust was always donned in fringed robes, bejeweled and holding a sword, spear, or in Christian times, a hand cross. Coins throughout the Aksumite Era, until it's downfall in seventh century, pictured the king on both sides to emphasize the importance of the royal position in the state (Heldman 1993). The depictions of the kings, with the exception of few, were always full-faced. ...
... Ancient Aksum competed in trade with South Arabia, India and Ceylon (Heldman 1993). ...
This study seeks to uncover the significance of painted portraits of Ethiopian emperors within the Ethiopian culture. By evaluating artworks throughout Ethiopian history and interviewing the art community and scholars, the author has attempted to draw a relationship between power, religion and art. In doing so, this study reveals how emperors have historically legitimized their power within the context of religious imagery. It follows this pattern until the decline of the monarchy and the rise of realism in the twentieth century. This transition highlights the tension between tradition and modernity as well as the ideological changes which caused them.
... Ethiopia has a long and rich painting tradition, which has scarcely been investigated from the physico-chemical perspective, although several studies and expeditions have been undertaken into the art-historical aspects of Ethiopian heritage (Chojnacki 1964;Heldman et al. 1993;Ramos and Boavida 1999;Chojnacki and Gossage 2000;Fogg 2005; Lepage and Mercier 2005;Friedlander 2007;Phillipson 2009;Balicka-Witakowska and Gervers 2011). This cultural heritage is in great need of conservation and restoration; otherwise, there will be little preserved for the future. ...
Here, we report the physico-chemical characterization of wall paintings from the Petros and Paulos church in Ethiopia. This work represents the first technical study of paintings located in Ethiopia, rather than paintings in museum collections outside the country, using diverse analytical techniques. In situ examination with a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (pXRF) was followed by analysis of samples using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), micro-Raman spectroscopy (MRS), attenuated total reflection – Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT–IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and pyrolysis gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). The paint stratigraphy, the compositions of the support material, the preparatory and painting layers were studied, as well as the morphology of the pigment particles. The results revealed the use of earth pigments and carbon black. The preparatory layer was uncommon; composed of dolomite, clay rich in clinochlore and sand, in contrast to the more common gypsum and calcite. The binder and the stratigraphic analyses suggested a distempera technique.
... 65 M . Heldman , 1993 , p . 244 , fig . ...
The style of the complete set of murals of the monastery of Qoma Fasilädäs, Bégâmder, can be compared to that of Dâbrâ Sina Gorgora and of Abba Antonios. At first systematic presentation of the four walls of the màqdàs shows the particularities of the iconography programs, and give a restitution fo some parts of the guez texts.
Purpose
This study aims to document the hypogea churches in Lay Gayint Woreda, South Gondar, to provide information for future tourism development practices and serve as insurance against loss of value due to unmanaged deteriorative factors.
Design/methodology/approach
The study followed a descriptive research design with qualitative research approach. Data were collected through field observations, interviews and written sources examination.
Findings
The study explored the lesser-known hypogea churches, which have significant tourist attraction values, including environmental, historical and architectural significance. However, the use of these potential cultural resources for tourism development is not yet attempted, and their conservation status is found to be critical. This documentation work is significant both for the sake of future tourism development plans and as insurance against looming cultural losses.
Research limitations/implications
This study did not record the ancient treasures of the churches because of the current political instabilities that hindered the access of data. However, it has implication for the need of an extensive documentation activity to trace the cultural resources in the remote areas of the country for future tourism development and conservation practices.
Originality/value
This paper documented the remote hypogea churches not only for the purpose of future tourism development plan but also as an insurance of their values against unmanaged destructive factors.
The rock-hewn church Abuna Yemata Guh, situated in the Gheralta Mountains of the Ethiopian Tigray region, houses one of the best preserved and least studied wall paintings of medieval Ethiopia. The pictorial program is dated to the second half of 15th century, by stylistic and iconographic characteristics. In fact, no well-proved date has been suggested so far. This research seeks to bridge the existing scholarly gap by conducting a comprehensive analysis of the iconographic and stylistic attributes of the paintings. It also considers the historical backdrop of the church, identifying key conduits of cultural influence. Furthermore, the study incorporates a scientific examination of the pigments employed in the paintings of Abuna Yemata Guh, comparing them with those found in other Ethiopian churches. The artistic motifs found within the paintings of Abuna Yemata Guh indicate an amalgamation of influences, notably drawing from Osman and Goan Christian art traditions. Additionally, traces of the iconographic style seen in the Roman icon Salus populi romani are evident, with a copy of this icon only arriving in Ethiopia after the 1570s. Consequently, the most plausible timeframe for the execution of the wall paintings falls within the latter part of the 16th c.
It is well known that some iconographic models have been introduced from Europe
in Ethiopia since the Middle Ages, and several facts point in the direction that the
Fəlsäta lämaryam iconography was developed from imported Immaculate Conception images after the Jesuit presence in the country (1557–1632). The iconography of the Immaculate Conception was adopted but also adapted by the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church from the middle 17th century onwards. In this case, a dogmatic issue was present: the idea of the Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary is not among the teachings of the local Orthodox Church as it is in the Catholic Church. Due to this, the interpretation of the iconography had to be changed to accommodate the Ethiopian Orthodox dogmas.
The article presents a codicological study of the three ancient Ethiopian Gospels of Abba Garima. The author rearranges the sequence of the disordered folios of the manuscripts in detailed tables, proposes a new foliation system and proceeds to catalogue-like descriptions. Attentive inspection of each folio led to the discovery of original quire numbers as well as original and later liturgical annotations put in folio margins, among which there are liturgical rubrics in rare unvocalized consonantal script. Detailed tables of Gospel pericopes and of dates of their liturgical use accompany the descriptions, as well as a discussion of the lectionary system and of the liturgical terminology as attested by the rubrics. The author also discusses philological characteristics of the two subsidiary texts originally included in the Abba Garima manuscripts, ‘Discourse on the Harmony of Gospels’ and ‘Letter of Carpianus’ of Eusebius of Caesarea. The article contains an edition, an English translation and a succint historical commentary of three hitherto inedited donation notes from the 15th-16th centuries.
The article deals with the semantics and symbolism of the cross in the culture of Ethiopia. It is shown that the special forms and various functions of the cross are associated with the canonical ideas of the ancient Eastern Ethiopian church and its influence on the social and private life of the Ethiopian society. The typology of the main forms of the cross is traced, the development of ornamental decoration in the context of religious and everyday life, including in the bodily practices of tattooing, in the decoration of traditional textiles. The cross is interpreted as a sign of cultural and regional identity. Commission of church crosses is seen as a manifestation of personal piety. The most significant are religious ceremonial crosses associated with worship, as well as hand crosses for personal blessing, which are common not only in the church, but also in family life. Thus, the cross is one of the most important signs of ethnic selfidentification in modern Ethiopian culture.
Maria Evangelatou’s book promises to explore new research questions and challenge Eurocentric approaches to Ethiopian crosses by presenting an analysis of their use and significance among the Christian orthodox population of Ethiopia. Unfortunately, the study fails to deliver on this promise due to a lack of direct engagement with Ethiopian voices and the relevant literature, and a reliance on publications that focus on noncontemporary or non-Ethiopian contexts. This lack of engagement with Christian Ethiopians leads to significant misinterpretations. Moreover, by adopting an approach to Ethiopian sources that fails to recognize the existence of significant shifts within the Ethiopian literary tradition, the author flattens Ethiopia’s historical dimension, and thus unintentionally reproduces the kind of Eurocentric representation of the country that she set out to challenge.
The essay is on Carl Nordenfalk, Swedish art historian, medievalist and museologist. The objective is to present his internationally acknowledged professional life and elucidate the circumstances which led him to write his celebrated doctoral dissertation, ‘Die spätantiken Kanontafeln’. This pioneering work contributed immensely to scholarship on the history of the medieval book and is still recognised for its long-lasting scholarly value.
This paper explores the genesis and functions of visually-conceived prefatory matter in the creation of the book in late antiquity. Beyond pragmatic use of prefaces to help guide readers through the new structure of the composite or collected set of texts, which is what a codex constitutes, the chapter examines the multiple interpretive impacts of various kinds of prefatory images as they resonate in the structure and reception of the early book. From the start, prefatory structures for the written codex included visual ornamentation: the kinds of framing needed to help readers find their way through this new kind of artefact intrinsically sought pictorial as well as textual cues.
This study offers the first comprehensive review of the Tempietto in Ethiopian art. The motif was an indispensable feature in illustrated Ethiopic Gospel books, appearing systematically as an explicit to the Eusebian apparatus in manuscripts from the Christian Aksumite to the early Solomonic Period. While the Ethiopic version of Eusebius’s Letter to Carpianus and the canon tables have attracted considerable scholarly interest, the Ethiopian iconography of the Tempietto has not yet received the attention it deserves. By analysing the iconography of the Tempietto in Ethiopic gospel books this work shows how it is possible to offer a partial reconstruction of the practices of illuminators in Ethiopia in the century following the rise of the Solomonic dynasty, providing important insights into the elusive question of the development of manuscript illumination in Ethiopia.
This research note presents some of the preliminary results of two recent fieldwork trips to the Qwälla Tämben wärädä-district, located in the Central Zone of Tǝgray. The visits enabled us to gather some new documentation that will be of value for research on the history of early Solomonic Ethiopia. The evidence presented in these series of contributions will be of interest to scholars focused on the foundation and decoration of Ethiopian churches during the fifteenth century. The first contribution of the series discusses the figure of a male saint carved on the wall of the church of Gäbrǝʾel Wäqen, which is located on the eastern slope of the mountain mass of Däbrä ʿAśa and was reportedly established by the Šäwan monk abunä Danəʾel.
The Aksumite Bible, as a cultural product of Late Antiquity, is still relatively obscure. Thus, in spite of the most recent advances in the field of Ethiopian studies—notably, the new radiocarbon dating of Gärima I and Gärima III Gospels—old scholarly opinions, such as the active role played by the famous fifthcentury Syrian Miaphysite refugees in Aksumite Ethiopia, are not only still uncritically repeated, but also used to build up even more extravagant theories. The time has come to reassess some basic issues about the Egyptian and Palestinian origins of the first missionaries and the nature of the Greek texts they brought with them, as well as the Ethiopian identities of the first translators and the chronological framework for their work.
A description of the collection of Ethiopian manuscripts in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, can be found in the volumes of the Union Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts in Germany (Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland, VOHD). However, by 2016, the library’s holdings had been augmented by a further twenty Ethiopian manuscripts: some were donations, but most had been purchased atauctions. They are presented in this article according to the rules of the VOHD. Of the four Psalters, Cod. aethiop. 179, probably dating from the sixteenth century based on paleographic criteria, should be highlighted. Furthermore there are seven parchment scrolls and two leporello manuscripts. Also worth mentioning is a Senkessār for the second part of the year, as well as a Deggwā and several other manuscripts, all withillustrations that have been added at a later date to the original text but which have a characteristic style or use wellknown motifs. Cod. aethiop. 173 is also interesting since there are not many other such manuscripts, though at first sight the title ʿEnzira sebḥat simply suggests a common hymn.
Although not widely recognized as Harari, a Qur’ān manuscript in the Khalili Collection in London (QUR706) provides an opportunity to consider long-distance artistic circulations and encounters in the early modern Indian Ocean. Dated to 1162/1749, the Khalili Qur’ān can be linked with Mamluk and earlier Indian Qur’ān manuscripts through its illuminations and its use of biḥārī script, a type rarely seen outside of India. Later inscriptions in the Qur’ān record its eventual arrival in Zanzibar. The trans-regional visual resonances of the manuscript, and its later circulation, highlight the position not only of Harar as a regional artistic center within Ethiopia, but also that of the Horn of Africa within a broader Indian Ocean ecumene. Focusing on the Khalili Qur’ān, this essay will explore Harar’s nuanced engagement and selective participation in networks of artistic circulation and exchanges and their role in the formation of a Harari visual idiom within the burgeoning globalization of 18th-century Ethiopia.
The oldest Christian monuments in Ethiopia are found along an ancient road which climbs from Adulis to the highlands and goes through Cohaito, Toconda, Cascasse, and Ieha to Aksum. The most common churches are rectangular with a square apse, the body of the building being usually divided into three aisles by two rows of monolithic stone pillars. In the Middle Ages the center of Ethiopian civilization moved from Aksum toward Lasta where, at Imraha, the churches are different. The pillars dividing the church into three aisles support arcades, and the sanctuary consists of three rooms, the central one covered by a small dome, while the nave is raised above the aisles. The most important monuments of the Zagwe period (1137–1270) are the celebrated rock-cut churches of Lalibela, similar to ones found in Cappadocia built out of solid rock. Even here there are differences. The church of Libanos and Mary has an Axumite structure while others have five aisles and are cruciform, such as the church of St. George. They often have arcades on pillars and women's galleries. The church of Golgotha is remarkable for its sculptures of saints and an altar with the symbols of the Four Evangelists. With the advent of the Solomonic dynasty in 1270 there was a decline in church building. Round churches are more common during this period. Medieval churches have numerous paintings and some of them, like the church of Debra Mamo, have inlaid wooden panels. There are a large number of sacred vases, thuribles, tabot (sacred stones), and other liturgical objects richly ornamented with precious metal. But the most common and numerous of these objects are the codex miniatures, whose style and iconography betray Egyptian and Syrian influences. By the 15th century evidence of a western influence is unmistakable, as in the church of Martula Mariam in Gojam. Finally, among Ethiopia's most unique artistic treasures are the illustrated magic scrolls (asmat or talsam) with their protective prayers. These parchment texts are illustrated with angels, saints, crosses, the Virgin, and imaginative geometric designs.
Representations of the Virgin Mary are among the most important iconographic themes in Ethiopian painting, and stand as testimony to the fundamental theological, devotional and symbolic role the mother of Jesus has played in the construction of Ethiopian religious beliefs, identity and cultural memory. During early Solomonic times (thirteenth-fifteenth centuries) her role was essentially Christological and salvific, as seen in the paintings in Biet Maryam, Lalibela. Perceptions and representations of Mary changed with the extensive theological reforms implemented by King Zara Yaeqob (reigned 1434–1468). With this royal patronage for her cult, Mary’s role as a maker of miracles became predominant and apocalyptic metaphors and narrative gained importance in pictorial representations, such as those in the Lady Meux A manuscript. Her eschatological role continued to evolve until the eighteenth century, when she was portrayed in an icon as a celestial empress.
Ruling and defining a territory, geopolitics, paintings and manuscripts in lasta between 1667 and 1768 ;
This paper takes place in a research program on the historical geography of the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia which purpose is to bring to light the history of different regions as centers and not only as peripheries to be dominated or to be conquered. The Lāstā, which statute toward the central royal authority is reversed between the 13th to the 17th century, seems to be an emblematic zone for this study. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Lāstā has asserted itself as the bastion of a political and religious opposition to the centralizing royal authority of Gondar and has an autonomy which has to be defined. The production of manuscripts and paintings is one way to study this area not by the prism of the documents elaborated by the government of Gondar but in the documents produced in this area. Replacing these items in their context, considering their patrons and the different artistic tendencies which can be observed either in link with the painting created in the capital or in a style definitely distinct, we will try to determine what we can know about Lāstā’s political organization at that time and which part the images take in the construction of its identity. Thus, we will try to better understand the relationships between central and regional authorities and to bring a new light on the structure of the Ethiopian Kingdom.
L'A. explore les significations multiples des processus de nomination interne (locale) et externe (coloniale) qui ont affecte l'art de la sculpture Luba en Afrique centrale. Son objectif est d'identifier la conception Luba de l'identite artistique et des processus d'echange artistique, et de montrer ensuite comment les representations Luba entrent en relation avec les processus occidentaux de nomination dans le cadre des appropriations multiples des objets d'art Luba au cours de leur circulation dans des contextes varies (marche de l'art, objets museographiques et de collection...). Les notions d'autorite d'auteur et d'authenticite renvoient, pour les Luba, a une identite transpersonnelle, marque par un rapport a l'objet d'art qui s'inscrit dans la memoire collective du groupe.
From the earliest attempts to spread Christianity in Ghana, European missionaries used religious art as an important tool for spreading ideas about the Christian faith. This was particularly so for the Catholics and Anglicans who have long-established traditions of religious iconography. Initially this art was highly Eurocentric in that Christ and Christian personae were represented as Caucasians. In the 1960s the need for what was described as inculturation, “the ongoing and critical dialogue between faith and culture,” challenged this tradition, and there were a number of attempts to make religious art, especially in Catholic churches in Ghana, more Afrocentric. This article looks at how this switch from a Eurocentric religious art to an Afrocentric inspiration developed, and at the reaction on the part of Ghanaian Christians to what Afrocentric clergymen in the United States have described as an attempt to “dehonkify Christ.”
This bibliography on Ethiopia and Eritrea is a sequel to 'Ethiopian society and history: a bibliography of Ethiopian studies 1957-1990' (1990). The present volume, which covers the period 1990-1995, contains c. 2000 items. Books, journal articles, and articles from collective volumes have been included. The entries are arranged under the following headings: Bibliographies; History and development of Eritreo-Ethiopian studies; Manuscripts, documents, sources, library studies; Travellers and foreigners; History; Cultural geography, ecology, demography; Politics and law before 1974; Politics, law and revolutionary development after 1974; Politics and law after 1991; Peasantry and the rural sector after 1974; The urban sector; Modernization, communications, industry and 'development'; Economics, economic policy, banking; Social structure, social change and gender; Drought and famine, refugees and resettlement; International relations; Ethno-regional conflicts; Education; Health and health care; Ethnomedicine and indigenous knowledge; Folklore, magic, oral traditions; Music; Material culture, architecture, arts and crafts; Christian and hagiographical literature; Religion and missions; Ethnology and anthropology. The last section is subdivided according to ethno-cultural groups. A list of collective volumes and an index of authors' names have been included
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