• Kətab (Healing scroll)
    ክታብ

Publisher:
  • [Ethiopia], [between 1770 and 1830]
Extent:
  • 1 item ; 2460 x 120mm
Format:
Abstract:
  • Drawings:
Contents:
  • 1. Prayer and Legend of Susenyos
  • 2. Prayer against Evil Spirits Untitled. Comprises mostly magic or secret names (asmat).
  • 3. Prayer against Buda, Barya and Légéwon Untitled.
  • 4. Prayer against Shotälay and Shotälayt
  • 5. Prayer against Nädära "Which Is the Sickness of the Evil Eye of Evil Demons"
  • 6. Prayer against the Evil Eye of Barya
  • 7. Prayer against Colic
  • 8. Prayer against Blacksmiths
  • 9. Prayer against Rheumatism and (Chest) Pain
  • 10. Prayer against Plague (Or typhoid: Féra) and Fever
Description:
  • 3 pieces of parchment sewn together. 1 col., written in black with rubrics in a reasonable hand (4-5mm), framed within a linear border with traces of yellow wash. 4 well executed talismanic drawings.
  • Forms part of: Robert Garrett Collection of Ethiopic Magic Scrolls.
Subject:
Provenance:
  • Owner: Asʻädä Maryam (f.), occasionally with her father's name added, Haylä Maryam.
Edm rights:
  • No Known Copyright
View in catalog:
Curator's notes:

  • Gəˁəz
    Ethiopia, 1775–1825, parchment

    Ethiopian healing scrolls are textual amulets commissioned by ordinary people, usually women, to guard against such dangers as child mortality, labor pains, barrenness, wild animals, the evil eye, and illnesses like colic or the plague. Practitioners of traditional medicine created these, making them the length of the customer’s height. The text has rubric (red) lettering for holy names and talismanic drawings of guardian angels, crosses, and magic squares. People wore these scrolls in tight leather cases around their neck.

    Gift of Robert Garrett, Class of 1897, 1942
    Garret Ethiopic Scroll No. 44

    For further reading

    Nosnitsin, Denis. “Ethiopian manuscripts and Ethiopian manuscript studies: a brief overview and evaluation.” Gazette du livre medieval 58, no. 1 (2012): 1-16.

Exhibit category: