By Dr. Richard Pankhurst:-
The classical, Byzantine, style of Ethiopian art, characteristic of
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, developed significantly in the
seventeenth century. This was the so-called Gondar period, so named
after the city of that name, in the north-west of the country, which
became the capital of the Ethiopian realm in 1636.
This period, which witnessed the construction of the city’s famous
castle-like palaces, and the development of a more urban form of court
life, may likewise have seen the expansion, and reorganisation, of
scriptoria for the making of manuscripts.
Art as Seen by the Artist
The period also coincided with a significant opening up of Ethiopian
art, and in particular with the depiction of Ethiopian scenes, and
Ethiopian life, as actually seen by the artist.
Ethiopian art in this period remained religious in both purpose and
content, and continued to be devoted almost exclusively to Biblical and
other religious themes. Paintings were, however, steadily being
Ethiopianised. The old Ethiopian artistic rules, such as good persons
being shown in full face, with two eyed, and evil people in profile,
with one eye, were retained, and paintings continued to be devoid of
perspective. It became, however, common to depict Biblical personages as
dressed in Ethiopian clothing, riding mules or horses with typical
Ethiopian saddles, stirrups (often to hold only the big toe!) and other
trappings, as well as carrying contemporary Ethiopian spears, shields
and other weapons. Banquet scenes would depict Ethiopian-style pots, the
masob, or typical Ethiopian basket table, and the barelle, or Ethiopian
drinking-glass. Ploughing would likewise be very visibly carried out by
Ethiopian zebu, or humped, oxen, pulling traditional Ethiopian ploughs,
and kings and queens would be wearing Ethiopianstyle crowns. Such
paintings, unlike those of earlier times, are thus documents of
fundamental importance for Ethiopian social history.
Islamic Manuscripts
This study has focused mainly on Ethiopian Christian manuscripts,
which, from the quantitative point of view, represents the main corpus
of the country’s traditional literature. Mention should, however, also
be made to Ethiopian Islamic and Falasha, or Bta Esra’l, manuscripts.
Ethiopian Islamic manuscripts consisted mainly of copies of the
Quran, and other works in Arabic, but also included a number of texts in
Adare, or Harari, the local Semitic language traditionally spoken only
within the walled city of Harar. Harari manuscripts, which resemble
Islamic works produced elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, probably date
back to the early centuries of the Muslim era. Few, if any, Harari
manuscripts are, however, extant for the period prior the seventeenth
century.
The first description of Harari manuscripts was written by the
nineteenth century British traveller and Orientalist, Sir Richard
Burton, translator of the Arabian Nights, who observed that “no Eastern
country save Persia” could “surpass them in strength and appearance”.
Such manuscripts, like the Christian manuscripts described in the
previous article, have tooled leather covers, but differ from the latter
in that they were generally written on paper rather than on parchment.
Unlike the Christian manuscripts they had leather flaps to cover, and
protect, the back of the volume. Covers are often decorated with ornate
floral designs, in a few instances with a quotation from the Quran,
cursing anyone who illegally touched the manuscript.
Falasha Manuscripts
Falasha manuscripts, which like those of the Ethiopian Christian
Church, were invariably made of parchment, and were written in Ge’ez.
Falasha texts centred on the Old Testament, to the rigid exclusion of
the New. Most Falasha writings were identical to those of the Ethiopian
Christians. Falasha bindings, though not generally adorned with the
Cross, were likewise generally similar to those of Christian
manuscripts. This was scarcely surprising as many Falasha manuscripts
were in fact written, and bound, by members of the Ethiopian Christian
clergy.
Ethiopian Manuscripts Today
Ethiopia has a rich manuscript tradition.
Christian manuscripts cover a wide range of literature, including not
only Bibles, religious service books, homilies, Biblical commentaries,
and works on theology, but also writings on ecclesiastical and civil
law, lives of saints, local as well as foreign, history, chronography
and medicine.
Harari manuscripts likewise contain, in addition of the Quran, a
wealth of other material, both religious and secular. The latter
includes legal, historic, and other material.
Many Ethiopian manuscripts, particularly those of the Christian
tradition, are furthermore important in that their beginning or end
pages were used to record details of marriages and marriage settlements,
land deeds and sales, inventories of property, and other such-like
interesting information.
A Quarter of a Million Manuscripts
Ethiopia is the repository of an immense number of manuscripts.
Printing was introduced into the country only at the end of the last
century, so many Ethiopian churches and monasteries still rely largely
on volumes in parchment. The country, which is almost the size of Spain
and France combined, contains a total of around 30,000 churches and
monasteries, few of which possess less than a dozen manuscripts each. It
would therefore seem safe to assume that the country must be the
repository of at least a quarter or a third of a million manuscript
volumes.
Many Ethiopian mosques likewise still rely on manuscript Qurans.
These, being for the most part written on paper, are considerably more
fragile than Ethiopian Christian manuscripts, and therefore in even
greater need of protection, and conservation.
The EMML
To preserve Ethiopia’s important historical and cultural heritage an
ambitious project for the microfilming of Ethiopian manuscripts was
initiated in 1971. Based on a partnership between the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church, the Ethiopian Government, later represented by its Ministry of
Culture, and St John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, it led to
the establishment, in 1973, of a Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library,
generally referred to by its initials, EMML.The last volume to be
published to date, Volume X, has reached manuscript number 5,000, and
there are many many more microfilms for which catalogues have still to
be catalogued. It is, however, deplorable that actual microfilming by
the EMML ceased some years ago, and the authorities concerned, as far as
we are aware, do not seem to be giving the matter the serious attention
it deserves.
Microfilming, of Christian manuscripts, has also been carried out, on
a smaller scale, by other institutions, most notably by UNESCO.
Such work, important as it is, is still far from complete.
Manuscripts in many parts of the country have still not been
microfilmed. Much has still to be done to record the country’s
historical, cultural, and especially artistic, heritage. This is the
more urgent in that the opening up of tourism has been followed by
increasingly frequent illegal sales of works of art.
Wanted: The Microfilming of Islamic Manuscripts
The EMML and UNESCO projects have up to now been restricted entirely
to the microfilming of Ethiopian Christian manuscripts. It is
imperative, as I have urged in previous atticles in “Addis Tribune”,
that microfilming be extended to Harari, and other Islamic manuscripts.
Being written, as already noted, on paper, their life expectation is far
less than that of Ethiopian parchment manuscripts. A project for the
systematic microfilming of Harai , and other Muslim manuscripts, is
therefore long overdue.
Urgently Needed: The Photographing of Church Paintings
Ethiopia’s increasing wealth, so charcteristic of recent years, has
produced a new economic climate in which many communities are restoring,
and hence repainting, their churches. This is of course a simple remedy
for the destruction of much of the country’s artistic heritage.
It is accordingly important to embark on a systematic, and ambitious,
programme for the photographing of church paintings, as well to
re-activate, the microfilming of manuscripts.
Source: http://www.linkethiopia.org
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