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Philadelphia, Princeton University Library, Princeton Ethiopic Manuscript No. 66

Newly catalogued in Beta maṣāḥǝft

Work in Progress
https://betamasaheft.eu/PULet066
Princeton University Library[view repository]

Collection:

GeneralDescriptionPhysical DescriptionAuthors

General description

Princeton Ethiopic Manuscript No. 66: Book of Magico-Medical, Divinatory and Astrological Texts

Number of Text units: 35

Number of Codicological units: 1

For a table of all relations from and to this record, please go to the Relations view. In the Relations boxes on the right of this page, you can also find all available relations grouped by name.

Origin

late 19th century

Summary

Book of Magico-Medical, Divinatory and Astrological Texts

No specific owner's name is identifiable throughout, though several prayers contain the name of a certain Gäbrä Mika'él Täsämma (sometimes just given as Gäbrä Täsämma). In addition, one of the loose bifolia contains a picture of a certain Ato Amarä Zäbehéral (? end of the second name unclear). The various hands, all of which are of poor quality, together with the paintings on the inserts, which show some western pigments, are indicative of a late 19th cent. date.

The text comprises a typîcal däbtära's manual of various magico-medical, divinatory and astrological texts together with sample talismanic drawings. Notable is the set of charts from the divinatory text, the Awdâ Nägäst, or Cycle of the Kings.

Purchase, 2012.

In Amharic.

In Amharic with some Ge'ez.

incorporating magical names, in Ge'ez except for one [fols. 14v-15v] which is in part at least in Arabic, or what purports to be Arabic, written in Ethiopian script.

In Amharic.

Placed within the text is a further talismanic drawing in the form of an eight-pointed star and a chart. The prayers also contain "magical" or talismanic letter-forms.

Within the text are placed 4 talismanic drawings and charts.

For each of the months of the year, followed by a numerical chart given the hours of daylight and darkness for the month of Tahsas.

An Ethiopian text probably originally composed in the 15th cent., which by means of circular tables [awd] allows the diviner or fortune teller to find answers to specific questions posed by his clients. The 16 tables are each named after Ethiopian lakes or rivers.

In Amharic, with some Ge'ez.

In Ge'ez, with some Amharic.

Mostly in Ge'ez but with occasional Amharic.

Unrelated to the text in which it is inserted.

Front: St. George and the dragon.

Interior: blank except for ball-pen scribbles.

Back: Holy Trinity with the four evangelical zoa.

Unrelated to the text in which it is inserted.

Front: Virgin and Child.

Interior left: crowned figure of Christ in the iconography of the Ecce Homo.

Interior right: Crucifixion.

Back: blank except for a rough drawing of a face and a pen trial.

Unrelated to the text in which it is inserted.

Front: plain cross.

Interior left: male figure identified as Ato Amarä Behéral ( ?) with his rifle bearer; the text reads "how he put himself under the protection of Our lady Mary."

Interior right: Ascension with the figures of Adam and Eve "risen from their sleep."

Back: blank except for scribbles.

The style of the drawing of the fourth bifolia differs markedly from that of the other three, and is probably by a different artist.

Unrelated to the text in which it is inserted.

Front: faint drawing of a figure.

Interior left: St. Michael.

Interior right: scribbles.

Back: blank except for faint scribbles.

  1. ms_i1 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 1r-8r. ), Various magico-medical prescriptions
  2. ms_i2 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 8v-12r. ), Prescriptions for undoing spells
  3. ms_i3 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 12r-15v. ), Various spells for combatting demons, the evil eye, etc.
  4. ms_i4 (check the viewerLocated on folio f.16r. ), Prescription for curing typhoid or typhus
  5. ms_i5 (check the viewerLocated on folio f.16v. ), Talismanic drawing in the form of an eight-pointed star with a central face
  6. ms_i6 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 17r-22r. ), Various magical prayers for binding and destroying demons
  7. ms_i7 (check the viewerLocated on folio f.22v. ), Talismanic drawing to accompany "the prayer of Moses"
  8. ms_i8 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 23r-24v. ), Various talismanic drawings
  9. ms_i9 (check the viewerLocated on folio f.25r-v. ), [blank]
  10. ms_i10 (check the viewerLocated on folio f.26r. ), Talismanic drawing in the form of the cosmic serpent
  11. ms_i11 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 27r-35r. ), Various magical prayers for the binding and destruction of demons, evil spirits, etc.
  12. ms_i12 (check the viewerLocated on folio f.35v. ), [blank]
  13. ms_i13 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 36r-37v. ), Prayer for "blocking" one's enemies
  14. ms_i14 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 37v-39v. ), Sequence (in various hands) of prayers with talismanic drawings for summoning demons
  15. ms_i15 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 39v-43r. ), Prayers for "harming those who harm [me]"
  16. ms_i16 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 43v-51v. ), Prayers, some unspecified, others for female ailments, incorporating lists of magical names [asmat]
  17. ms_i17 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 52r-56v. ), Astrological computations [hasabä käwakebt]
  18. ms_i18 (check the viewerLocated on folio f.57r-v. ), Computations for predicting an individual's preferment or appointment to office [hasabä simät]
  19. ms_i19 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 57v-58v. ), Unidentified prayer
  20. ms_i20 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 58v-62v. ), Astrological text concerning "the will of 7 stars and 12 stars' [mäfqedä 7 käwakebt wäzä-12 käwakebt]
  21. ms_i21 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 63r-64v. ), Collection of unidentified magical prayers
  22. ms_i22 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 65r-68r. ), "Calculation of hours [of daylight] and of darkness" [Sefrä sä'at wäs'elalot]
  23. ms_i23 (check the viewerLocated on folio f.68v. ), [blank]
  24. ms_i24 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 69r-76v. ), 16 charts of the Awdä Nägäst [The Cycle of the Kings]
  25. ms_i25 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 77r-78v. ), Prayer addressed to Jesus Christ seeking divine blessing and protection from and power over devils and spirits
  26. ms_i26 (check the viewerLocated on folio f.79r. ), Unidentified divinatory text
  27. ms_i27 (check the viewerLocated on folio f.79v. ), [blank except for a single line of text]
  28. ms_i28 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 80r-100r. ), Astrological text
  29. ms_i29 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 100v-118v. ), A series (30 chapters or sections) of prescriptions for casting the fortunes of men and women
  30. ms_i30 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 118v-123r. ), "The Book of Precise Knowledge" [Mäs'hafä Temhert T'eyyuq]
  31. ms_i31 (check the viewerLocated on folio fols. 123r-145r. ), A series of calculations [hasab] for divining various topics, such as success of a journey, birth of children, appointment to office, etc.
  32. ms_i32 (), Loose Bifolium 1
  33. ms_i33 (), Loose Bifolium 2
  34. ms_i34 (), Loose Bifolium 3
  35. ms_i35 (), Loose Bifolium 4

Contents

Physical Description

Form of support

Codex

Publication Statement

authority
Hiob-Ludolf-Zentrum für Äthiopistik
publisher
Die Schriftkultur des christlichen Äthiopiens und Eritreas: Eine multimediale Forschungsumgebung / Beta maṣāḥǝft
pubPlace
Hamburg
availability

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.

Transformed with permission to create a stub record from https://findingaids.princeton.edu/collections/C0776/cPRet01342.xml . See https://github.com/BetaMasaheft/Documentation/issues/1181.

date
type=expanded
26.8.2022 at 00:13:20
date
type=lastModified
5.5.2022
idno
type=collection
manuscripts
idno
type=url
https://betamasaheft.eu/manuscripts/PULet066/main
idno
type=URI
https://betamasaheft.eu/PULet066
idno
type=filename
PULet066.xml
idno
type=ID
PULet066

Encoding Description

Encoded according to the Beta maṣāḥǝft Guidelines. These Guidelines detail the TEI format ruled by the Beta maṣāḥǝft Schema. The present TEI file is enriched with an Xquery transformation taking advantage of the exist-db database instance where the data is stored and of the many external resources to which this data points to.

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Suggested Citation of this record

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Pietro Maria Liuzzo, Eugenia Sokolinski, ʻPhiladelphia, Princeton University Library, Princeton Ethiopic Manuscript No. 66ʼ, in Alessandro Bausi, ed., Die Schriftkultur des christlichen Äthiopiens und Eritreas: Eine multimediale Forschungsumgebung / Beta maṣāḥǝft (Last Modified: 2022-05-05) https://betamasaheft.eu/manuscripts/PULet066 [Accessed: 2024-05-21]

Revisions of the data

  • Eugenia Sokolinski renamed, facs added on 5.5.2022
  • Pietro Maria Liuzzo Created XML record from https://findingaids.princeton.edu/collections/C0776/cPRet01342.xml . See https://github.com/BetaMasaheft/Documentation/issues/1181. on 17.11.2016

Attributions of the contents

Pietro Maria Liuzzo, contributor

Eugenia Sokolinski, contributor

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. Transformed with permission to create a stub record from https://findingaids.princeton.edu/collections/C0776/cPRet01342.xml . See https://github.com/BetaMasaheft/Documentation/issues/1181.