PRELIMINARY NOTES

ON
ANCIENT ETfflOPIAN HISTORY

Hailu Habtu
Department of History
The City College, City University of New York

(c) Hailu Habtu 1987

 PRELIMINARY NOTES

ON

ANCIENT ETHIOPIAN HISTORY

Hailu Habtu

Department o f H i s t o r y
The C i t y College, C i t y University of New York

H a i l u H a b t u 1987
 T A B L E OF CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER I The Historiography o f Ethiopia 2

Chapter II The Ge'ez Script and the Book o f Henok 12

Chapter i l l The Ge'ez Bible 20
Chapter IV Ge'ez Numerals 26

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDIX 1 A Table o f Hieroglyphics found at Axum

APPENDIX 2 Hieroglyphic - Ethiopic Cognate List

APPENDIX 3 Pages from the Book o f Henok

APPENDIX 4 Ethiopic Vocabulary in the Ou'ran

APPENDIX 5 Excerpt from ^C3'^L^:AaP<tfi^./nmiExeeesis of

Matthew)

APPENDIX 6 "Reflections on the Famine i n Ethiopia"

 I

INTRODUCTION

These notes were hurriedly gathered together to ensure their availability at the
Second Annual Conference on the Horn o f A f r i c a : May 29-30, 1987, New York, N . Y .
Hence their p r e l i m i n a r y character.

In a c r i t i c a l a r t i c l e I wrote on the presumed ancient t r i p l e heritage o f Ethiopia

(Issue, v o l . 13, 1984), I suggested towards the end that the methodical doubt o f Descartes
may be a productive approach to the study o f the African patrimony. In that spirit, manv
assumptions on the Ethiopian past are here subjected to skeptical scrutiny. A t this
juncture, l i t t l e more can be achieved. Further investigation may produce more conclusive
results. Nevertheless, this exercise would be worthwhile i f i t contributes towards a
clearer view of the region's history.

Present consciousness interprets the past and influences the future. Both the
interpretation o f the past and the vision of the future shape our daily lives. In Ethiopia,
and in the wider Horn o f A f r i c a , the present is a grim r e a l i t y o f war and want and of
destruction and deprivation. Apart from forces outside the region, the chief architects o f
that r e a l i t y are the inhabitants o f the region — especially its "elites". I f the way these
elites view their past now was less than satisfactory, might a more wholesome perspective
remedy the excesses and tragic consequences o f the myopic chauvinisms and nationalisms
of the present? This p r e l i m i n a r y study aspires to contribute towards the formulation of
such an alternative perspective.

The inspiration for much o f my independent research in the last few years has come
from the works o f classical Ge'ez scholars, especially from Asras Yane Saw's b r i e f but
pithy 9'ngl>. croi-HfA.5. l'hJb9-A9 Lf,i^./n)UJL)^'f^(lli^ai'ttS: (A Monument to Ham: N o t i c e on
the Foundation o f the Ethiopic Alphabet), and his opus 'fi VlfV,^^; tmY • ^'^ '^ "
(Axum Asks: Who A r e You?) The l a t t e r is a r e f u t a t i o n o f Gasparin Wolde
Maryam's 'jK'^tk^^^L'fl:: (The History o f Ethiopia), a Catholic father's version o f Ethiopian
history presented to Haile Selassie on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee o f his coronation.
Reading and rereading Asras' works, his "unorthodox" historiography compelled me to
check and counter-check some o f his views against those o f foreign and highly esteemed
scholars. The more I did so, the more persuasive many o f his ideas appeared, and the less
i n t i m i d a t i n g those i n t e l l e c t u a l giants became. These notes are thus submitted in the
spirit of: (1) an a f f i r m a t i o n in the value o f Ge'ez sources as well as the various oral
traditions o f the entire region; and (2) a skepticism in what has passed for "authority" on
the region's history, politics, and culture. The chief l i m i t a t i o n o f this p r e l i m i n a r y study is
its heavy emphasis on the Ge'ez heritage. Studies like Asmarom Legesse's Gada (1973)
furnish an in-depth p i c t u r e o f Oromo culture and his "postscript" especially highlights the
deficiencies o f E u r o - c e n t r i c scholarship. Said Samatar's Oral Poetry and Somali
NaXionalism. (1980) is another excellent work on one o f the Horn's most i m p o r t a n t regions
and cultures. Similar studies for the other regions s t i l l await future scholars o f the area.
In the meantime, this p r e l i m i n a r y study hopes to correct some commonly held and widely
disseminated views and to urge a more rigorous scholarship i n future writings on the area.
 2

CHAPTER I

The Historiography o f Ethiopia

In the context of a discussion of African historiography, two prominent African

liistorians, D\ke and Ajayi, remarlc that the Ethiopian historical t r a d i t i o n is "partly
African and partly o f Judaeo - Christian inspiration." They w r i t e :

The monasteries recorded the annals of each reign and

preserved important texts and charters. Yet the
primary interest of Ethiopian intellectual l i f e was
theological, not historical; there was l i t t l e attempt
u n t i l recent times to analyze and interpret the annals
and the chronicles to produce history." (Intl. Encvcl. o f
the Social Sciences, v o l . 6, p.396)

They also state that African historiography deals w i t h traditions o f origins as well as
factual traditions o f icing lists, genealogies, laws, customs, etc. that are transmitted by
"priests, diviners, wise men," etc. In this regard, Ethiopian historiography, has been
formulated and fashioned not by "priests, diviners, wise men," etc. but by foreign scholars
and their indigenous associates. The foreign scholars are often handicapped by lack o f
f a m i l i a r i t y w i t h the ethos o f the culture or w i t h the nuances o f the languages o f the
peoples they study. Consequently, there has yet to emerge a systematic, competent, and
objective enterprise "to analyze and interpret the annals and the chronicles" as well as the
manuscript sources and the oral traditions "to produce history."

The formulation o f Ethiopian and other African historiography by European scholars

at times suffers from Afro-phobia and Euro-centrism. Such a t t i t u d e rears its head even
in unexpected quarters. One o f the West's most versatile and p r o l i f i c authors is Issac
Asimov. Although p r i m a r i l y a popularizer of science and a w r i t e r o f science f i c t i o n , he
has also w r i t t e n Asimov's Guide to the Bible. As the following shows, he appears to go
through some agonizing doubts when he deals w i t h terms like "Ethiopia", or w i t h what the
two A f r i c a n historians c i t e d above would consider that portion o f Ethiopian history which
was o f Judaeo - Christian inspiration.

"The Ethiopian Woman

The Israelites set out on their march toward Canaan

and along the way, Moses had to contend w i t h
various types o f disaffection. Even w i t h i n his own
f a m i l y there was dissension, for his sister, M i r i a m ,
and his brother, Aaron, entered into an intrigue
against him:

Numbers 12:1. And M i r i a m and Aaron spoke against

Moses because o f the Ethiopian Woman whom he had
married....
 3

From this verse one might picture, as many people

do, a Negro woman as Moses' wife, since "Ethiopian"
is used frequently nowadays as a euphemistic
synonym for "Negro". However, there is no reason to
think that a Negro woman was involved, or even an
Ethiopian woman in the modern sense. The Hebrew
word here translated as "Ethiopian" is "Cushi" and in
the Revised Standard Version, Moses' wife is
described as "the Cushite woman."

As I explained earlier (see page 19), a Cushite might

indeed be an Ethiopian. According to legend, Moses
served as an Egyptian general in his youth and led
his troops in a victorious campaign in Ethiopia and
might, conceivably, have picked up a wife or
concubine there. However, there is no Biblical
evidence o f this and the legend of Moses' Ethiopian
adventures is probably based on nothing stronger
than this single verse.

Against this view is the fact that the Cushites are

also Arabian peoples (see page 20).

Only one woman is specifically mentioned in the

Bible as being married to Moses. Moses' marriage
took place during his flight into Midian, in Arabia,
and his stay at the home o f a desert priest (see page
129):

Exodus 2:21. And Moses was content to dwell w i t h

the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

Zipporah may very well have been the Cushite

woman referred to in Numbers 12:1. She could be
resented by Miriam out of generalized i n t r a f a m i l i a l
jealousy, or, specifically, because she w_as a
"Cushite woman"; that is, a Midianite and a
foreigner, and not an Israelite.

In any case, Moses faced down his brother and sister

and won out over dissent as he did on numerous
other occasions in the course of the Exodus."
(p. 167-68)
 4

The long quotation above demonstrates difficulties foreign scholars may have in
assessing even w r i t t e n records. Asimov's tortured equivocation regarding the meaning of
"Cush" is rather amusing. More callous is his speculation, without any apparent
justification, that what the Bible refers to as wife might really have been only a
concubine w i t h all the male chauvinism that that implies. Thus the reader needs to be
discerning when reading African history or related l i t e r a t u r e produced by European
scholarship.

Beginning w i t h Job Ludolf in the mid-1600s, a number o f European scholars have

been engaged in the study o f Ethiopian history and culture. The quality o f their works
varies. While Dillmann's Lexicon Linguae Aethiopicae (1865) would rank among the more
impressive lexicographical works ever, Conti Rossini's much lauded Storia d'Etiopia (1928)
may be deficient in fundamental respects. Overall, the contributions o f linguists are
perhaps more impressive than those of historians where Ethiopian Studies is concerned. In
any event, the recognition of foreign "authority" on Ethiopian Studies was elevated to
s e m i - o f f i c i a l status in the sixties w i t h an increasing number o f Haile Selassie I Prize
awards going to foreign historians o f Ethiopia. Ethiopian recepients figured mainly in
literature.

One o f those foreign scholars honored as "authority" by such an award, Ullendorff,

lists "masters" o f Ethiopian Studies in the very first chapter of The Ethiopians where he
evaluates their contributions. The judgement is valid when l i m i t e d to an European
audience and i f i t referred only to a "relative" mastery. Modern Ethiopian scholars also
appear to have accepted whole such evaluation, and, as a result, cease to search for
masters of the subject closer to home. Thus the works o f the classical Ge'ez scholar
mentioned in the introduction above do not appear i n the bibliographies o f Ethiopian
historians.

One important aspect o f Ethiopian history the "masters" and their modern Ethiopian
counterparts all seem to agree upon * is the origin of A x u m i t e c i v i l i z a t i o n . ** A
standard fare o f the account is given in as late a work as a 1978 Cambridge History of
Africa (Vol. 2, p. 262):

"The origins o f the Aksumite kingdom go back well

into the first millenium B.C., when settlers from
South Arabia and the Yemen introduced Semitic
languages, building in stone, and l i t e r a c y . They may
also have been the first to introduce agriculture into
the area..."

Getachew Haile and Tsegaye Gabre Medhin are among the outstanding exceptions.

A conference on "Ethiopian Origins" was held at SOAS, London University on 28-29

June 1977. However, the proceedings were not published, and i t is, therefore,
d i f f i c u l t to evaluate the papers presented there.
 5

To a large extent, the Semitic Sabean origin hypothesis has been internalized
officially as well as by many groups. Recently, an Ethiopian addressed his compatriots
thus: "To my Semitic - Cushitic brethren." The key term in the whole address was
presumably "brethren". Still it repeats and implicitly sanctions the Semitic Sabean origin
hypothesis. Yet there is no SEMITIC/HAMITIC* dichotomy in Ethiopian tradition.

The "fi-flL-. ' i ? / ' ^ ^ :: (The Glory of the Kings) classifies Ge'ez as a language of the
house of Ham. So does (tDff^^/^.fJf^m.L : iH^f-./opffC:: (Book of the Mystery of Heaven and
Earth). A relatively more recent 16th century work M'i'ft, %q^f :: (The Gate of F a l t l i )
repeats the same point. Ge'ez sources are clear on that score. If Ge'ez is not a S e m i t e
language, then much less so would be the other Ethiopian "Semitic" languages like Tigre,
Tjgrinya, Amharic, Harari, Gurage, etc. The classification of Ge'ez as a Semitic language
is a rather arbitrary and recent European one. Until Greenberg came up with a single
"Afro-Asiatic" family of languages, Semitic and Hamitic languages plus three other major
groups were all considered separate families. Younger European, American, and other
linguists are questioning further other earlier assumptions.

The title of Murtonen's work reveals the skepticism of a new generation of scholars
studying the languages of the Horn: Early Semitic: A Diachronlcal Inquiry into the
Relationship of Ethiopic to the Other So-Called South-East Semitic Languages. As it is a
bold new approach, it is worth the quoting at length:

"Add the result of our vocabulary survey, according

to which ancient South Arabic is more closely
related to (Northern) Arabic and North-West
Semitic rather than Ethiopic, and the fact that the
syntax of sentences also Is radically different In
South Ethiopic from the state of things in the other
languages studied, as well as from the rest of the
Semitic family, although the present state of
research and material available to the present
writer did not allow Investigation proper Into the
syntax. However, even what has been said above
may be sufficient to prove that South Arabic,
Soqotrl, and Ethiopic have been developing
Independently of each other since the Proto-Semitic
period, and that the connection between North and
South Ethiopic also has been rather minimal from
those days until less than a millenium ago and that
at least some of the modern South Arabic languages
do not derive from the epigraphically attested
ancient South Arabic dialects. Moreover, the

Hamitic and Cushitic are used interchangeably by linguists. According to the Biblical
account, Cush Is only one of the four sons of Ham. Thus the interchangeability is,
strictly speaking, not warranted.
 6

archaic features of Tigre and Gurage can hardly be

accounted for otherwise than on the supposition that
they have been living apart from the rest o f
Ethiopic for long periods, and since ancient times,
which hardly could have been the case, had they
come together w i t h other ancestors o f present-day
Ethopians from South Arabia; Cushitic and Egyptian
affinities also point to a permanent stay o f most
Ethiopians on the African continent. We may
therefore conclude our study establishing that the
original home of the Semitic speaking nations was
probably the Horn o f A f r i c a , and that they never
formed quite closed unity even in what is commonly
called the Proto-Semitic period, but were p a r t i a l l y
isolated and also in contact w i t h dialects from
which some o f the present-day H a m i t i c languages
developed. We hope that these results also w i l l
serve as a basic working hypothesis for further
investigations in our f i e l d . " (p. 73-74; emphasis
added)

In any event, what is clear is that the boundary between Semitic and Cushitic
languages or the location o f the origin o f especially "Semitic" is no longer as c e r t a i n as
might have been presumed by earlier generations o f linguists.

Murtonen's conclusion quoted above seriously questions any significant linguistic

connection between South Arabia and Ge'ez (ie. Ethiopic). Yet one o f the pillars o f the
theory o f the Semitic/Sabean origin o f A x u m i t e c i v i l i z a t i o n is presumably the introduction
of Semitic languages by South Arabian settlers in the first millenium B.C. (see Cambridge
I l i M Q D ^ ^ L M d c a quote above).

Over a century earlier, Henry Salt also questioned the suggestion o f Sabeans
i m m i g r a t i n g into Ethiopia. He looked for a corroborative account in South Arabian lore.
His finding is w o r t h quoting in full.

" I s t i l l r e t a i n the opinion I have given i n my former

observations on this subject; that the Abyssinians, or
Axomites (as they were called by the Romans) a r e ,
descended from a race of the aboriginal inhabitants
of A f r i c a , composed o f native Ethiopians who
became in the course o f t i m e mixed w i t h settlers
from Egypt, and that they do not exhibit any claims
to an Arabian descent, as was supposed by the late
Mr. Murray; though I confess that I feel considerable
regret in entertaining a different opinion from that
gentleman on a subject, upon which, from his e x t r a -
 7

ordinnry acquirements in Oriental l i t e r a t u r e , he was

in some respects, so eminently qualified to decide.
The chief, and indeed sole argument on which Mr.
Murray founded his opinion, was drawn from the
s i m i l a r i t y between the Ge'ez and the Arabian
languages, but surely this circumstance may be
sufficiently accounted for, from the supposition,
that both might have been derived from the same
common stock, namely the Hebrew, which Mr.
Murray himself appears to have satisfactorily
explained to be the most ancient language in
existence; whereas, on the other side o f the
question, the general tenor of the history of the
Abyssinians, their buildings, w r i t t e n character,
dress, and tlie description o f them given in the
earliest Arabian and Byzantine writers, all tend to
prove (hem a distinct race from the Arabs.

As the last argument has not before, to my

knowledge, been used, though i t appears to bear
very strongly on the question, 1 may be excused for
entering into i t a l i t t l e more at large. In the history
of Arabian Felix, collected from various Arabian
authors, by Schultens we find several accounts o f
the conquest of this country by the Abyssinians, and
the epithets continually applied to them are "blacks"
{•i^^), which Schultens translates Aethiopes; and
"people with crisped hair" (crispa tortilique
coma);2 one of their princes also, suing to the
Emperor of Persia, entreats him to drive out "these
crows," who are hateful to his countrymen;^ the
application of which terms, makes i t apparent that
there existed, at that time, no traces o f their being
descended from the same progenitors. The
Axomites are likewise c o r r e c t l y distinguished from
the Homeiites, in Philostorgius, one of the earliest
of the Byzantine writers, by the appellation of
"Aethiopes,'"^ and in like manner Procopius,^
Cedrenus,^ Cosmas, and John Malala,^ though
all apply to the word Indi to both people, confine the
epithet Aethiopes to the Axomites. The term o f
Ethiopians too, or Itiopjawan,^ is, as 1 have before
noticed the favorite appellation by which the
Abyssinians designate themselves. It is true, that in
the intercourse carried on w i t h the opposite coast,
vast numbers of Arabians have in process of t i m e
become mingled w i t h them; but still i t appears to
me, that both in feature, colour, habit and manners,
they form a perfectly distinct race." (p. 458-459)
 8

The effort to establish an external origin for the people of Ethiopia has led some
scholars to an examination of the names of people and places - ethnonymy and toponymy.
Where the name of a people or a place has been found to be the same on either side of the
Red Sea Coast, that has been usually interpreted as rather conclusive evidence of a South
Aiabian origin. Conti Rossini's work is especially liberal in its employment of this
device. Thus the name o f a "Habashat" tribe in South Arabia is supposed to have
generated the name "Abyssinia," a term applied to Ethiopia, and the tribe is supposed to
be one which migrated to Ethiopia and became one of the dominant "Semitic" groups.* An
uncertain Arabic word "Flabash" is also supposed to refer to a mixing of sorts' and ir also
often paraded as proof of the etymology of the name and also o f the mixing o f Semites
and Ilamites to become the ancient Ethiopians.

In contrast to the above, Dcsta Tekle Wold's Ofih•• jtf^cf (nmn^^^H^ New Amharic
Dictionary) has under the entry XftT>»_n/i:(Abys)(nAcp-)~ (/hdh- hPT 9y^Ti;

Abs, Abysa (Kalaw): - name o f a person, Cush's

seventh son, Namrud's younger brother: an ethnos
name. Abyssinia (Abysawi): - the country o f Abys
(of Amara), Habesha. This name existed before the
time of the Septuagint writers. Abyssinia is a
foreign t e r m .

The Amharic Dictionary derives Abyssinia not from the name of a South Arabian
tribe but from that of Cush's seventh son. It makes Abys the grandson o f Ham.

Ethnonymy, toponymy, and generally etymology are useful research devices, but
their abuse or their facile interpretation is likely when not painstakingly counter-checked.

Perhaps another way o f looking into the whole issue o f origins is by changing the
ground rules set by modern Ethiopicists and by taking classical and Old Testament
references to Ethiopia more seriously than they have been hitherto.

*Getachew Haile in a footnote to his paper "Some Notes..." remarks:

"According to the penetrating observations o f A . K . Irvine 'On the Identity of the

Habashat in the South Arabian Inscriptions, JSS, 10/2 (1965, pp. 178-196, there was
no nation or tribe called Habasha in South Arabia."
 9

One such classical author, Diordorus of Sicily wrote:

"The Ethiopians say that the Egyptians are one o f

their colonies which was brought into Egypt by
Osiris. They even allege that this country was
originally under water, but that the Nile, dragging
much as i t flowed from Ethiopia, had finally f i l l e d i t
in and made i t a part o f the continent ... They add
that from them, as from their authors and
ancestors, the Egyptians get most of their laws. I t
is from them that the Egyptians have learned to
honor kings as gods and bury them w i t h such pomp;
sculpture and w r i t i n g were invented by the
Ethiopians. The Ethiopians c i t e evidence that they
are more ancient than the Egyptians, but i t is
useless to report that here."

Quoted in Diop, The African Origin of C i v i l i z a t i o n

(p. 1-2).

Relations between Axum - Meroe - Egypt have not been the focus of much
historical or other investigation. A move away from the South Arabian f i x a t i o n would, o f
course, help to correct the imbalance.

In the first volume of his Travels to Discover the Source o f the N i l e . James Bruce
reproduces a stone tablet from Axum inscribed w i t h hieroglyphics*. (See Appendix I). This
is a clear instance o f c u l t u r a l a f f i n i t y between Axum - Meroe - Egypt. As early as Moses'
time (c. 1250 B.C.) Ethiopia - Egypt relations existed (cf. legend mentioned above in the
quote from Asimov). Ethiopian t r a d i t i o n (Asras 1958) holds that Moses led an Egyptian
delegation to Ethiopia to request the Ethiopian king who was threatening to dam the Nile
to refrain from doing so. Earlier Egypt - Punt contacts, those o f Queen Hatshepsut (c.
2500 B.C.) and o f Pharoh Pepi 11 (also 3rd millenium B.C.), have been attested for, the
former in the Punt reliefs in the D e - e l - B a h r i Temple at Thebes. Punt has, o f course, been
generally interpreted to mean the hinterland o f the Ethiopian, Somali, and East African
coasts.

Where the Old Testament is concerned, references to Queen Sheba (I Kings X : 1-10
and II Chronicles I X : 1-9) and her visit to Jerusalem "to prove h i m (Solomon) w i t h hard
questions" need not be dismissed l i g h t l y . I f indeed she was the Queen o f Ethiopia as
Ethiopian t r a d i t i o n holds, the " c i v i l i z i n g mission" o f the South Arabians would be a moot
point. The earliest " c i v i l i z e d " kingdoms i n South Arabia do not appear until a few
centuries after Sheba's t i m e .

*A person I showed the picture to recognized the object and said i t was housed i n the
Brooklyn Museum and on display on the third floor.
 10

To come back to the discussion of Ethiopia - Egypt affinities, the calendar they both
used is a very important common feature. The year was divided into twelve equal months
of 30 days each with additional five and six days respectively for the ordinary and leap
years. To Mansfield Parkyns visiting Ethiopia in the last century i t appeared as though
ancient Egypt was s t i l l alive and throbbing in some of its features:

"Among the tombs of Upper Egypt may be seen

faithfully lepresented the costumes worn by many
of the tribes o f Aethiopia of the present day, even
to the dressing of the hair, though the hand which
drew them has been in the grave for upwards o f
three thousand years." (Life in Abyssinia, v o l . I , p.
262)

Yet more telling than such scenes is the survival in Ethiopia of the science of
nuimmification at least until some two hundred f i f t y years ago. Cheesman (Lake Tana
and the Blue Nile. 1968, p. 142-43) describes the mummy he saw in the island monastery
of Deg Lstifa:

"We had to wait in the gloom until the censer was

taken round, our only light being a dim taper... We
climbed up a well - polished tree branch that serves
as a ladder and saw on one shelf a big wooden
coffin, the l i d of which opened on the mummified
body of the Emperor Fasiladas (1632-1667). His
head was covered by a cloth, which when removed
disclosed the face of a fine-looking man w i t h
refined featues, thin nose and lips. He must have
been over six feet in height. The embalming
process, which I have not seen or heard o f elsewhere
in Ethiopia, had been most successful as his face
went, which was not at all grusome to look upon.
Beside Fasiladas in the same coffin lie the bones of
his small son, Isur, whose short reign and tragic
death do not seem to be mentioned in any of the
Chronicles, nor is his name in the King lists..."

However, he was not allowed to see Zara Yakob's remains for "...so holy a man was
he and such is the reverence in which his name is held that only the monks are allowed to
look upon hiin." (ibid.)
 11

Given the fact that Fasiledes restored tiie o f f i c i a l status o f the Ethiopian Orthodox
Tewahdo Church, after the attempts of Jesuit missionaries to bring i t under the Roman
Church had caused a century o f bloodshed, i t is quite understandable why the monks would
take the trouble to mummify Fasiledes' corpse. As for Zara Ya'qob, not only was he a
great and pious king but also the author o f two religious Ge'ez works: dDftrrhL: YZC W^;,
(The Book o f Light) and (TlitA-iL ^^fp(The Book of N a t i v i t y ) . In the t r a d i t i o n o f the
Biblical Melchizedek, he was t r u l y a priest - king. For the custodians o f the f a i t h , there
could hardly have been a more deserving personage. What Cheeseman's testimony
establishes is that there may be links between the sciences as practised by the ancient
Egyptian priests and the Ethiopian clergy. In any event, a r e l a t i v e l y novel approach to
study Ethiopia - Egypt contacts may produce interesting results, not just in history b u t ;r\
other fields as well. As a p r e l i m i n a r y exercise in such an o r i e n t a t i o n , I have added my
own Ethiopic - Hieroglyphic cognate list to Budge's short list (Egyptian Dictionary) (See
Appendix II)

In an opinion that runs counter to the prevailing South Arabian origin o f Axumite
a r c h i t e c t u r e . Bent (The Sacred C i t y of the Ethiopians p. 182-84) writes:

"The great point o f interest about the obelisks o f

Aksum is that they form a consecutive series, from
these very rude unhewn stones up to the
highly-finished and decorated obelisks, and i t is
highly probable that here we have the origin and
development o f the obelisk, side by side; high up i n
the valley they are all rough and unhewn, like the
monoliths at Ava, placed in the ground at a l l angles,
and in no way to be distinguished from the many
rude stone monoliths which we find scattered all
over the world. Then we come to one sixteen feet
in height which has the corners squared and a series
of nine or ten notches running up one side o f i t , and
various other holes cut on its surface. This appears
to be the earliest a t t e m p t at bringing these
monoliths under the influence o f decorative art.

Next we have one about the same height, which is

divided into stories by four bands, and the beam
ends, supposed to support the stories, d i s t i n c t l y cut
on the stone. Without the assistance o f the more
perfect monoliths, one would not have arrived at the
meaning o f this decoration; but by comparison I
think i t is quite obvious that the division into stories
is here intended to be conveyed. The
highly-finished monoliths are nearly all o f the same
character, namely, representations of a
many-storied castle..."
As the above quote from a 19th century work amply shows as also do the earlier
quotes from Henry Salt and Murtonen, all foreign w r i t e r s on Ethiopian history do not
necessarily seek an external origin for A x u m i t e c i v i l i z a t i o n . It is for future Ethiopian as
well as other scholars to approach Ethiopia's history afresh free from preconceptions and
to consult indigenous as well as foreign sources w i t h a discerning and open mind in order
to construct a truer Ethiopian historiography.
 12

C H A P T E R II

T H E G E ' E Z S C R I P T AND T H E BOOK O F HENOK

A survey of the scholarly literature on the origins of the Ge'ez script is not any
more lielpful than that on the origins of Ethiopian civilization. Its main thrust is that like
all tlier other important features of Axumite civilization, it developed from Sabean and
was l)rought over from the other side of the Red Sea*. Dillmann's account (Ethiopic
Grammar, p.3) Is typical.

"Tlie name, Ethiopic Language. v/h\ch the old

national speech of Abyssinia commonly bears
among us now, is derived from the classical
denomination given to the Inhabltatants of these
regions, and has been taken over from the Greek by
the Abyssinians themselves. Accordingly they
called their kingdom W9-i^^, and the national
tongueM'rK^^i^/. The original native appelation for
the people, however, and further for their speech,
is "itr'H , literally 'roaming', then as a national
designation, in the sense of the 'the Roamers', 'the
free'; and thus comes ^^\-)^'^^H.- the tongue
of the Free?"

In origin and essence Ethiopic Is a pure Semitic

Speech, transplanted by people who migrated from
Yemen to Abyssinia."

A less known and unorthodox hypothesis Is that of James Bruce. (Vol. I, p. 420-421):

"It seems also probable, that the first alphabet was

Ethiopic, first founded on hieroglyphics, and
afterwards modelled Into more current, and less
laborious figures, for the sake of applying them to
the expedition of business. Mr. Fourmont Is so
much of this opinion, that the Beta resembles the
door of a house or temple...

*A. J . Drewes ( Inscriptions.... p. 92) doubts the

validity of this proposition.
 13

Others are for giving to letters a divine original:

they say they were taught to Abraham by God
himself; but this is no where vouched; though i t
cannot be denied, that i t appears from scripture
there were two sorts of characters known to
Moses, when God spoke to him on Mount Sinai. The
first two tables, we are told, were wrote by the
finger o f God, in what character is not said, but
Moses received them to read to the people, so he
surely understood them. But, when he had broken
these two tables, and had another meeting w i t h
God on the mount on the subject o f the law, God
directs him specially not to w r i t e in the Egyptian
character or hieroglyphics, but in the current hand
used by the Ethiopian merchants, like the letters
upon a signet; that is, he should not w r i t e in
hieroglyphics by a picture, representing the thing,
for that the law forbids; and the bad consequences
of this were evident; but he should w r i t e the law in
the current hand, by characters representing
sounds, (though nothing else i n heaven or on earth,)
or by the letters that the Ishmaelities, Cushites,
and India trading nations had long used in business
for signing their invoices, engagements, SSi- and
this was the meaning of being {ike the letters o f a
signet.

Traditional Ethiopian accounts (Ayalew Tamiru, p. 20-21) claim Ge'ez to have been
the single language in c u r r e n t l y thoughout the world before the confusion o f tongues and
quote G e n e s i x X h l to support their contention: " <d|.'^-. S I V - °rA?^M "

"And the whole earth was o f one language, and o f

one speech."

Although advocated by some linguists (Swadesh The Origin and Diversification o f

Language) a few decades back, the monogenetic thesis of language is out o f fashion. By
contrast, the monogenetic thesis of humanity is not as l i g h t l y dismissed.

While the traditional Ethiopian claim o f Ge'ez as the pre-Babel language in

universal currency need not be accepted at face value, the hypothesis o f its derivation
from Sabean is one to be rejected for the following reason. The unique internal logic of
the script is most satisfactorily explained bv Asras' account o f its being also an
astrograph. The main concern o f this chapter is an examination o f this most fascinating
but least known account.
 14

Discussions of tlio development of the alphabet, in its most generic sense of a

w i l l i n g system, have assumed that it represents p r i m a r i l y sounds, ideas, or pictures of
objects. In short, it is a nhonograph. an ideograph, or a Dictograph. The use o f the units of
a w r i t i n g system to represent number has long been recognized. Thus a w r i t i n g .system
has also served as a numcrograph. What is unique to Ge'ez and what has thus far passed
!:rrierally unreinarked is that i t is not only a phonograph, and a numerograph, but also an
astidgraph. The Ge'ez alphabet* signifies syllables and numbers, but at a most
fuiuiainental level, it also represents astronomical cycles. Thus when Asras Yane .Saw
declares repeatedly in his two works that the letters of the Ge'ez alphabet are engraved
on the tablets of heaven, one ought to keep an open mind and investigate his proposition
fiiitlier.

Unlike Hebrew and Arabic which have t w e n t y - t w o and t w e n t y - e i g h t letters

respectively and are w i i t t c n from right to left, Ge'ez has 182 letters vocalized in seven
different ways giving t w e n t y - s i x root letters. The t w e n t y - s i x root letters are called *Jii'H-
((ie'ez) while the other vocalic variations are respectively called Vi60t
(second, third, fourth, f i f t h , sixth, and seventh). S t r i c t l y speaking, a Ge'ez l e t t e r is really
an open syllable of the form CV (consonant and vowel)**. None of the Semitic or
European languages follows this system while Sankskrit does so in a somewhat similar
fashion. The l a t t e r situation led A. Weber in his a r t i c l e "Wuber den semitischen Ursprung
des indischen Alphabetes" DMGZ Vol. X, 1856, to hypothesize an Ethiopian influence on
the (levelopiTient of Sanskrit.

The order o f the letters in Ge'ez is 1/A(*«<n>...T {Li^....p ). There is disagreement

among F.thiopian scholars concerning the earlier order o f the letters.*** Along w i t h Asras
and many others, I think the above is the right order. In this regard, i t is an interesting
coincidence that the first (h) and the last (p) sounds in the Ge'ez order are represented in
hieroglyphics by the head ^ (h) and the tail (p)of a lion. "H"and "p" in Ge'ez
are respectively the topmost and bottomost letters o f the alphabet, metaphorically
speaking the head and tail of the alphabet.

For all of the reasons stated above, the standard account o f the Semitic Sabean
o i i p i n o f Ge'ez is unsatisfactory. Its pervasive r e p e t i t i o n has precluded the pursuit o f
possibly more f r u i t f u l and more interesting hypotheses like the one by the 19th century
scholar Noldeke that the p r i i n i t i v e seat o f the Semites is to be sought in A f r i c a (cited in
Wright, Lectures on the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages. 1890, p;9).
Murtonen's work c i t e d in the first chapter comes close to locating the origin of "Semitic"
languages in A f r i c a . More persuasive than such counter-hypotheses however is Asras'
explication o f the logic of the Ge'ez script.

The distinction between an alphabet and a syllabry is w o r t h noting. However,

they are heie used interchangeably.

Modern linguists distinguish between two forms of the sixth order, CV, the V
being a Schwa ( 3 ), or just a "zero" vowel.

Ayalew Tamru whose work was c i t e d above, and Desta Tekle World (A New
Amharic Dictionary) maintain that the (aleph-bet) order of letters, much like
the Hebrew's, is the earlier one.
 15

The t w e n t y - s i x Ge'e? letters represent the t w e n t y - s i x weeks of the half-year and

the Sundays, ie. the first days in each week. The second, third, fourth, f i f t h , sixth, and
seventh orders represent respectively Mondays through Saturdays. A t the end of the
twenty-six weeks comprising 182 days occurs the autumn equinox (6(,'?.(f1«^K+iDW^p. 182).
The letters in the Ge'ez alphabet thus represent sounds as well as the days of the
half-year The second half-year follows a similar course at the end of which the spring
equinox occurs. Here is Asras' summary of i t :

WS rff^f- TT'i>-' VTrM-tf^iDC^: S\$•^^%•S}^n^^^. \A '^.cp^-^ . . ^ f u

n i l . • ^n^^•\?^l^,?-^^>r^:V^M^: y<-^' r^rfs-wi • •. oiLcj.-. (njo^a? •

"It is in Ge'ez alphabet that they are w r i t t e n as

signs around the tablet of heaven. This is known
by weighing on the scale of Henok. I t is found in
the revolution o f the lights (of heaven). Those
who say that Ge'ez came afterwards are chiefly
found wrong by this alphabet which, on the tablet
of heaven, is w r i t t e n commensurate to the days of
the year: the Ge'ezs corresponding to Sundays,
the second to Mondays, the third to Tuesdays, the
fourth to Wednesdays, the f i f t h to Thursdays, the
sixth to Fridays, and the seventh to Saturdays. I t
is in this manner that starting w i t h one Miazia up
t i l l the end of Masakaram there are 182 days. O f
those months, Miazia and Ginbot are 30 days each
while Sane is 31. Hamle and Nehasse are 30 days
each while Maskaram is 3 1 . I t is those that are
referred to as 182 days. The letters of the
Ethiopic alphabet are 26; when they are
multiplied by the number seven which is the
symbol of the seven days, they become 182. I t is
via the letters in the East that by looking at the
numbers o f the six gates in the West which are
opposite the six gates in the East that Henok
weighs (measures) the rising of the sun and the
moon through the six gates in the East and the six
gates in the West... Those who have not
understood the science o f this (matter) in the
Book of Henok are seen a t t e m p t i n g to portray
Ge'ez as a bastard that was begotten later; i t is a
futile a t t e m p t . " (p.259) (cf. Appendix III)
 16 ( a ^

I-174
lit a. O

u H. V
I A A - A . A A «
I H i rfa- di. -*? A*. |fc
TV. art «^ tfJJ

s Uf
r L 4- L , C

5 rt. t h h

•
b

+
n n - a. HI
t

7t V -J

>> h . K In. Vi >^

VI Vi. Vi V»
-ur CO a x 'S 9*

0 O t 9

H »• h

? 9^ 9

ft. t\ «r
1 - •z P 1 • 7

t 0 1 m . Oh

ft.
V

P ft A . i t A

$ K R . «•
•
0 i

A. 4 -

T T T T 7-
 16

!i nni'I t: . •. l)o clcnr v.Iiy tiii' ( . r ' o / alphabpt should not ho \d simplistically.
Asi,!.' diM-n^AJMn iij" ihis ajid otln i i r . r j ' r i s is at a profound level, and his two works have
hon( r f o i t h (o i)e rnnsidored seriously in any a t t e m p t to fortnulate Ethiopian
liistorioprajiliv. ! Ik^sp pi'oliminai v lioto' can not deal w i t h the many interesting questions
!iis wotks raise. However, his im'r;'re of the Ge'ez, alphabet to the Book of Henok is worth
p>:n!iiining in niore detail.

Hie ( o m p l e t e tr.xt o f die Hook o f Henok has been preserved only in Ge'ez, i f i t ever
r v i s t c d i!i full in other laufiancs. 1 he Ixiok is taken seriously enough by theologians,
.iii!i<>n!',li some Iiavc assessed it as merely one o f those apocalyptic works w r i t t e n around
tii.> iirf'ir.uitigs of or just h i s r i e r i u i s t i a n i t y . An Ethiopian author Zamanfas Q\d\'s
.'ili.i, h,'s ( onie oui with piohnhly the severest, i f also the flimsiest, appraisal:

" i h e true pioof that the n<iok of Henok is false is

!li>* it is not at all found in the whole world (as) an
:u', i-Mit Ixiok w r i t l c n in Hebrew or Greek, save in
(.(^'ez language w r i t t e n by a mendacious
( 'eric. As to that which is found in the world at
I T i ' i ' , it is only the very one that has been
II aiislated from (lie fthiopians' book from the
(.'o'e.' language" (p. 71)

Abralia h.id a modernist orientation anrl that might have clouded his judgement
townids m a t i e i s hipiih- regarded liy an ancient church. 7Iie s i m i l a r i t y o f text between the
iUMpIu^.-y o f r n n r l i f;;:fi!ed iti tlio Fpistlc of ludo: 1:14-1.'^ and an early passage in the
I !li;(>ii!c Book of Heiu V- is interesting.

(Knibb. V o l l , p, {• S)

"And lieliold! He comes with ten thousand holy ones

t(' rv«M-uln judr,er.icnt upon them, and to destroy
ti','- impious, and to contend w i t h all flesh
cnuftMiiing overylhiuf, which the sinners and the
i!r;M<ins have dnut^ and wrought against h i m . "
(Knibb. Vol.?. p. UO)
 14. "An-:: - "r.nch also, the seventh from Adam,
p: h. of these, saying. Behold, the Lord
f.'-.-.:.. ttm thousands of his saints,

!5, ; : ; i : e judgerr.ent upon a l l , and to

o-r- : .} all that are ungodly among them o f
il: : '-"^odly deeds which they hve
ungccl'y c o m m u t e d , and o f a l l their hard
speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken
against h i m . " (New Testament. Epistle of
Jude. I;14-t5>

Many Biblical scholars comment on the age of Enoch given in Genesis 5:23: "And all
the days o f Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years". Asimov also has something to
say about that (Guide to the Bible, p.37)

"Of the antediluvian patriarchs, one attains an age

markedly different from the others. This is Enoch,
the father o f Methuselah...

The fact that Enoch is described as living 365

years, whereas his father Jared lived 962 years and
his son Mcthus-jia I'ved 969 years, seems odd. Is i t
a coincidence that there are 365 days in a year;
that is, in the complete c i r c u i t of the sun across
the skies? Is i t possible that the verses given over
to Enoch are all that remains o f some Babylonian
sun m y t h . "

This rather standard i n t e r p r e t a t i o n is, o f course, consistent w i t h the astronomical

section (Ch. 72ff.) o f the Book of Henok, the very section on which the Ge'ez alphabet is
based i n Asras' explication. The only language i n which the Book o f Henok has been
preserved is i n Ge'ez and when, on his r e t u r n at the end o f the 18th century, James Bruce
declared he had a copy, Europe was at first incredulous. In Ethiopian Church t r a d i t i o n i t
is considered both canonical and pre-Mosaic (ie. pre-Torah). In this connection, Ayalew
(p.22) w r i t e s : '<y\K.\j^^A d^fii^c v>b-nL<^hffl cO?^ <nb'H •'i-'f-rk/fOf^.'oh'il'
h'^f-bttu AsjiTf envy)?- ^^-hhio-, ?ifi<^.fnjp«'ft,'?CY)h'0/rA(^^.'

" A t this nr:i[j:, i f -:: ^rc •.»; i.s anvone asking: 'Since
you -,<•. ^^a;:-! :ted •'rom Hebrew
into Geo.. . ot ; 'r.^he Hebrew the father
• if Ge'-^/' • • i ' •V i:, rhose spoken in
fhe •MV.\i:./-^ h ' i'. ' !he horah and the
 18

A tradition concerning Henolc as tiie one who taught men the a r t o f w r i t i n g is shared
at least by Christianity and Islam. I have not had the opportunity to check whether i t also
exists in Judaism. In any case, the existence of such a t r a d i t i o n in C h r i s t i a n i t y and Islam
only strengthens Asras' hypothesis concerning the origin o f the Ge'ez alphabet. There is
no other alphabet which has claimed such an origin or can demonstrate such a close
corresp(^ndence between its internal structure and the discussion In "The book o f the
revolutions o f the lights o f heaven..." (ch. 72ff) in the Book o f Enoch.

As regards the t r a d i t i o n about the Book of Enoch in the West, here is what W.J
Deane (Pseudepigiapjia p. 84) says:

"The a t t r i b u t i o n of the work to Enoch is doubtless

owed to the fact that popular tradition assigned to
him the reception o f revelations concerning the
secrets of nature and other mysteries, the
discovery o f the alphabet, and the w r i t i n g o f the
earliest books that the world ever saw." (emphasis
added)

In Islamic t r a d i t i o n , the role o f Enoch in imparting the art o f w r i t i n g t o man and In

the study o f lx)oks is retained i m p l i c i t l y in the name given to him (Idrls). The root o f this
is the t r i l a t e r a l verb JJ^ which is a loan from the Ge'ez J^^jJ^ (to w r i t e ) (See Appendix
IV). Here follows J. A r t h u r ' s discussion o f the name:

:i I (Idris)
s

Jewish, Christian, and Islamic t r a d i t i o n a l l give eminence to Enoch. However,

although its most complete version is found only in Ge'ez, and other versions (see Knibb's
Introtiuction to the The Ethiopic Book o f Enoch! are only fragments, Donzel, E.J.V. i n his
Anqasa Amjn (p.32) could s t i l l w r i t e as late as 1969:
 \9

"La place importante qu' occiipent dans I'Anqasa

Arnin le livre de Henock. les Canons Apostoliques
et le Oalementos, confirme a mon avis que ces
textes one ete traduits par Enbaqom." (emphasis
added)

Tiiis is a non seouitur. To argue from the importance that the Book o f Henock. the
Apostolic Canons, and Qalementos occupy in Anoasa A m i n . the book authored by Enbrqoni
(a Yemeni Arab convert to the Ethiopian Chnurch in the 16th century) to the translation,
especially o f the Book of Henok, by him is indeed a quantum leap. Unless Donzel knows of
a version or versions of Enoch in Arabic or in other languages which are as complete as
those o f the Ge'ez text and were available in as late a period as the 16th century, i t is
untenable to suggest the translation o f the Book of Enock i n t o Ge'ez by Enbaqom.
Donzel's speculation is thus one more strange entry i n t o the catalogue o f compulsive
searches for external c u l t u r a l determinators in Ethiopian as generally in other African
history. The link between Ge'ez and the Book o f Henok is indeed a very hard one to break.
 20

CHAPTER III

The_ge:ez_bjble

There are numerous references to Ethiopia in the Bible. This has been a source of
fascination to many, and a source of inspiration and pride for s t i l l others like the
Rastafarians. Those about Moses' wife and Queen Sheba have already been mentioned
Some others are:

II Kings 19:9. And when he heard say of Tirhakah

King of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight
against thee; he sent messengers again to Hezekiah.

Isaiah 45:14. Thus saith the lord, The labour o f

Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and o f the
Sabeans, men o f stature, shall come over unto
thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after
thee.

Amos 9:7. Are ye not as children o f the Ethiopians

unto me, O children of Israel? saith the lord.

Nahum 3:9,. Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,

and it was infinite.

Perhaps the favourite Biblical verse among Ethiopians is: Psalm 68:31. "Ethiopia
shall soon stretch out her hands unto God."

That verse sealed the defiant circular Emperor Menelik II sent European powers in
the 189ns when Italy claimed a protectorateship over Ethiopia, and B r i t a i n and others
fulilely rushed to recognize i t .

Ethiopia and the Bible (London, 1967) by Ullendorff treats the theme at length.
However, although i t reviews in erudite fashion the l i t e r a t u r e on the subject, i t does not
provide a satisfactory answer to the question o f when or how the Scriptures were
introduced or transmitted to Ethiopia.

It is important to note that the cannonical books o f the Ge'ez Bible are eighty-one
as against lesser figures for the Catholic, Protestant, and the other Christian churches.
There is l i t t l e difference where the New Testament is concerned, i t being clear that all
versions were translated from the Greek into various scriptural languages i n the first few
centuries of C h r i s t i a n i t y . The real problem arises w i t h the Old Testament. For one, the
Book of Henok is not only preserved solely in Ge'ez, but i t is also considered "the father
of all the Scriptures," as it were, by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church. The Book
of Jubilees, which divides historical time in 49-year periods, is similarly preserved intact
in Ge'ez as , t f 0 ^ f t i ^ - . V7<4-/h : (The Book of Division). The situation w i t h the Torah, the
Prophets, and the Writings is very much like Jewish and other Christian traditions.
 21

Conimenting in general on the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church, Ullendorff

writes:

The cannon o f the Scriptures of the Abyssinian

Church comprises a number o f apocryphal or
deuterocannonical books such as Enoch, Jubilees,
the 'Shepherd' of Hermas, Judith, Tobit,
Fxclesiasticus, etc. Equal authority is a t t r i b u t e d
to the prescriptions o f the Old Testament as to
those of the New Testament. The Councils o f
Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381), and Ephesus
(431) are recognized, while that o f Chalcedon is
rejected..." (The Ethiopians, p. 98)

With the exception of the Book o f Henok which Ethiopian t r a d i t i o n dates to as far
hack as 4800 B.C., the other books o f the Old Testament begin w i t h Moses and move
f o r w a i d up t i l l a couple o f centuries before Christ. However, even when the same books
of the Old Testament in the Ge'ez and the other versions are compared, there are
interesting differences here and there. The Ge'ez version is at times closer to the Creek
Septuagint and at other times to the Hebrew Masoretic versions in an apparently
urijiredictable fashion. Might i t have been independent from either and much closer than
both to a now lost original version? Or is i t possible that i t has preserved the original
version intact in the same intractable way that i t has preserved the Book o f Henok and
the r^ook of Jubilees, and many other books besides?

The exegetic t r a d i t i o n in Ge'ez is profound, and there may be some clues and
answers in that r i c h corpus. It is c e r t a i n , in any case, that Ethiopian Biblical scholars
distinguish between at least four versions o f the Torah (Desta Tekle Wold, p.
140): i j J u J i i J i j S : . - (Masoretic Torah), ^tLLMMI:' (Priestly Torah),
:(Septuagint Torah), and : f>y(ra)-,?^:;(Samaritan Torah).

The status and date of the Ge'ez version of the O l d Testament has not been
satisfactorily determined by mainstream Biblical scholarship, nor has the Ethiopian
account been properly investigated or appraised. Yet, were the Ethiopian account found
valid, i t would have significant implications for the way ancient history is viewed,
especially the Judaeo-Christian heritage, and d e r i v a t i v e l y the Islamic heritage. The t e x t
of the Ge'ez Bible and some Ge'ez manuscript sources offer fascinating clues and leads
that would help determine the status and date o f the various early Biblical versions. The
following translation o f a Ge'ez passage is one such important lead. It is taken from a
manuscript account o f The Life and Contendings o f Oawestos:

f"'y.:M-9" •• •/.(•.A : '/'ffifirnA : .cq/^A • rn^ir.t^-^/.U : vn-;- • h

: n"(). : rn.c../;./• : UDMi-- i]h.?<-^t\.r- iV'/CT • AdAl-

iV/(l"/- •• • y.fl' '/n.r-7-: hAy-yfi •• o>KC9"yt\- iin,ry,-?'ar>.:
^]•i7^'Hl •• = //""•(), • mhnv- m n ? / / - / - j / ; ",ns^•.r/n.7.,;"i:-l- >
X'rvn ?,-;n.M!,/,.f: :• <»/g.fi»fa : m-A-.f, = 7ih.f\ {]f)y.> -/hy,.-} •• wk
!'•/ • ? . ' / ' ' / ( i : h'rf\)\'i • m n . / . = m-itnnm/^:]- •.

•ryA\ y.ti- • y;;,.A = K',n •. .c-ma- • r / - . A M i ' l - • ?w"V- : t/Am

 22

>)"'•• • <"?,(."•/>= I'V- •• "•'•A.'h'i'-I- •• '/llSl- •• »IM1'/:V = d^JlhlWic"- •• (n-f){'

Y •• : X.'/"/: •• (1?,'V/- •• : S'r'l'il••/ ' A T : f"?»f." • //Af/'-Jl'"- :
.7/;..- : : /,7,,A = O^'A'A' • '/(l.C"/- ^ (V/IV J ]""•*/• •• A " ! / ' ; ' - / " : Ai/,"7fn-
.(-> : r))A""'lA)i-/ •• 'l?v';'> : : l ' - / 5 i ' ' " - : i'''W:h«"-V- = fV>^;^'/;^^ : A?,
•Vll7r(l,l,.(: •.: 0^hry:"^/:\\ (HI : ( i r o - : »'>•?• : ""A?»})-/- = WhWt'l' h'}
IK- : </'.('.(l.A- •• '>!;•/A : (/Afi'-V : i\y,V: •• (IJ'.A-/- : ^I'J^.A fo^'/fl.C •• rn^,
' , ' } . ( ' : ^/'"7.'^^,A : : •• ^ r A h > : hrt\\\ )v\\air • ,p.fij»^ ••
(".('rVl'-n = /•»'/'7"";'. •• ^ / . •/))'"" •• ''i/*V"J"'> •• A""J'w7i'i".'/-: •• :m
II = / I ' / f l . / ' ' ; - : '>.7r/("l : ,hAfn'/ : I/"?/. : Yu'V'W • i»K)^f''-(\ n>M' •• U
•//. : -MIA •• (IM(1)> : fl,1.f: : : II'}-/- = '"'FC.UA. •• Hl'V ' h9"-'ll\ >,
(1 •• .<;'>^.A: '/(I.e. (Diiy.d-. ini-- 'n/.•••""y^h •• - / n . i r ^ " - : A ^ m : >

; r ( i , i , . ( : : <""Ah •• 'liw •• 7(u:;..A •• (i'f\oi>?,-,h/i. •• nj-. •• •nr. • .f.^^'tiT '

9"{]f\ ""y:,h/.. •• •• n<^-ii • //f/"j',7i •• 7,9"hS''<'<'\M" •• (H/'^'V = r^A-r
->: i'-nA : hivivi •• -i'y.r'-r •• o)rf\f\ wa- • c^-h,••wy-w, • M.(\ <^a
•]• •• VlWV.-- "H\/.\\- •• bA^-•• >xM'/h' r/)?,r.i'.-;/.J/ •• 'f"y,K--
/'•A • .'','}h./\/n..»'. : AMITV : l-.WiyA- •• ^.P<-'"lA.'/" • • JZ-I-'lflA
nirf/>'r.riv •• y,.r • /;7i.A ; (0{\l- : il'icy'"---- iiH]m}A: • ""'\'7,i\ •
}^\\'r^ •• Wl : K\''',AM'' •• ?>lV"' : A M i : I/'J-'HIA • : ('.'flA ! '"ifl s
>•/»'• • ^ . 7 vA.c •• ( " I I " " : ? , ' ; i f . h n j . . f : : v/a- ' r A A . i i • ny""/>.: (U'.vj
?.'vii.;,fi,,h.f: •• i i n ^ A h h : » ) / . ' / . : A.-/-: ( I ' ^ . ' j n = f i " - -• A ^ r ' ^ i i • Km
/i;..Af'»-.("> : ;."7"/(r>}| Il : : . / " g v h / . •• ;./.•/•: ""'{X.- i\y:,h • (HM'••
nic.U •• l^'J'A-y:"" •• '\''i.h:i- • AKV'.-<\f\,9" • ^\7^y. • ?,'/'M..fnh ' fl'AA:
(lA•'/•"> ;«•/•/. •• 7^/<.:l• •• A l l : i i i ' V : : ?.-71/7.'(!,/..(: •• ""7.,7.'iM- >n.
.('-/•: / / I / . : i m . A " > : f/>-/;('.i'i: irA.M.p' • ^•^.A-'ov• Avn,.r-7': •/•p.r
•7- : •/•;••/. •• /.V- : A./- •• ,7.'»:•/• : Vfl„t'-7- = ?tA : .P.'l'.ev/>..X : fD?»9"-7'.Q'
To-h/J-: f\hs'^,Af\.9" •• i / v / i - ; . : 7y"'":nrA- •• •• h ^ " •• aMivv =
•/ A*!- : (I--/(l : ?,'7l/7r(lW>.(: : = ^(1'/!'/ = A . / Y . = f'lAll ::("n'}J- : ('l
"7.;. : '>7 : ^.•7•PA•e : y.mrt^- •• AMITV : fri.P^/l.A-fn'. : '>/"h.•• ^'"J'.-.h
: ;./.-7- • •• (niih.yci- •• n x V ' ^ i . A : (nu'f'Vt'.'y-l- • iiunnitf^v. '• y,
T'7-: y"(")A •• <>"y:.u/.. • 'n/"^- •• ioon?:,i,^^ •. ,'iA"'/"'> • ,/»••;• •• im. • hS^-
•"lA.'r •• ' W i : / / - I ' l f i A •= (n}x'i""t •• y^.uy.M"^'' •• M^y.h-- a.-/- •• ?xr/i>}',^,
o-./-: 'iw.y'i •• •/•'J'V): ^ ^ / / " g • ^ . : '"kiv •• </•.';.«"• j •• h d ' c v : t i o
: / j c ' i i i : / - = 'J/'V.:")(;.7'.-An'>"7'ij"'- "'(!):'/•' 'J.'iV = ("f:'7' = .r'h-'>yj
: : //-I'Hl.A : I I " " = ^-CMiV • TlCx •• h-y.-'lA) - Af"(//.-.r AV-T'l-
))'">•: oi7x9"u •• v v . ; . " " - : M-' ixivr.'i • in/. hs^>At\^ ••
n : / K ' K i . A : ' } ! • / • ' •• ff)/v<ii(i- •• i]M9" •• 'rc\/\'/:•/' •• > n > ' 7 ' •• •l"'r'i-i
in}a:hy.i>'""- •• ""'A.ix'iA- •• V(i.('-7- = 11""?,^. • • tnc'i • ?»'/"'7'.t'-^^
JI'i'Kl.A : (iun-7xfc'"- : •' ""'AAx^iA- • •7';-'/.'> : \\h.""yxh' • 7\
y ' / . y v / n : „ :: ^,^7,7,. : •7'>n./- = ,7ri/'77..A •• f"""7,-//.^. • h.<Wl\

/ . : ^.\'';-'"iA.';": nil'"'/ •• "'•'>'7/"-/:: A/;';-naA ••••

 23

"And a f l e r this, our fathers lived according to the Law o f

Moses keeping the Sabbaths of the Lord as Moses' Torah
commands. But the children of Israel who were in
Jerusalem did not honor the day of the Sabbath and (so)
arose Isiah and Jeremiah ~ the children of the prophets -
and rebuked them according to the commandment of the
Torah of Moses, but they did not heed (their admonition).
On account of this, there came (upon them) a punishment
from God. And the children of Israel were made captive
and fell into the hands of unbelievers who were not of our
God in the practice of righteousness. And Jerusalem was
sacked and she became a den for beasts. In that era when
Jerusalem was destroyed, our fathers sent a message to the
children of Israel, even unto the land where they were
taken captive, saying: "How have you been, and how have
fared the books of the prophets - of our fathers and o f
yours? Were they burnt at the time o f c a p t i v i t y , or are
they safe? And how have you been — you the children o f
Israel and the children of the Prophets? D i d you bow in
worship to the idols of the heathen, and to alien gods? And
how have you conducted yourselves? Did you violate the
Sabbaths of the Lord?" And after this, when they heard the
message of our fathers, they marvelled and said: "As for
us, we have fared well on account of the prayer(s) o f
Daniel, Azaria, Anania, and Misa'el — our God, the God o f
Abraham, Issac, and Jacob p r o t e c t i n g us. As for you, go
f o r t h and search the books of the Law of Moses and those
of the Prophets; we live in a country o f c a p t i v i t y and you
in a land of peace and security. Only! — take this book
from (our) father Daniel the Prophet." Here is the meaning
of this matter: - To our fathers came froin the Book o f
Prophecy of Daniel, in the hand of one non-believer who
was sent by Aisur, the King of Ethiopia, to Darius, the King
of Persia and Medon — that which says "while I was
praying and lightening the burden of my sins in the sight o f
the Lord, Gabriel came to me..." This book they appended
to the Book of the Torah, of Moses - which came from
Jerusalem w i t h our fathers of formerly, in the time of
Solomon - which says: "Six days, do thy work and on the
seventh day - rest." A f t e r thus had coine to our fathers
the word (text) of the Prophet Daniel, Jerusalem was b u i l t
(rebuilt) in the time of Zerubabel and the captive Israelites
returned to their country. And in that time our fathers
went to Jerusalem, for Zerubabel had w r i t t e n to the
Ethiopian king saying: "The peace o f God be w i t h you!
Hear me, for the sake of God that which 1 ask and send i t
to me; by the holy name o f the God of our fathers the
Israelites I beseech you, for the book of the Torah o f Moses
reached your country before the destruction of Jerusalem
in the hand of one o f your kinsmen, the son of Solomon. As
for me, I am sending you the books of the Prophets which
are from God which the successors to the Prophets o f
 24

earlier times wrote in the country of Babylon and Cyrus.

And you send to me the books of the Prophets which
precede me and are from before the destruction o f
Jerusalem and which have existed in the domiciles of your
fathers, so t h a i they may be unto us hope in the Lord, the
God of our fathers, of mine and of yours." On hearing this,
the King of Ethiopia called our fathers and said to them,"
Take the book of the Torah of Moses, and of Joshua, and o f
Samu'el and Judges, and the Psalms of David w i t h the Book
of Kings and the Book of Solomon — Go to the c i t y o f
Jerusalem to Zerubabel. And you, having w r i t t e n them
down (copied them), bring to me the books of the Holy
Prophets that did not come to us formerly in the time o f
our fathers. Take 2200 dinars of gold for your journey.
And 200 dinars of gold, let i t be for you as a present to
Zerubabel that you may receive honour in his sight. The
2200 for your journey!

Having taken this, our fathers went to the c i t y o f

Jerusalem and met King Zerubabel, and they met in peace
w i t h the children of the Prophets, and they displayed, in
the presence of Zerubabel, the books o f the Prophets which
had come to our country earlier. In turn, they (ie. the
Israelites) showed them books o f the minor prophets that
had not come for us before this time. They (ie. the
Ethiopian 'our fathers') brought the Prophecy o f Ezekiel
and the Book of Isiah and o f the Prophet Jeremiah. These
books carrying, our fathers returned from the c i t y o f
Jerusalem during the reign of Zerubabel."

The above account of how the Hebrews had lost copies of the Torah and asked the
r-thiopian King Aisur to send them the earlier books of the Old Testament is plausible both
on chronological and other grounds. The obscure circumstances surrounding the
restoration of the text of the Pentateuch by Ezra, who comes to Jerusalem from Babylon
after Zerubabel, make such accounts as the above Ge'ez passage worthy candidates for
very careful investigation.

The Jewish Encvclooedia (Vol.5) asseses Ezra's role in the following terms:

"Ezra marks the springtime i n the national history

of Judaism ... Ezra was worthy of being the vehicle
of the law, had i t not already been given through
Moses...It was forgotten, but Ezra restored i t . . .
Ezra reestablished the text o f the Pentateuch,
introducing therein the Assyrian or square
characters, apparently as a polemical measure
against the Samaritans... He showed his doubts
concerning the correctness o f some words o f the
text by placing points over them."
 25

What text or texts and what version or versions was Ezra woricing from? I f he
should place points over words whose correctness he doubted, he obviously did not full}
enrloise the text he was working from, which he would have i f i t had been passed on to
him as part of a u t h o r i t a t i v e Hebrew traditon. The most likely candidates as base texts
for Ezra would be the Satnaritan and the Ethiopic versions. The t r a d i t o n quoted'above
however, indicates that Ezra took the great trouble of even introducing Assyrian or square
characters to distance his text as much as possible from the Samaritan. Is i t possible t h a t
lie might have had an Ethiopic version at hand, passed down to him from the time a /
Zerubabel?

In this connection James Bruce's remark is interesting:

"1 hough there is really l i t t l e resemblance between

the Ethiopic and the Hebrew letters, and not much
more between that and the Samaritan, yet I have a
very great suspicion the languages were once much
nearer a-kin than this disagreement of their
alphabet promises, and, for this reason, that a
very great number of words are found throughout
the Old Testament that have really no root, nor
can be derived from any Hebrew origin, and vet all
have, in the Ethiopic. a plain, clear, unequivocal
origin, to and from which thev can be traced
without force or d i f f i c u l t y . " (emphasis added; v o l .
I , p. 423-24)

The Ge'ez Bible has not been throughly evaluated yet on its own m e r i t . Much like
other aspects of ancient Ethiopian history, too many assumptions and preconceptions may
have stood in the way of an objective and c r i t i c a l appraisal of its s i m i l a r i t y to, and
independence from other Biblical versions. It probably is much closer to the oldest
possible Biblical versions and to the Septuagint version than say the King James version.
Yet vernacular Ethiopian Bibles in Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya and many others appear to
1)0 translated from the l a t t e r completely bypassing the Ge'ez t e x t . In accepting this state
of affairs, Ethiopians who read the Scriptures disinherit themselves from a very rich
literary and spiritual source.
 26

CHAPTER IV

C ^ ' E Z NUMERALS

This chapter reexamines the consensus reached by Ethiopicists that Ge'ez numerals
are signs borrowed from the Greek letters.

The 19th century German philologist and Biblical Scholar Dillman wrote: (Ethiopic
Gram mar, p. 33):

"The Abyssinians borrowed their numerical signs

from the Greeks. Whether they ever possessed any
of their own, in particular whether they used
their own letters as numerical signs - we do not
know. The Greek signs appear already in the
Inscriptions; but an a t t e m p t was made, wherever
possible, so to fashion the foreign sign that i t
should come to resemble the character for some
Ethiopic l e t t e r or syllable: thus ^ was formed so
as to^ resemble the sign o f sa,'~"V the sign o f
ha, the ancient sign of r u %tc, Tn this way the
ciphers given in Table I where finally evolved. In
order that they might be more easily recognised as
numerical signs, and might not be mistaken for
letters of the alphabet, a small horizontal stroke
was applied to them both above and below."

The above paragraph and a table reproduced at the end o f the book constitute the
proposition, the arguments, and the proof. This is the whole discourse on the Greek origin
of Ge'ez numerals. It is brief but categorical. However, closer scrutiny reveals its shaky
basis.

Is i t the case, as Dillman states in the above quote that "the Abyssinians borrowed
their numerical signs from the Greeks." To answer the question, one must examine the
relevant numerical signs which are nineteen i.e. one to ten, and t w e n t y , t h i r t y . . . . t o one
hundred. The rest, those in the middle, i.e. eleven to nineteen, twenty-one to
twenty-nine, etc. or those above one hundred i.e. 200,300 etc. are permutations of those
basic nineteen ciphers. The horizontal strokes applied both above and below Ge'ez
numerals may be disregarded for the moment. Let us now list those Ge'ez numerals that
resemble Greek letters.

r (Ge'ez numeral for 'three') resembles the Greek l e t t e r r Gamma

z (., ,. ., 'seven') ,,, ,, ,, ,, Z Zeta

y (., nine) ,, ,, ,, 0 Theta

I (,. „ ,, 'ten) ,, ,, ,, ,, I Iota

o (.. ,, 'four') ,, ,, ,, ,, O Omicrom

n („ „ "eighty) ,, ,, ,, ,, TT Pi
 27

It is clear from the above that six Ge'ez numerals closely resemble six Grc.:k
letters. Whoever wishes to derive Ge'ez numerals from Greek letters may do so only for
those six or for about a t h i r d of them. However, closer examination w i l l show that this
may be too liberal an unference when juxtaposed w i t h a counter hypothesis that i f Ge'ez
ninnerals are derived from any alphabet at a l l , i t is froin the Ge'ez alphabet itself.

Let us first dispose of the two ciphers that resemble equally Greek and Ge'ez
letters.

Ge'ez numeral for seven Z resembles the Greek l e t t e r Zeta(Z) but also equally the Ge ez
letter Z (3rd order o f 7) Ge'ez numeral for four O resembles the Greek l e t t e r Omicron (O)
but also equally the Ge'ez l e t t e r O (1st order of O and incidentally the first l e t t e r
for gcniJ^'(four).

if we choose to derive those two ciphers from the Ge'ez alphabet instead of from
the Greek, the number o f Ge'ez numerals resembling Greek letters drops from six to four
out of nineteen or to about o n e - f i f t h .

Let us list the rest of the Ge'ez numerals which resemble only Ge'ez letters.

The Ge'ez for six 2 resembles the Ge'ez l e t t e r 2 (5th order o f l )

,, „ „ „ forty 7 „ „ „ „ t y (4 th order of UI)

»» »» ^^fty / ,f U (4th order o f V

and incidentally the
first l e t t e r for HP'i
(fifty)

,, ,, ,, ,, seventy (? ,, ,, ,, ,, Q (7 th order o f L)

ninety f ,, ,, ,, ^ (6th order o f )

,, one hundred ^ ,, ? (1st order 9, )

Eight Ge'ez numerals out of nineteen resemble Ge'ez letters. However, on

Dillmann's own a u t h o r i t y , the Ge'ez numeral for five i is an ancient form of the 2nd
order o f L (nowadays w r i t t e n as V ) bringing the score to nine out o f nineteen or about
one half.*

On the available evidence, the assertion that Ge'ez ciphers are derived from the
letters of the Greek alphabet has a very weak basis - only four out o f nineteen ciphers can
be shown to have exclusive resemblance to the letters o f the Greek alphabet.

*Asras' formulation of the shapes of the ancient Ge'ez letters also shows " r u " having the
same shape ( ^(h •'h flA^ ... unpaginated leaf between p.260 and 261)
 28

The counter-hypothesis that, i f Ge'ez numerals are derived from the letters of any
alphabet at a l l , then the Ge'ez alphabet is the source for the Ge'ez ciphers (nine out of
the nineteen) is more sound.

Having disposed of thirteen ciphers at a r a t i o of nine to four weighted in favor of

Ge'ez as against Greek letters, let us consider the remaining seven. Proponents of the
derivation of Ge'ez numerals from Greek letters consider (Ge'ez for one) a modificatoin
of (X . This feat can be accomplished only by an imaginative re-arrangement of o( • li i -
first turned 9 0 ° anticlockwise to become ^ and then the top left stroke is clipped to
yield S . However, the counter-suggestion that i t is the Ge'ez l e t t e r S (also the Ge'ez
cipher for 100) turned upside down to yield b is as, i f not more,plans ible.

The Dillmann proposition that the Ge'ez numeral for two {€) resembles jS (Beta) does
appear correct, although one could argue even in this case that i t is only cfO (Ge'ez l e t t e r
m) turned 90*^ a n t i - c l o c k w i s e . Following a similar procedure, the Ge'ez numeral f o r x i s
viewed by the Dillmann as similar to the Greek l e t t e r H (zeta) turned 9 0 °
anti-clockwise. That inference would be no more justified than stating that i t is the Ge'ez
letter H (the 1st order of the consonant Z) manipulated similarly.

The Ge'ez numeral for t h i r t y (n) is a mirror image of the Greek l e t t e r N (Nu), but
then?: (Ge'ez for 20) is as close to the Ge'ez l e t t e r A ( 1 . ) as i t is to the Greek l e t t e r A
(lamda), and "J (Ge'ez for 60) can be related to Ge'ez l e t t e r (6th order of T)
connected to a horizontal stroke at the b o t t o m even more than i t can be related to the
capital l e t t e r Z (Greek Xi)

We have discussed all nineteen ciphers and their respective resemblances to Greek
and Ge'ez letters. The thirteen ciphers could be comfortably situated i n their appearance
either to Ge'ez or Greek letters (four resemble Greek letters; seven resemble Ge'ez
letters, and two resemble both Greek and Ge'ez letters). The remaining six ciphers have
been shown to be more problematic. One could twist, turn, and t r i m the shapes to suit
one's position. That is a rather a r b i t r a r y operation and o f dubious scholarly value. On the
available evidence, therefore, the conclusion is inescapable that the derivation of Ge'ez
numerals from Greek letters is far less justified than the d e r i v a t i o n of those same
numerals from the Ge'ez alphabet. I f the ciphers are derived from any alphabet at a l l ,
Ge'ez as the source is the more weighty proposition w i t h a probability o f more than two
to one for i t as against for Greek.

The discussion so far has centered around the shapes of the Ge'ez ciphers. It has
avoided the question of which of the two alphabets is prior in t i m e . I f i t could be shown
that Ge'ez was, then the chances of borrowing the ciphers from the Greek alphabet would
be much less. The double r a t i o of Ge'ez ciphers to Greek ciphers in Ge'ez numeration
would indicate a system prior to the Greek alphabetical system.

Let us now discuss some of Dillmann's other statements. The second statement of
the above quote leaves open the questions of whether the Abyssinians "used their own
letters as numerical signs." The fact is that they did and Gematria is used for scriptural
exegesis in Ge'ez. This note suffices for the present purpose as the subject is too involved
to pursue further here.
 29

The rest of Dillmann's statements suffer from internal inconsistencies.

U n w r i t t i n g l y , he even strengthens the counter-hypothesis of the derivation o f Ge'e?
numerals f i o m Ge'ez letters. Consider the statement "... an a t t e m p t was made,
wherever possible, to fashion the foreign sign that i t should come to resemble the
character foc.fome Ethiopic letter^or syllable: thus V was formed so as to resemble the
sign of 5a ^ V the sign of ^<v. , ^ the ancient sign'~of i ^ " - <2<^«- ." What Dillmann has
failed to do is to furnish us those foreign (v.g. Greek) signs from which t^^Wand t were
fashioned to resemble Ge'ez characters. To the above may be added <S , ^ , ^ . Search
the Greek alphabet as we may, we can not identify the signs from which those Ge'ez
nutnerals evolved.* The next sentence following the above quote gives away the weakn^^s
of Dillmann's hypothesis.

"In order that they might be more easily recognised

as ntunerical signs, and might not be mistaken for
letters of the alphabet, a small horizontal stroke
was applied to them both above and below."

Dillman does not appear to have thought out the m a t t e r consistently. How could
foreign Greek ciphers, only two of which Z and 0 resemble Ge'cxcharacters compel the
use of the small horizontal strokes above and below, in order to void their confusion w i t h
letters of the Ge'ez alphabet? The fact that they were foreign signs would have
precluded their being confused w i t h Ge'ez letters. Further, why would the borrowers of
the foreign ciphers first go through a tortuous feat and an i n t r i c a t e and elaborate process
to have them resemble Ge'ez charactes and then provide against their possible confusion
with Ge'ez letters by supplying the ruse o f a small horizontal stroke above and below each
cipher?

For the purpose of these preliminary notes, the remarks above should suffice.
C r i t i c a l reactions to the suggestion here may help clarify the situation better. This
chapter was an exercise in micro-historiography. A r e f o r m u l a t i o n o f Ethiopian
historiography is c e r t a i n l y going to require analysis at various levels o f depth and
magnitudes of scope.

* (ie. ro) appears to have also been an earlier shape f o r ' p ' i n Greek w r i t i n g .
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jeffery, A r t h u r . The Foreign Vocabulary o f the Ou'ran. Baroda, 1938.

Asras Yane Saw. ^(i-'h'^h^p./fdi'h'^'h ^ . Addis Ababa 1958.

Asimov, Issac. Asimov's Guide t o the Bible. New York 1981.

Ayalew T a m i r u . %'^f^.lf,P)^nf>i^'ik'}p^<:. Addis Ababa, 1960

Bent, Theodore. The Sacred C i t y o f the Ethiopians. London, 1893.

Bruce, James. Travels to Discover the Source o f the N i l e . 5 vols,

Edinbur^^l790.

Budge, Wallis. A History o f Ethiopia. 2 vols.. London, 1928.

Cheesman, R. Lake Tana and the Blue N i l e . London, 1936.

Desta Takle Wold. Df^hS<^C min-^>i^'Addis Ababa, 1970.

Dillman, A . Ethiopic Grammar (translated by J.A. Crichton), London

1970.

Diop, C.A. The A f r i c a n Origin o f C i v i l i s a t i o n (edited and translated

by Mercer Cook), Westport, 1974.

Donzel, E.J.V. Enbaqom's Anqasa A m i n . Leiden, 1969.

Drewes, A . J . Inscriptions de L'Ethiopie Antique. Leiden, 1962

Getachew, Heila. "Some Notes on the History o f Ethiopia". Quo Vadi's

Ethiopia?. Washington, D.C., 1982.

Knibb, M i c h a e l . The Ethiopic Book o f Enoch, Leiden.

Murtonen, A. Early Semitic. Leiden, 1967.

Parkyns, Mansfield. Life in Abyssinia, 2 vols., London, 1966 (reprint o f 1868).

Sergew Hable Selassie Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270. Addis
Ababa, 1972.

Salt, Henry. A Voyage to Abyssinia. London, 1 8 l 4 .

Tadesse Tamrat. Church and State in Ethiopia: 1270—1529. O x f o r d . 1972.

Ullendorff, E. The Ethiopians. London, 1973, (Isijed, 1960).

Zamanfas Quidus Abraha ffi-f^-tfDC4^;^^:dl'r<M^ir7/^<Asmara. 1961.

ATvVhtj: o r ifJEnoGi.rrif/cs, t o u n d a t A x u m 1771.
 l-.rHlDPh. .AND AMUARK

UP^ : • f 20,1, t ^ ^ r t i ; . 7 7 ' b , 7-'^9;i , S68a,

H £ t : • 903b.

n+^^t:, 276a. , . 867b.

UJ¥ : , 647a.
' f l ' i t : O.e',: , 471b.
C^*,:, 62b. , 788b.

V^:, 374b. 0 ^ 6 : , 770a.

A-flA:, 725b.

•i^U :-flftvC : - 522b. r t \ , t : , 824b, 870b.

ftOX:, S-'^o^. 729b.
•kC-^-.^ 369b.
H,«^A : , 898a.

fl^J-: . 726a e-flA: , 897b

jflLU/t ^
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i(,6 TIIE ETHIOriC BOOK OF ENOCH CH.^PTEKy 7 1 -72 167

stDrehoLiscs of all the stars and the lights, from where they peace has come out from the creation of the w o r l d ; and so you
come out before the holy ones. 7 1 . 5 A n d the spirit carried w i l l have it for ever and for ever and ever. 7 1 . 16 . \ n d all
]:.;ioch otT ((jr, b-io) to the highest heaven, and I saw tlierc in .. . w i l l walk according to }-our \v,\\, inasmuch as righteousness,
tlu- m i d d l e of that light something b u i l t of crystal stones, and w i l l never leave } o u ; (yr, C25) w i t h you w i l l be their d w e l l i n g ,
in tlie m i d d l e of tliose stones tongues of l i v i n g fire. 7 1 . 6 and w i t h y o u their lot, and the\ w i l l not be separated from y o u ,
A n d my spirit saw a circle of fireAvhich surrounded that house; for ever and for ever and e\'er. 7 1 . 17 A n d so tjiere w i l l be
(()r, b35) from its four sides (came) rivers full of l i v i n g fire, length o f days w i t h that .Son o f M a n , and the righteous w i l l
ar,d they sunound.-d that house, 7 1 . 7 A n d r o u n d about have peace, and the righteous will have an i,f)rii;ht way, [gv,
(were) the Serapliim, and the C h e r u b i m , and the O p h a n n i n i ; C30) i n the name of the L o r d of Spirits for e\'er and ever.'
tlie.se are tliey w h o do not sleep, but keep watch over the
throne of Ids glon.'. 7 1 . 8 A n d 1 saw angels who could not 72. 1 T h e book of the revolutions of the lights of heaven,
be counted, a thousaiul thousands and ten thousand times eacli as i t is, according to their classes, according to their
(or, c i ) ten thousand, s u r r o u n d i n g that house; and M i c h a e l (period of) rule and their times, according to their names and
and Raphael and Gabriel and Phanuel, and the holy angels their places o f o r i g i n , and according to their months, fcjr, C35)
who (are) in tlie hea\ens above, went in and out of that house, which U r i e l , the holy angel who was with me anti is their
((jr, C5) 7 1 . 9 A n d M i c h a e l and Rapliael and Gabriel and leader, showed to me; and he showed me all their regulations
I'i.anuel, and many holy angels w i t h o u t number, came out exactly as they are, for each year of the w o r l d and for e\'er,
*'roin ib.at house; 7 1 . 10 and w i t h them the Head oj Days, his until the new creation shall be made w h i c h w i l l last for e\er.
head wb.ile and pure like wool, and his garments indescrib- 72. 2 A n d this is the first law of the lights. T h e light the sun,
able. 7 1 . I I .-Vnd I fell upon m y face, and m y whole body (9V, a i ) its rising (is) in the gates of-hea\'en w h i c h (are) t o -
melted, and m y spirit (or, c;o) was transformed; and I cried wards the east, and its setting (is) i n the western gates o f
out in a loud \oice in the spirit of power, and I blessed and heaven. 72. 3 A n d 1 saw six gales from w h i c h the sun rises,
iir.used and exalted. 7 1 . 1 2 A n d these blessings w h i c h came and six gates in w h i c h the sun sets, and (9V, 35) the moon (also)
cut from my m o u t h were pleasing before that Head of Days. rises and sets i n those gates, and the leaders of the stars
-!. A n d that Heav' ,)f I^a\'s came w i t h M i c h a e l and together w i t h those w h o m the\ lead; (there are) six in the
Ciabriel, Raphael (cjr, c i ^ ) and Phanuel, and thousands east and six i n the west, all exactly i n place, one next to the
and tens of thousands of angels w i t h o u t n u m b e r . 7 1 . 14 A n d other; and (there are) many w i n d o w s to the south and n o r d i
that arieel came to me, and greeted me w i t h his voice, of those gates. 72. 4 A n d (ov, a 10) first there rises the greater
and said to m e : ' Y o u are the Son of M a n w h o was b o r n to light, named the sun, and its disc (is) like the disc of heaven,
righteousness, and righteousness remains o\r y o u , and the and the whole of it (is) full of a fire w h i c h gives light and
riuhteoijsness of tlic Head of Days (or, C2o) w i l l not lea\ vv'armth. 72. 5 T h e w i n d blows the chariots on wh.ich it
you.' 7!. I A n d he said to me: ' H e proclaims peace to you
in the ^anie of" the w o r k l w h i c h is to come, for from there

71. 16 A n d a l l . . . w i l l u a l k . I o n u ; : (n ''v.tlWyc ••ill. ' i hI

72. I regulations: Iit.-rally 'Ih>\,V : ! ! r i a n n , i.i ..

5 L l ! o i h ^ : E t h I I M S S . ; Ky!= C u r / o n 50
72. 3 to the south and north: l:ti ;hc rit'ht i.
i68 THE ETIIIOIMC DOOK OF ENOCH C l l - M ' T E H 72 i6y

ascends, and d i e sun goes d o w n f r o m licaven and returns A n d w h e n t h i r t y mornings have been completed, the day
t h r o u g h the n o r t h i n order to reach the east, (9V, 315) and becomes shorter by exactly one part; and the day amounts to
is led so that i t comes to the appropriate gate, and shines eleven parts, and the night to seven parts. 72. 17 A n d die sun
(again) i n heaven. 72. 6 I n this way i t rises i n the first m o n t h goes out (9V, b i o ) from the west t h r o u g h that sixth gate, and
in the large gate, namely i t rises t h r o u g h the f o u r t h of those goes to the east, and rises i n the fifth gate for t h i r t y m o r n i n g s ;
SL\s w h i c h (are) towards the east. 72. 7 A n d i n that f o u r t h and i t sets i n the west again, i n the fifth gate i n the west.
(9V, a2o) gate, f r o m wh.ich the sun rises i n the first m o n t h , 72. 18 O n that day the day becomes shorter by t w o parts, (9V,
there are twelve window-openings from w h i c h , whenever they b i 5 ) and the day amounts to ten parts, and the night to eight
are opened, flames come out. 72. 8 W h e n the sun rises i n parts. 72. 19 A n d the sun rises from that fifth gate, and sets i n
hea\en, i t goes out t h r o u g h that fourth (9V, a2^) gate for the fifth gate in the west, and rises i n the fourth gate for t h i r t y -
l i i i r t y days, and exactly in the fourth gate i n the west o f one m o r n i n g s because of its sign, and sets i n the west. (9V,
heaven it goes d o w n . 72. 9 A n d i n those days the day grows
b2o) 72. 20 O n that day the dav becomes equal w i t h the night,
daily longer, and the night grows nightly shorter, u n t i l the
and is (of) equal ( l e n g l h ) ; and the night amounts to nine pans,
t h i r t i e t h m o r n i n g . 72. 10 A n d on that day the day becomes
and the day to nine parts. 72. 21 A n d the sun rises from that
longer than the n i g h t by a double (part), (9V, 330) and the day
gate, and sets i n the west, and returns to the east, and rises
amounts to exactly ten parts, and the night amounts to eight
in the t h i r d gate (9\', b25) for t h i n y mornings, and sets i n
parts. 72. 11 . \ n d the sun rises from that fourth gate, and sets
the west i n the t l i i r d gate. 72. 22 .And on that day the night
in the f o u r t i i gate, and returns to the fifth gate i n the east for
becomes longer than the day, and the ni^ht groics niglitly lunger,
t h i r t y m o r n i n g s ; and i t rises from i t , and sets (9V, 335) i n the
and the day grows daily shorter u n t i l the t h i r t i e t h viormng;
fifth gate. 72. 12 A n d then the day becomes longer bv t w o
and the night amounts to exactly ten parts, and the day to
parts, a n d the day amounts to eleven parts, and the n i g h t
eight parts. 72. 23 A n d the sun rises (9V, b3o) from that t h i r d
becomes shorter and amounts to seven parts. 72. 13 A n d the
gate, and sets i n the t h i r d gate i n the west, and returns to the
s u n returns to the east, and comes to the sixth gate, and rises
east; and the sun rises i n the second gate i n the east for t h i r t y
and sets i n the sixth gale for thirty-one mornings because of
mornings, and likewise it sets i n the second gate in the west
its sign. 72. 14 A n d on that day (9V, b i ) the day becomes
of heaven. 72. 24 A n d o n that day (9V, b35) tiie Jiight amounts
longer than the niglit, and the day becomes double the n i g h t ;
ant; liie i.:ay amounts twcK'e parts, and the nigiit becomes to eleven pans, and the dav to seven parts. 72. 25 A n d the sun
shorter and amounts to six pans. 72. 15 A n d the sun rises rises o n that day from that second gate, and sets in the west
up that the day may grow shorter, and the night longer; (9V, in the second gate, and returns to the east, to the first gate, for
115) and the sun returns to the east, and comes to the sixth thirU'-one mornings, and sets i n the west i n the first gale.
irate, and rises from it and sets I'or t h i r t y mornings. 72. 16 72. 26 A n d on that day the night becomes longer, (gv, c i ) and
becomes double the dav; and the night amounts to exactlv
twelve pans, and the day to six parts. 72. 27 A n d ( w i t h this)
the sun has completed the divisions of its j o u r n e y , and it turns
~z. 7 window-oponinfjs: litL-r;i1!y ' o p e n w i n d o w s ' , i.e. w i n d o w s that

ca\ be or.L-nLv:—2s the- i u ! l ( i w : i i g w o r d ^ m a k e clear (cf. 75. 4 , 7 ) ,

7 ; . S in h c j i v e n : i j t c r . i l ' y '!r(.):)i IK-.AI;!;'. 72. 27 the divisions of i t s j o u r n e j •T\ seems l)ere t o he a t r a n s l a t i o n

•. !0 b-. a d o u t i l e ( p a r i ) : i.e. b y tv.o p a r t s . of a G r e e k K £ 9 d > i a i o v — ' d i \ i s i o r . ' (; .imani.,. ?>. . ' . . . i " - ' 5;.
 I70 T H E E T H I O P I C BOOK O F E N O C H C H A P T E R S 7a-73 171
back again along these divisions of its journey; and it comes law and the journey of the sun, and its return, as often as it
through (gv, 05) that (first) gate for thirty mornings, and sets returns; sixty times it returns and rises, that is the great
in the west opposite it. 72. 28 And on that day the night eternal light which for ever and ever is named the sun. 72. 36
becomes shorter in length by one p a r t . . . and amounts to A n d this which rises is the great light, which is (so) named
eleven parts, and the day to seven parts. 72. 29 A n d the sun after its appearance, (gv, C30) as the L o r d commanded.
returns, and comes to the second gate in the east, (gv, c i o ) 7 2 . 3 7 A n d thus it rises and sets; it neither decreases, nor rests,
and it returns along those divisions of its journey for thirty but runs day and night in (its) chariot. A n d its light is seven
mornings, rising and setting. 72. 30 And on that day the times brighter than that of the moon, but i n size the two
night becomes shorter in length, and the night amounts to ten are equal.
parts, and the day to eight parts. 72. 31 And on that day the (9V, 035) 73. I And after this law I saw another law, for the
sun rises from that second gate, and sets (gv, C15) i n the smaller light named the moon. 73. 2 A n d its disc (is) like the
west, and returns to the east, and rises in the third gate for disc of the sun, and the wind blows its chariot on which it
thirty-one mornings, and sets in the west of heaven. 72. 32
rides, and in fixed measure light is given to it. 73. 3 A n d every
And on that day the night becomes shorter, and amounts to
month its rising and its setting change, and its days (are) as
nine parts, and the day amounts to nine parts, and the night
the days of ( l o r , a i ) the sun, and when its light is uniformly
becomes equal with the day. (9V, c2o) A n d the year amounts
(fiiU), it is a seventh part of the light of the sun. 73. 4 A n d
to exactly th.ee hundred and sixty-four days. 72. 33 A n d the
length of the day and the night, and the shortness of the day
and the night—they are different because of the journey of
73. 4-8 Tliere is Aramaic evidence that is relevant to this somewhat
that sun. 72. 34 Because of it, its journey becomes daily otMcuie passage. Ail the fragments of Aram"«'- • and fragments 1-32 of
longer, and nightly shorter, (gv, 025) 72. 35 A n d this is the Aram " belong to a table wliich deals with the phases of the moon
(c£. on this Milik, HTR 64 (1971), 338 f.). I n the Arannaic version it is
dear tliat the light of the moon increases or decreases by a half of •
aevendi part each day. What we have in the Ethiopic version of 73. 4-8
appears to be a garbled summary of the table in Aram*"'-* and ^ T h e
72. 28 by one part . . . I have not translated HflJ-M!: t l ^ : { ; aince idea of seventh parts of light is retained in the Etliiopic version, but in
it ia fairly clearly a gloss which is meant to explain that in this paaaage a difleient wsy fet»m that in the Aramaic I n the Ethiopic version the
: is the equivalent of M^A i (cf. Dillmann, Translation, 226). •noon is conceived of as divided into two halves, each half being further
divided into seven parts. T h u s in the Ethiopic 'a seventh part", 'seven
72. 29 returns, a n d c o m e * : literally 'returned, and came*. There is no
parts', 'six parts' refer to divisions of half die moon, and 'fourteen parts'
apparent reason for the change of tense.
to divisions of the whole moon.
a n d it retiims along those division* of it* journey: the reference to T h e phases of the moon are discussed not only in 73. 4-8, but also in c c
the divisions of the journey is unexpected. T h e only other place in this 74 snd 78, but it ia not entirely possible to make sense of the various
chapter where we have the same expression is v. 27, and tiiat verae deals iSflEErent pieces of information given in Aetii diree paasages, or to
with the special case of the vrinter solstice and the start of the period iceoDdk diem with one snother. I t appears from cc. 74 and 78 that the
when the days begin to get longer. Possibly 'along those divisions of its Innar year is held to consist of three htmdred and fifty-four days, i.e.
journey' has been copied here by mistake from v. 27. aix months of twenty-nine days each, and six months of thirty day* each;
72. 33 are different: literally 'are separate'. fimlier that in the twenty-nine-dsy month there are fourteen days tnm
w:w moon to fiill moon, and in the thirty-day month fifteen. I n 73. 4-8 it
72. 34 Because of i t : because of the difference in the length of day and seems that w . 4 f. deal with the case of the twenty-nine-day month; in
night, i.e. in order to bring about the difference in the length of day this mondi on the first day a fourteenth part of the total light of the moon
and night (cf. Dillmann, Translation, 226). appears (i.e. a seventh pa^t of half the light, cf. v. 5), on the second day
 1-VTRODU
INTKODrC-
hrirrouf-d words c.i'- - vn- find t h a t a s u t i d whose (dassitication is the
most co\n]i;cTo \ iias coini- iio\\ divi()es th-^ni i n t h e Miitci- inscriptions, b e i n j i fZTonpeti tocrether a-s South Semitic ar onposed to
iralkill into the (allowing ilasscs : — the N o r t h Semitic CTotip. The m o d e m Abyssinian h^nguages, a n d
partictdarly Amharic. have in some respects diverged very considerably
J~ (i) W o n l s tinrrowod f r o m E t i i i o p i r (4JL»>-^ jLJ^ fi^m the ancient Ge'ez, b u t i t was presumably ttus ancient language
with which the Arabs were in contact in pre-Islamic days and during
(li) W o r d s liorruwed from Persian ( A ^ j l i ] ! A^P Muhammad's lifetime. These contacts, as a matter of fact, were
fairly close. F o r some time previous to the birth, of Muhammad the
(iii) Won.ls borrowed f r o m Greek \ southern portion of Arabia had been tmder Abyssinian rule,^ a n d
tradition relates that Muhammad was b o m in the Year of the Elephant,
(iv) W o r d s ijoiTowed fro;n I n d i a n (<> J L u i l "Uijl' when Mecca was saved from the Abyssinian a r m y which marched
up tmder Abraha to destroy the city. I t is practicaUy certain that
(v) \s b o r r o w e d f r o m Svriac there were trade relations between Abj-ssinia and Arabia at a much
earlier period titan the Axumite occupation of Yemen.- and that

(vi) W o r d s borrowed f r o m Hebrew (<J friendly relations continued in spite of the Y e a r of the Elephant ia
clear from the fact that Muhammad is said to have sent his persecuted
follow ers to seek refuge in Abyssinia,^ and that the Meccan merchants
(vii) \\'ords borrowed from Nabat^aean ( ^ J a J j l
employed a body of mercenary Abyssinian troops.*

T h a t ^ i u h a n i m a d himself had personal contact w i t h j)eople wlio

( v i i i ; W o r d s borrowed f r o m Coptic ( < - l i . ^ l <.LiJP

spoke • \s t o be tndicate<l t'rom the fact t h a t t r a d i t i o n

(i.\ W o r d s borro\\ed from T u r k i s l i
tells us t h a t his iirst nurse was an Abyssinian woman. U m m A i n i a n , ^
that the man he chose as first Muezzin i n Islam was Bilfd al-HabashI,
(x) Wo^d:^ borrowed from Ne^TO { < ~ ^ J ^ A'^V'
and the t r a d i t i o n already noted th.-it the Prophet wa.- p a r t i c u i a r l y
skdled m the E t h i o p i c langtiage.' C[t»vv|>kosci c a W J j
(xi) \s borrowed froiii Rcrber (Ai j^!^ Aj^d
Abyssinian slaves appear t o have been n o t uncommon i n .Mecca
It i ~ (ib\-i(pii= at tlic first iilanee t i . ; i t Miiudi of tins is mere i:ui'.-s- alter the r o u t o f the famous u n n v o f tlie E i e t i l i a n t , " and it would nor
v>t,rK. a m i enually o l u i o u s tliat ttie philolojierF, whom it-s-Suvutl iiuotes tiave t>teii difficult for M i u i a u m a d i n nLs boyiiood t o nave l.'anu-d
had frcMiientIv \er\ i i t d e (i.;Hi-pt iwn o f 'he ni^aaimr of the linL.'!iis:ic n-.any words o f r'-liL'ious signinoance froni siudi sources I t mu>t
I'Tms tJiev use. h is ;icrei.-arv\. t o mo/.iire a iiTtle mor".^
closely i n t o w l i a t mav i;a\ tiee:: mean: b v rliese terni.s and w h a t ma\ a; T.iiiiiri, Jr.'inir-. ;. iJL'tj K. : I'>n H:--'!!.'.?!;. L'" fT. ; ,.; M.isfi.i;. .1.'., r.v;. i , : , l.-,7.
and >?(• '.lurtitiuiiriy Xuldeke".^ Sa'nti"i^t:, l^Gtt.
hnve b f c n tlie tius-Hidities n f . i r a ' o i t l;a\"in'j d r a w n on ar.y o f t i i f - e - El. i . l l ! i . an.i L-imniPny. /.« .]f-',<if. Jsl T.
'.ailL'Manes for ri'lii:ii)i;> a n d l u i r i i r a l vorabidarv. ^ Thi^ " in A.T>. nil), .ind i^ knf'W-r: .c- t hi tirvt l i :jru. rf. '!'.ib,.r!, .1 '.'•/;.•--. j .
l I S i . il\or,ik. Fri-)iu:ii. -7t. '.vr.ni.i dt-nve -'Miir *'f :M" F^: hi-.'iiir ciTn'-nty in '.li'- (.'iir'.lr^
'.T'.rr. thf t .\t'\--ini.tn rui2TT'.tior.-. :)UI this i - {...'•liiy iiKcix.
Ill A!''/----!II''Hi.— I'iiiloioL'ii.ahv. Ethionic. t r i " ;\n'';>'nr ian'j'ML:'"' ' i f
* L-imincn-.. " T^- .\I:M-Ub." in JA. xi sc-.. vr.| v;;:. 10It!, p. iL'," (f.
A ' u . - I I'i,,. '. l/iv-.-.'/./n^'/iD. '2. .Ill \ ,L\, T'lt).
>','i'i. S. •'. Kiiii.iji, l i ! . .-..i'T <^ ..n !'\.inipir ».! :!;r l'-

• .Srn'Kl. {>. t>7. -s,-.- K->.-.y I -. L.imm«-n- I-'Ai-r.," !• • l.tU .•«< VH'-jh-,
'••yr.ij-h.
S:r,,.:;-..r. ••• 'i-r Kiro.. y. -u_-j'.-^t. 'ii.i; the iiirn; .r riT.rr.-ci m
S;;r:i. \v;. \u:.. \\\. C. n^^y ij.n t- --..'n ill .\!-.\-sini.in.
 ^ =3 ^ ft X
^ ^ rr y 3- 5- b- e S ^ :r
Vr n * ^
:^ ^ > as
!5 3o
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a CC
H.
e«»? 9» 5» ?
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a. -? -J
5
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r*, a-

s s _ - i 3 S to s ^ rr " t
2 8 5 5 " " i g
f^h'.'^ch^h: /^nc9-. ou^M^: XA«^V'- h^h•-y^']<^c:r}:p'^tt-ifhrn.

co«t;?-C'. n'^^v. AA'C: HwaT?'-^fi - ^ A - T i ' . a » , ' ^ m^M:'?^^'^'''A^

H h - OT^V'. V)-A^;i'V' ph/).^^^-. ^hpniH: "K^^L'^'f}' ^^^H-- a)i,^P:f>

Excerpt from ^CJ^.fUh-t'^!^^!^')^^- (Exe~ies\s of
Matthew)

"As how exists God in His e n t i r e t y in one place

while he is not Icnown in any one of them. Behold, 1
reveal to you as Jesus Christ my creator graced me
on account of your prayer. Listen as I t e l l you an
example small, about secrets hidden and power
great, containing a l l , to the extent that i t is
possible for my weak mind, although i t is not
proper to speak of such matters. Comprehend, o!
my brother and see w i t h the eye of the mind as
how full is the nature of this world o f fire which is
hidden in them. And without action, i t appears and
in all places i t exists and in a l l things i t is seen i n
all its e n t i r e t y . And i t is not measured while i t is
hidden inside a small grain of sand and i t is not
seen while powers exist in i t which are co-mingled
in its nature. And when man chooses to e x t r a c t
from her, she appears in her minuteness and she
comes out and exists standing without defect. And
when to her is given an avenue, she burns many
rocks, mountains, and forests and all that is f i t for
combustion. And she manifests a l l the power o f
her nature while she is hidden inside a minute
p a r t i c l e w i t h the flame and light o f her heat, and
she is not measured but exists there in her e n t i r e t y
w i t h her power. As to her measure, you do not find
a t e r m i n a t i o n and nothing whatever exists that is
smaller than her size. Her e n t i r e t y manifests the
strength of her power when in action, but she hides
in a minute p a r t i c l e and from there she appears t o
us i n her e n t i r e t y inside all places, while her
measure is not known in any one of them. By this
and such as this example, seek O! my brother w i t h
the eye o f your mind, w i t h a high perception and
reason that which arises from a l l and enters i n t o
all, and which removes a l l from i n front o f H i m ,
that inside light He exists on account o f His nature
and on account o f His glory and perfection. She is
the creator o f everything and them she exists while
she is not measured. Existent she is i n a l l placed i n
her e n t i r e t y , and a l l creatures lack her measure.
Listen, O! my brother! what are we saying and
discussing A h ! Ah! What am 1 saying now,
behold my mind is closed from wonder and can not
go further. My right hand is t i r e d from w r i t i n g and
the feet of the pen have been prevented from
walking, for 1 have sank into a deep sea. Silence is
b e t t e r for me than this Glory to You, for Your
e n t i r e t y is in a l l places. You measure a l l , but there
is none who can measure You." (emphasis added)
 Reflections
On The Famine
In Ethiopia
Hecently, households in the West have capital infusion lo them afterwards. Such
been treated dnily to an unsavory spectacle are Ethiopia, Somalia, and Chad, where
of famine and death in Ethiopia. Shocked by their relatively insignidcant internecine
the sight, individuals, organizations, and wars continue unabated with borrowed
Rovcrnmenis have rcsiwiidcd admirably lo weapons. Yet the superpowers and medium
mount effective relief. Those more for- powers, deeply engrossed In their global or
Imiale all over the world and not so im- regional strategic pursuits, ignore this
mediately caught up in the existential agony crucial (actor and conveniently gloss over
o( it all may pause lo reflect on some of the Iheir exacerbating roles In il.
deeper issues and longer-term remedies. Human r'-^hts violations in Ethiopia
Drought is the (actor that most readily prompted the Carter Administration to put a
springs lo mind to explain the (amine in moratorium on arms exports to that
F.tliiopia and in other parls of Africa. country. Nevertheless, such concern, noble
However, even a school child knows that its in itself, did not stop the same ad-
effects can he significantly mitigated by an ministration (rom condoing in the same
iippropriale strategy to conserve water, dig breath a Somali invasion of Ethiopia.
we/Ls, conduct afforestation programs, elc. Despite otficial disclaimers lo the contrary,
WluTi sustained effort will tlie rest of the Somalia's head of-slale, General Siad
world make, Ihc mass media in particular, Barre, has repeatedly insisted (and who can
to call for such a strategy long ader the claim lo know better?) that he was shown
iippeal for famine relief ceases to liil the the green light by Washington. Abandoned
headlines? llow will the Chinese adage, by its erstwhile arms .supplier, the U.S.,
"Teach a hungry man how lo use a fishing Elhiopia approached the Soviet Union,
pole instead of giving him fish every day," which as readily discarded lis hitherto ally
be implemcnlcd in reality in the coming (cw and prized Atrican model of scientific
years? socialism, Somalia. It is worth noting that
Other than drought, war causes such a up to (hat point, the Soviet Union had
disruption in the agricultural cycle and in massively armed Somalia beyond its
economic aclivily in general that decreased defensive requirements and thus implicitly
food intake, if not outright famine, often fueled the latter's irredentist ambitions. In
accompanies il. Such was the situation in 1977, however, lured by a bigger prize and
post-World War II Europe, which the U.S. an even newer and more persuasive African
iN'arshall Plan speedily and effectively model of scientific socialism, the USSR
corrected. War is infinitely more blitzlifled over a billion dollars worth of
devastating in countries which have neither arms to Elhiopia. On the other side, petro-
(he technological nor^he manpowerbflsc? of dollar rich Saudi Arabia happily welcomed
a preWorld War II Europe, or Ihe massive errant Somalia's return lo the Islamic fold,
nnd R c n c r o u s l y finnrtcnd its n r m s p u r c h a s e s T h e c a l l for s u c h a ban need not unduly
[rniD tlie U S , and ol'icr VVostern countries, alarm armaments manufacturers in the
Cuiia proved ns willing; to c n m e to E t h i o p i a ' s F a s t or West. T h e y will still h a v e h^ft the
rescue nnd (o coininil it.s troops in the three other Worlds for m a r k e t s . In a n y ease,
frniilline I'hus IC(li!0[iia's new profession of whatever sjiiriled lobhy armaments
s o c i a l i s t ideology, S o m a l i a ' s r e c n n f i r n i a t i o n manufacUirr-i s siiould [nit U[) ar.aiiist SIK li a
into the I s l a m i c faith, and the S u p c r ( x i w e r s ' ban, it is high l i m e for the r e s i of the world
c a v a l i e r cxch.'uij'.c of p a r t n e r s provided the lo enter the issue as a ixi-rennial item in (he
bi/arrc, if inncatire, liaed'.grnuiid for Uie agenda of the U . N . C e i i e r a l A s s e m h i y until
t r a g i c d r a m a of a(:.:rcr,sion nnd counter- the day that it is p a s s e d and a monitoring
ai'itre.ision, m u t u a l carnat^e and (lestnirtinii org,;m for its implenienlatiori is set up,
lli.il w a s cmi'^Minmately playe(i out in the I r n m c a l l y , if not half as j u s l i f i a h l y , I h e r c is
now liipjhly m i l i l a i i z e d Horn of A f r i c a . an i n t e r n a t i o n a l precedent for i(. In WiG. the
In tlie rircumslances, FA!iio()ia suc- (mj.i.p of Naiions in (umeva passed a
cessfully rr|ii;ls"'ii the Somali mvasion. hollow and h y p o c r i t i c a l h a n on a r m s s a l e s
fmhoi'denrd liy tiial v i c t o t y nnd the cnri- a(iplicablc to tinih the weapons-
rurrcnl hackinf,' of the Soviet Union, the maniifucluring aggressor, Italy, and the
Provisional Military Clovernmciit of n o n - m a n u f a c t u r i n g v i c t i m , E t h i o p i a , Still i l
fllhiopia adopli'd cssenlially military did not slop Klliiopia's patriots from
Sdiiilinns to its oulslaniiing problen\s. It mnintaining effective guerrilla resistanro
uninlupled the si/e ,)f ils army to over for all five y e a r s of Ihe F a s c i s t O c c u p a t i o n ,
3iKi,(H0, alkiltcf! roufdiiy a third of its a n n u a l and, logedier willi lUilish and Com-
budfTcl to defense, and c o n d u e t c l si.K suc- m o n w e a l t h troops, from finally pushing out
c e s s i v e m i l i t a r y campaif^ns in F , r i l r c a and the u n w e l c o m e intruder.
Tijtrai in the north. Nonetheless, tlic Precedent a n d history aside, I h e r e is a
Lil>eration I''ronts there continued to compelling developmental and
challenge a n d f r u s t r a t e the government's h u m a n i t a r i a n c a s e now for A Don on Arnts
bid for lef^ituuaey a n d con.solidation. Un- Salvn to the FoiirOi World. Will (he in-
daunted, it pro'.'laimed u n i v e r s a l m i l i t a r y leriiafioiial community have the requisite
c<iiiserip!ion in M a y I'in.t. m o r a l fibre to prove e q u a l lo the c h a l l e n g e ?
'l'hrouf;h it a l l , the c i v i l w a r r a g e d on and T r u l y non-aligned nations like S w e d e n , u ilh
the c o u n t r y s i d e resounded w i l l i the noise of no r e c o r d of a r m s c x i v i r t s In the l-'ourlh
bullets, m o r t a r s , a n d bombs. C a u g h t in the World a n d with c l e a n hands m Ihe m . i i i e r
c r o s s f i r e , tlu- [ l e a s a n l s a n d l l i c « i o n i a d s flid could spearhead this concern Only Iticn
not know w h a t lo m a k e of it e x c e p t to note m a y the u n i v e r s a l goodwill, so a h u n d . n i K y
v;;lh rcsign^itici: diaf ttieir h b e r a t o r s were manifest recently, make fam/ne fnil/ A
legion indeed w h i l e their feeders w e r e far r e l i c of the past.

too few. A b u s e d nnd t r a m p l e d on, the e a r t h f l n i l u i f a b l u (s a native nf E t b i o / i u i nnd a

turned b a r r e i i . P e a s a n t s , nomad.", and their vl.'iilin/; Iccltircr in lHach Sluclies <inil
f a m i l i e s , a l l now r e d u c e d to j u s t sinews and A / r i d n n Arcaa ."jtiKfies.
bones, s t a r t e d slow, sad n i a r c h e s to relief
c a m p s . D e a t h s t a l k e d them on the ro.ulside
a n d in the c a m p s . One fine a u t u m n e v e n i n g ,
the w o r l d woke up (o s c e n e s of live, r a t h e r
RcpRIXT FRo'A THE- DAIUV HsXiiS
d e a d , h o r r o r on Uie s c r e e n .
E l h i n | } i a , S o m a l i a , and C h a d a r e among
the w o r l d ' s 25 (x^orest c o u n t r i e s . A lu w t e r m
h a s been coined to descrilM! this s o r r y and
motley group — ttie F o u r t h World, If Ihe
universal human compassion lrig,g,eied by
the t r a g i c sp<.'ctac!e of f a m i n e in F t h i o p i a is
not to be m.ade a l a s t i n g m o c k e r y of, then il
is d i n e [>eople all over the world signed
siihslantivc pelilinns and m.ade p'sirefiil
ilemotistrations to Ihe end that llie m e a n i n g
of Detente is e x p a n d e d a n d given wider
seo[)e to iiu'ludo A (ton on Aroi.s .Snic"; t'l (lie
/ oiir(/i Wnrid.