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I.—The Monastery of Debra Damo, Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2011

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The famous monastery of Debra Damo in Tigrai, known to be of great importance in Northern Ethiopia over a very long period of history, preserves in its church one of the few examples still extant of an ancient style of Ethiopian architecture.

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Research Article
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Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1959

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References

page 1 note 1 Amba, i.e. ‘hill’ or ‘hill-top’, from the use of such came to mean ‘Hill-fort’, just as Debra, with a similar meaning, came to mean ‘Monastery’.

page 2 note 1 The Italians during the occupation took one of these obelisks from Axum and erected it in Rome in the Piazza del Circo Massimo outside a modern building which was the Ministry of Italian Africa.

page 2 note 2 Buxton, D. R., ‘Ethiopian rock-hewn churches’, Antiquity, xx (1946), 6069CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and The Christian antiquities of Northern Ethiopia’, Archaeologia, xcii (1947)Google Scholar.Corte, A. A. Monti Delia, ‘Lalibela’, Rome (1940)Google Scholar.

page 2 note 3 Such a constructional method as the chainage of walls has been used since ancient times. Philonius of Byzantium wrote, regarding the walls of strongholds: 'oak beams, put together with their ends, ought to be knotted together lengthwise in the stonework of the facade and towers.

This chainage at six feet vertical distance apart is to localise the effect of enemy missiles on the wall, and to make repairs easier.'

Vitruvius mentioned the cross beams that were used in Roman construction. In the sixth century Procopius discovered them in military buildings in Persia. Krencker has noted such forms of construction in Tibet.

Dr. , Bersu in Antiquity, xx (1946), 5Google Scholar, describes a similar timber and stone construction in a prehistoric Swiss hillhas fort. Dr. O. G. S. Crawford suggests that the style in Ethiopia could have originated in the numerous hill-forts (amba) mentioned in the ancient Abyssinian annals.

page 2 note 4 Matthews, D. H., ‘The Red Sea Style’, Rush, i (1953)Google Scholar.

page 4 note 1 I arrived for the first time at Debra Damo on the 14th February 1948. I had previously called at Macalle and reported to Ras Seyoum, hereditary overlord of Tigrai. He had received me most hospitably, and sent word on to the monastery that ‘I was to be received as they had received him’; he had been there the week before, This proved to be true; I was met on the road by Afa- Mamher Musgubba Selassie, the representative of thehead of the monastery. He had with him five riding mules and a pack-mule, under the charge of Barumbarus Abraha Gabrahid, a genial rogue wearing a leather skirt; he was subsequently engaged as my foreman during the work. They gave me the same mule that Ras Seyoum had used, together with his richly ornamented saddle-cloth. We had t o ride quickly to arrive at the monastery before dark, as the rope would be hauled up during the following day which was a Sunday. Thunder was echoing in the dis- tance, and it was raining slightly. After about three hours we arrived at the monastery; the top was lined with figures watching our small procession.

On arrival at the rope, they threw down a carpet for us to rest on, before going up. The goods were pulled up then we ascended, and were received by Mamher Gabra Christos, the head of the community. Through age and infirmity, his duties are carried out by Mamher Wolde Mariam. I handed over the letters I had brought from the Echeggi, and the Ministry of Public Works, and we climbed up on to the top of the amba, kissing the rock where the founder is reputed to have dropped his cross.

As we rounded the church compound and reached the gatehouse, an unexpected scene was staged. At our appearance a lovely barbaric chant arose, accompanied by drums and the swinging of smoking censers. Truly I was being received as they had received their feudal chief, The church compound was packed with monks in gorgeous robes, with their umbrellas and crosses, and a red carpet up to the front of the church. The musicians were on right, under a tree, and on the left of the gate was a chair for me, covered with a carpet. After kissing Ras Seyoum's large silver cross, I sat on the chair they had prepared for me. The silence was intense, until the musicians started their wild chanting, punctuated by irregular drum beats. A monk then came forward, and read aloud my letters of introduction, after each of which they clapped their hands. There was more music, followed by a prayer.

The preliminaries were now over; I hoped I had won their confidence, for this would make all th e difference to the smooth working of the project.

page 8 note 1 , Buxton, op. cit.Google Scholar

page 9 note 1 The height of the doors may be governed by the position of the horizontal timbers; the higher the door, the larger number of horizontals must be cut through, with consequent weakening of the structure. The monks believe that the doors are made low so that one must bow down (to God) when entering.

page 9 note 2 Mr. D. R. Buxton found portions of a similar arch in the church at Aramo, which was in a state of collapse. He had the pieces moved to the museum in Asmara.

page 9 note 3 I incorrectly stated in my article in Antiquity, xxiii, Dec. 1949Google Scholar, that the remains of Galawdewos, son of Lebna Dengel, are also at Debra Damo. His body is buried at Tadbaba Mariam, and his head in a church in the village of Ansokiya.

page 9 note 4 The diagram, fig. 349, in vol. ii of the Deutsche Aksum-Expedition is incorrect; compare with my fig. 12.

page 9 note 5 Mr. Buxton, D. R. (op. cit.)Google Scholar observed that the built-up church of Imrahanna Kristos, in the Debra Damo tradition, has its stonework covered with plaster. This church is protected from the weather, being constructed inside an enormous cave, a day's journey north of Lalibela.

page 10 note 1 The Italians used such a horizontal motif in the new Coptic church in Asmara. This church has horizontal bands of brick which give an effect of timber; the gate house is a copy of the Debra Damo timber technique. The ‘Guida dell'Africa Orientale Italiana’ describes it as a ‘picturesque Italian interpretation of the Abyssinian style’. There is a modern grain store in Asmara with a similar use of brick and stone.

page 10 note 2 See note I on previous page.

page 12 note 1 Parallels can be found in India for this form of construction. Ferguson, James, History of Indian and Eastern Architecture (London, 1876Google Scholar) described the method in Jaina architecture of roofing with flat stone slabs. The simplest method consists of a single stone slab, but is limited in the size it can cover. The next step is to reduce the space by means of triangular stones placed in each angle of the square; by this means, the size of the central stone remaining the same, the side of the square space so roofed is increased in the ratio of ten to seven, the actual area being doubled. The next step in the process is by employing three tiers and nine stones instead of two tiers and five stones, and to quadruple the area roofed. Further, by using four tiers and thirteen stones, the extent roofed may be 9 ft. or 10 ft., always assuming the central stone t o remain 4 ft. square. Ferguson's fig. 113 is remarkably similar to the central ceiling relief at Sokota (Archaeologia, xcii, Euxton, D. R., ‘The Christian Antiquities of Northern Ethiopia’, pi. xiGoogle Scholar, b) which is monolithic. At Debra Damo we find the same system used with timber, and the question arises whether there has been Indian influence there, or whether the solution was arrived at independently. The similarity also of Ethiopian bracket capitals with those in India, and the finding of Indian coins at Debra Damo reinforce the theory.

page 12 note 2 , Buxton, op. cit.Google Scholar

page 12 note 3 Some panels are in the Colonial Museum in Rome and include portraits of Mika'el and Gabriel, as well as others. The style of script is not earlier than 1600, but the long noses on the portraits are characteristic of an early period of Ethiopian painting.

page 12 note 4 One rib has strong resemblances to the ninth-century stone carved ribs in the museum in Ravenna, one of which has an interlacing basket-work pattern similar to the dome panel in fig. 6. Another rib is similar in detail to a pattern of the eighth to ninth century from Egypt (fig. 26, d).

page 13 note 1 ‘Bracket capitals’ are a phenomenon occurring elsewhere in Ethiopia, and have been described by Buxton, D. R. (op. cit.)Google Scholar. The church in the Wadi el-Crema, Tripolitania (Archaeologia, xcv; Perkins, J. B. Ward and Goodchild, R. G., The Christian Antiquities of Tripolitania, pi. xxvGoogle Scholar, b and fig. 18) although in stone, is reminiscent of these details in Debra Damo. The same paper illustrates other brackets carved with Christian ornament, from a church at Lepcis Magna (fig. 15). The Ethiopian brackets have a feeling more akin to those of Indian examples (see p. 12, n. 1 above).

page 16 note 1 , Buxton, op. cit.Google Scholar;Mordini, A., ‘La chiesa ipogea di Ucro (Amba Seneiti) nel Tigrai’, Annali dell'Africa Italiana, ii, 2, Roma, 1939Google Scholar.

page 16 note 2 Both are illustrated by , Littmann, , Krencker, and , Liipke (op. cit.)Google Scholar, who have the plaque in their fig. 369 drawn upside down.

page 20 note 1 On my first visit to Debra Damo, the monks had out all their regalia to receive me, as described above on p. 4, n. 1.

page 20 note 2 This supposedly original relic, the Ark of the Cove- nant of Zion, is carried in procession at the annual feast at Axum on the sixteenth day of the Ethiopian month of Miasir (24th April). The old crowns of past Ethiopian Emperors are also brought out on this occasion. Whilst the Ark is carried round in the presence of the Nebura'ed (chief priest in Axum), music is played on traditional Ethiopian instruments, and dabtera do the dance of David.

page 20 note 3 On my first visit to Debra Damo, I was not allowed, on the first day, to go beyond the door into the nave. That night the priests removed the tabot from the church and put it in the treasury. The following morning, when I got to the church, every door and window had been opened, and I was allowed to go in and out of every part as I liked, including the sanctuary.

page 22 note 1 A modern copy of a fourteenth-fifteenth-century large painted hanging. See Mordini, A., ‘Un'antica pittura etiopica’ Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, xi, Rome, 1953Google Scholar.

page 24 note 1 Talla is locally made beer. They also drink tedj which is a mead made from local honey.

page 24 note 2 Angareeb is a locally made bed of ropes or leather thongs and timber, used also very widely in the Sudan.

3 This principle, the formation of a pattern by means of saw-cuts, is common in the Red Sea area. It may be seen par excellence in the grilles of Suakin (Matthews, D. H., ‘The Red Sea Style’, Kush, i, 1953Google Scholar and Kush, iii, 1955Google Scholar, Journal of the Sudan Antiquities Service).

page 26 note 1 Described in Part II by A. Mordini.

page 26 note 2 Mordini, A., ‘Informazioni preliminari sui risultati delle mie ricerche in Etiopia dal 1939 al 1944’, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, iv, 1946Google Scholar.

page 27 note 1 The head of the monastery on my arrival in 1948 and during the work of restoration was Mamher Gabra Christos, but owing to his age and bad state of health the duties were being carried out by Mamher Wolde Mariam. Other officials in the monastery were Afa Mamher Mus-guba Selassie, Qes Gabaz Gabra Christos Zemanfeste Kudas, and Magabi Gabra Jesus.

page 29 note 1 In the late tenth century news came to Egypt of a pagan queen who was ravaging Christian country, mas- sacring priests, and burning churches. According to Abyssinian tradition she captured Debra Damo, then the mountain of the princes.

page 29 note 2 The ceiling panel a8 (fig. 19) contains the figure of a dragon swallowing an animal or fish. Panels a10 and b9 illustrate winged griffins.

page 29 note 3 Shifta in Ethiopia are brigands or outlaws who are against the government. Kaleb was the celebrated invader of Arabia.

page 30 note 1 Zagwé was the founder, perhaps, of the new dynasty, but does not occur as having ruled himself. The Debra Damo list omits the Zagwé kings, but instead gives the succession of the Solomonian house in exile during that period.

page 30 note 2 The Solomonic dynasty is now restored. The order of names in the Debra Damo list differs from that in the lists published by Guidi and by Aklila-Berhan.

page 30 note 3 Abba Giorghis (early fourteenth century A.D.) was the reputed founder of Gāsìčā Abba Giyorgis, an inaccessible place south of Amara Saint with three cave churches.

page 30 note 4 The Debra Damo chronicler has possibly confused the two Amda-Seyons. The much earlier first one was the conqueror, and gave donations to Debra Damo; the second only reigned for less than a full year.

page 30 note 5 The Debra Damo manuscript seems to raise few difficulties; if it ends with Lebna Dengel, presumably it belongs to his reign, or it is possibly an older manuscript in which the later kings have been inserted.

Prior to Yekuno-Amlak the details are very unreliable in our present state of knowledge.

King lists are imaginative before A.D. 330, and even up to A.D. 1280.

page 31 note 1 Creswell, K. A. C., ‘The Ka'ba in A.D. 608’, Arehaeo logia, xciv, 1951, pp. 97102Google Scholar.

page 31 note 2 Rossini, C. Conti, Storia d'Etiopia, pi. xviiGoogle Scholar, n. 59; Pankhurst, S., Ethiopia, a Cultural History, London, 1955Google Scholar.

page 31 note 3 Creswell, K. A. C., op. cit.Google Scholar

page 34 note 1 Sir Wheeler, Mortimer, The Indus Civilization, Cambridge, 1954Google Scholar.

page 35 note 1 This church, in the beginning a Coptic foundation, was purchased about the beginning of the eighth century by merchants of Tekrit (Mesopotamia) who had a colony in Egypt, for the use of monks of their nation. The monastery was sacked and in A.D. 817 restored and rebuilt by the Syrians.

page 38 note 1 Mordini, A., ‘Un tissu musulman du moyen age du convent de Dabra Dammo’, Annales d'Ethiopie, vol. 2, Addis Ababa, 1958Google Scholar;‘Tre ti'raz abbasidi provenienti dal convento di Dabra Dammo’, Boll, dell' Istituto di Studi Etiopici, vol. 2, Asmara, 1958Google Scholar.

page 39 note 1 Rossini, C. Conti, ‘Pergamene di Dabra Dammo’, Rivista degli Studi Orientali, xix, Rome, 1940Google Scholar.

page 41 note 1 I was fortunate, when doing the restoration work, in getting good illumination for photographing the carved ceiling. When I had portions of the external walls demolished, I was able to get better photographic results than had any of the previous visitors studying the church.

page 42 note 1 Prof. Mordini, A., in ‘II soffitto del secondo vestibolo dell Enda abuna Aragawi in Dabra Dammo’, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, vi, fasc. i (Rome, 1947)Google Scholar, illustrates panel d8. This panel, together with two others he also describes, is no longer in position. One of the panels described by Littmann, Krencker, and Liipke (op. cit.), a lion and a lioness back to back, is no longer in the church.

page 42 note 2 The panels in the ceiling decorated with geometrical designs are different from those ceiling panels having animal subjects. They have more similarities with the carvings on the frieze panels in nave and sanctuary. Some of these geometrical ceiling panels look as if they are part of a larger piece, cut to fit.

page 43 note 1 Deutsche Aksum-Expedition, Band II, Altere Denkmdler Nordabessiniens, Abs. 341 (Berlin, 1913)Google Scholar.

page 44 note 1 Oudenrijn, M. A. van den, La Vie de Saint Za Mika'el Aragawi, Imprimerie St Paul (Fribourg, 1939); IGoogle Scholar., Guidi, II Gadla Aragawi. Mem. R. Ace. Lincei (Roma, 1895)Google Scholar.

page 44 note 2 Deutsche Aksum-Expedition, Band II, Abs. 344-7-8-9; Buxton, D. R., ‘The Christian Antiquities of Northern Ethiopia’, Archaeologia, xcii (Oxford, 1947)Google Scholar;Matthews, D. H., ‘The Restoration of the Monastery Church of Debra Damo, Ethiopia’, Antiquity, xxiii, 1949Google Scholar.

1 Mordini, A., ‘II Convento di Gunde Gundie’, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, xii, pp. 3070Google Scholar, fig. 1-19, 29-30, Roma, 1954.

page 48 note 1 Deutsche Aksum-Expedition, Band III, Profan und Kultbauten Nordabessiniens, Abs. 73 (Berlin, 1913)Google Scholar.

page 48 note 2 Ibid. Band I, p. 22.

page 48 note 3 Gobat, Samuel, Journal of a Three Years' Residence Abyssinia (London, 1834), pp. 316–17Google Scholar: ‘By the side of one of these grottoes there is a cave in which all the monks affirm that the Abuna Aragawi is still living and that he makes himself visible from time to time to the more holy of them. I wished to enter it, but the monks, who said it was impossible to come out of it alive, would not have anyone enter with a candle, and for my own part, fearing that there might be some precipice in it, I would not enter it without a light.’

page 49 note 1 Oudenrijn, M. A., op. cit. p. 50Google Scholar.

page 49 note 2 Ibid. pp. 61-62: ‘Et notre pere Aragawi lui dit: Benis encore cette caverne, ma demeure, dans laquelle je suis debout avec Toi, et dans laquelle j'ai recu le Kidan. Et li dit: Qu'elle soit benie, cette terre á toi, sur laquelle tes pieds ont ete poses, qu'elle devienne un remede salutaire pour quiconque prendra de sa poussiere et s'en oindra. S'ily a quelqu'un qui est malade, que sa maladie soit enlevee de lui Et celui qui en prendra avec foi, qu'il soit gueri de la maladie, meme de la peste etrangere; et (cette poussiere) fera voir des miracles dans celui auquel elle aura ete appliquée…’

page 49 note 3 Ibid. pp. 62-66: ‘Au temps de l'aurore, tandis que le coeur de Matyas s'inquietait (parce qu'il ignorait) quand il disparaitrait de leur compagnie (il alia voir et) il le vit debout en priere. Alors (Matyas) retourna oil il avait été auparavant pour faire la priere. Et il revint de nouveau a la troisieme heure, entra dans la grotte et ne le trouva plus parce qu'il avait ete cache. II ne trouva que la croix et la crosse seulement.…’

page 49 note 4 Ibid. p. 66: ‘Sous lui (Yohanni), ses fils batirent la chapelle á l'entrée de la grotte pour servir comme lieu de sépulture pour les moines, et comme lieu de salut pour tous qui venaient prendre de la poussiére lá oú les pieds de Saint Aragawi s'étaient poses.’

page 49 note 5 Oudenrijn, M. A., op. cit. p. 60Google Scholar.

page 49 note 6 Ibid. p. 60: ‘Et qui aura, le jour de la fete, récité une priére sur ton monument j'exaucerai sa priére et sa demande sans tarder.…’

page 49 note 7 Rossini, C. Conti, ‘Pergamene di Dabra Dammo’, Riv. Studi Orientali, xix (Roma, 1940), pp. 5455Google Scholar.

page 50 note 1 Gobat, S., op. cit.Google Scholar

page 50 note 2 Maqdas = sanctuary; the part of the church where the tabot is put.

page 51 note 1 In 1940 in the cliff below the terrace on which the small church stands was found, hidden in a natural cavity of the rock and covered by a layer of earth 20 cm. thick, a little box of wood containing a noteworthy number of gold coins, all Indian, very well preserved, and belonging to the dynasty of the Great Kushans (Kadphises II, Kaniskha, Huviskha, Vasu Deva: first to third centuries A.D.).

page 51 note 2 At Daroca, in Tigrai, a pot was found containing a hundred gold coins, and at Debentanti a large pot with over 500 gold coins, and some small crosses of gold. Such discoveries were made by the local inhabitants, who melted down the metal.

page 51 note 3 This example is very well preserved, with inlaid gold in the reverse.

page 51 note 4 Cerulli, E., ‘L'Etiopia medievale in alcuni brani di scrittori arabi’, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, iii (Roma, 1943), PP. 272–94Google Scholar.

page 51 note 5 Rossini, C. Conti, ‘Necropoli musulmana ed antica chiesa cristiana presso Uogri Hariba nell'Enderta’, Riv. Studi Orientali, xv'u (Roma, 1938), pp. 399408Google Scholar.Cerulli, E., ‘II sultanato dello Scioa nel sec. XIII secondo un nuovo documento storico’, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, i (Roma, 1941). pp. 142Google Scholar.

page 52 note 1 Rossini, C. Conti, ‘Monete Aksumite’, Africa Italiana, vol. i, n. 3 (Roma, 1927), pp. 182–4Google Scholar.

2 Mordini, A., ‘Informazioni preliminari sui risultati delle mie ricerche in Etiopia dal 1939 al 1944’, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, iv (Roma, 1946), p. 150, n. 2Google Scholar.

page 52 note 3 A document that could be supposed to give us valuable information on the date of foundation of the monastery and its history is the gadla (gadl = biography, the spiritual battle) ‘Aragāwi—the history of the head of the Nine Saints of Ethiopia—(see Guidi, I., II Gadla ‘Aragawi, Memorie della R. Accademia dei Lincei, Classe di Scienze morali, storiche efilologiche, vol. ii, parte 1° (Roma, 1895)Google Scholar;Oudenrijn, M. A. van den, La Vie de Saint Za Mika'el Aragawi (Fribourg, 1939)Google Scholar, which has been shown to be absolutely without historical foundation, being a pious narrative written by a monk of Debra Damo towards the end of the fourteenth century or the first years of the fifteenth. Compare with the legends (Part I), pp. 28-29.

In this romantic narrative it is said that Za Mika'el, called ‘Aragawi’ (= old), son of Yeshaq, King of Rom (geographical term vaguely symbolizing the Christian kingdoms of the west, or possibly the Byzantine empire) and of ‘Edna, went when very young to Dawnis, in the Thebaid, near the famous anchorite St. Pachomius. Subsequently he was transferred to Axum in Ethiopia, accompanied by his mother and the Seven Saints: Abba Liqanos of Questentenya (Constantinople), Abba Yem'ata of Qosyat, Abba Sehma of Antioch, Abba Guba of Cilicia, Abba Afse from Asia, Abba Pantalewon from Romya, Abba Alef of Cesarea. In Axum they were joined in a miraculous way by the father of Za Mika'el, Yeshaq, who took the monastic habit. In the sixth year of the reign of Tazena, father of Kaleb, King of Axum, the Nine Saints separated themselves respectively: Liqanos to Debra Quanasl, Yem'ata in Gar'alta, Sehma to Sedya, Guba near Madara (Senafe), Afse to Yaha (Yeha), Pantalewon near Axum, Alef to Ahs'a (Behza), Yeshaq (said in following Garima) to Madara. When Za Mika'el went—accompanied by his mother and his disciple Matyas—into the region east of 'Eggala, he continued his journey, until n i Tigrai he rested under a big tree (ficus daro) still existing in our times. From this place called 'Awl'a Mahbar (= the tree of the monastery), they saw for the first time the mountain of Damo, and there arose in him immediately the desire to make his habitation on its summit.

He tried to reach the top, and could not because the mountain top was surrounded by high cliffs. Then he tried o t find another mountain, butwas not satisfied, and returned t o Damo. After three days and three nights of prayer in the place where the entrance to the monastery now is, the archangel Michael appeared to Za Mika'el and informed him that God invited him to the top of the mountain. There then appeared on the edge of the top a large serpent, which came down towards the saint, and lifted him on to the top of the mountain. His disciple made a long wooden ladder and gained the top in this way.

After this, King Kaleb, having conquered Southern Arabia, took the monk's habit, leaving his kingdom to his son Gabra Masqal. The latter visited Za Mika'el, and ordered the construction of the main church (Enda Abuna Aragawi), and made large donations to the monastery. For the construction of the church a ramp was made up the cliff, being demolished afterwards, and leaving the only means of access to the monastery to be by means of ropes, in remembrance of the serpent which helped the holy founder to gain the summit of the mountain.

Za Mika'el adopted for his habitation a cave where he lived in perpetual penitence. Meanwhile the monastery achieved great fame throughout Ethiopia; famous saints, amongst whom was Yared (composer of a typical form of religious music which he learned from angels) who came t o find him. The number of monks reached 600. To the end of his life Za Mika'el had the vision of the Holy Ghost and gave the Kidan, typical in the life of Ethiopian saints, in which our Lord promised to the saint particular beni-dictions and privileges for him and all his followers. Our Lord promised amongst other things that Za Mika'el, like the prophets Enoch and Elias, would not be touched by death, and that the tomb of his mother 'Edna (buried i n the monastery) would not be seen by anyone until the day of judgement.

The following day (aged 92 years) Za Mika'el vanished mysteriously in his cave. It was the 14th day of the month of Tequemt, in the time of King Gabra Masqal.

page 53 note 1 Deutsche Aksum-Expedition, Band II, Áltere Denk- mdler Nordabessiniens; Abs. F, ‘Zwei friih-mittelalterliche Kirchen’, (2) ‘Die Klosterkirche von Debra Damo’ (D. Krencker), pp. 182-94, Abs. 373-419 (Berlin, 1913). Mordini, A., ‘II soffitto del secondo vestibolo dell'Enda Abuna Aragawi in Dabra Dammo’, Rassegna diStudi Etio-pici, vi, fasc. i (Roma, 1947), pp. 2935Google Scholar, figs. 1-39.

page 53 note 2 Deutsche Aksum-Expedition, Band II, Abs. F, (b) ‘Die alte Kirche zu Asmara’, pp. 195-98, Abs. 420-3.

page 54 note 1 Matthews, D. H., ‘The Restoration of the Monastery Church of Debra Damo, Ethiopia’, p. 196, Antiquity, vol. xxiii (London, 1949)Google Scholar.

page 54 note 2 Villard, U. Monneret de, ‘Notesulleinfluenzeasiatiche nell'Africa Orientale’, Riv. Studi Orientali, xvii (Roma, 1938), pp. 303–49Google Scholar.Pansera, C., ‘Quattro stele musulmane presso Uogher Hariba sull'Enderta (fine del IV secolo dell'Egira)’, Studi Etiopici raccolti da C. Conti Rossini, pp. 36 (Roma, 1945)Google Scholar,Rossi, E., ‘Iscrizioni funerarie arabe musulmane del paese degli Arussi nel Museo Coloniale di Roma’, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, anno ii (Roma, 1942), n. 3, pp. 278–81Google Scholar.

page 54 note 3 Cerulli, E., ‘L'Etiopia medievale in alcuni brani di scrittori arabi’, loc. cit. iii (Roma, 1943), n. 3, pp. 272–4Google Scholar.Perruchon, J., ‘Notes pour l'histoire d'Ethiopie: lettre adressee par le roi d'fithiopie au roi Georges de Nubie sous le patriarcat de Philothee’, Revue Semitique (Paris, 1893), pp. 7176Google Scholar, 360-72; ‘Vie de Cosmas patriarche d'Alexandrie’, Revue Semitique (Paris, 1894), pp. 7898Google Scholar.

page 54 note 4 Matthews, D. H., op. cit. p. 200Google Scholar.

page 54 note 5 Rossini, C. Conti, ‘Note sugli Agau, II, Appunti sulla lingua Awiya del Denghela’, Giornale della Societa Asiatica Italiana, xviii (Firenze, 1905), pp. 111–22Google Scholar.

page 54 note 6 Cerulli, E., ‘II sultanato dello Scioa nel secolo XIII secondo un nuovo documento storico’, loc. cit. i (Roma, 1941), n. 1, pp. 142Google Scholar.

page 55 note 1 Mordini, A., ‘Su di un nuovo titolo regale aksumita’, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, viii (Roma, 1949), 89Google Scholar.

2 Rossini, C. Conti, ‘L'Evangelo d'oro di Dabra Libanos’, Rendiconti della R. Accademia dei Lincei, x (Roma, 1901), 177219Google Scholar.

page 55 note 3 Rossini, C. Conti, ‘Pergamene di Debra Dammo’, loc. cit. xix (Roma, 1940), 47, 5455Google Scholar;Mordini, A., ‘La Chiesa ipogea di Ucró (Amba Seneiti) nel Tigrai’, Annali dell'Africa Italiana, anno II (Roma, 1939), n. 2, p. 526Google Scholar.

page 55 note 4 Budge, E. A. Wallis, The Life of Takla Haymdndt in the version of Dabra Libanos (London, 1906)Google Scholar.

page 55 note 5 Rossini, C. Conti, Ada S. Basalota Mika'el et Anorewos, p. 19Google Scholar,Corpus Script. Chr. Orient., Script. Aeth. ser. ii, t. xx (Roma, 1905)Google Scholar.

page 55 note 6 Rossini, C. Conti, ‘Pergamene di Debra Dammo’, loc. cit. p. 46Google Scholar.

page 55 note 7 Ibid. pp. 47, 54.

page 56 note 1 Rossini, C. Conti, ‘Gli Atti di Abba Yonas’, Rendiconti Ace. Lincei (Roma, 1903)Google Scholar;Perruchon, J., Les Chroniques de Zar'a Ya'eqob et de Ba'eda Maryam rots d'Éthiopie (Paris, 1903), pp. 12, 109, 179Google Scholar.

page 56 note 2 Rossini, C. Conti, ‘Pergamene di Debra Dammo’, loc. cit. p. 55Google Scholar, note 8. Mordini, A., ‘Informazioni pre- liminari sui risultati delle mie ricerche in Etiopia dal 1939 al 1944’, loc. cit. iv (Roma, 1946), 147Google Scholar.

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