Ge'ez protective roll, 1700s.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Contributor:

Tasfa Seyyon, former owner.

Girata Sellase, former owner.

Walatta Haymanot, former owner.

Tewolde Berhan, former owner.

Block, Gordon A., Jr., 1914-1973, former owner.

Language:

Ethiopic

Subjects (All):

Christianity--Ethiopia--Prayers and devotions.

Traditional medicine--Ethiopia.

Genre:

prayer scrolls

Prayers.

Penn Provenance:

Early ownership inscriptions: Tasfa Seyyon (original owner?), Girata (?) Sellase, Walatta Haymanot, Tawalda Berhan (from the description by Professor Ephraim Isaac).

Formerly owned by Gordon A. Block, Jr. (manuscript number Block 35).

Gift of Gordon A. Block, Jr., in memory of his mother Reba Fleisher Block (bookplate inside housing), 1966.

Physical Description:

1 roll (2204 x 140 mm)

Place of Publication:

1700s.

Summary:

Parchment roll with numerous prayers against barya, legewon, evil spirits, demons, magical cunning and sorcery, and a variety of illnesses and conditions caused by these forces, such as smallpox, cough and sore throat, migraine, colic, and malaria. Texts are written in black and red ink in two columns, in decorative frames of red, blue, and black. Four illuminated miniatures in color, spanning both columns of text (incorrectly identified in the dealer description housed with the manuscript): a seated woman flanked by two umbrella-holding attendants; the cupola of a church with a cross flanked by two saints or priests with heads and upper part of body wrapped in a shamma cloth above a crowned, seated figure flanked by two evil demons holding a chain across the crowned head; a crowned, standing person (identified as Alexander in the same script as the prayers) wearing a white robe, flanked by two blue demons; and a magical cross with the round head of a person inside a diamond figure at the center and a brown square containing a blue fleur-de-lis for each arm of the cross. (From the description by Professor Ephraim Isaac).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Roll 2059.

OCLC:

1258924250