Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:57:55.775Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Armenian Involvement in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2019

David W. Phillipson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Two Armenian ecclesiastics from Jerusalem, Isaac and Dimothéos, visited Abyssinia in 1867–1869. The latter’s detailed account of their journey was promptly published, grandiloquently dedicated (with formal permission) to Queen Victoria. The journey has nonetheless received little attention from historians, and the reasons it was made have been poorly understood. An intention to seek release of Europeans imprisoned by King Tewodros (Theodore) of Ethiopia was overtaken by events, the captives’ release being achieved by an expedition from British India before the Armenians arrived. Emphasis was consequently placed on involvement with local politics and ecclesiastical intrigue, both of which are discussed in this paper.

Résumé:

Deux ecclésiastiques arméniens de Jérusalem, Isaac et Dimothéos, ont visité l’Abyssinie entre 1867 et 1869. Le récit détaillé de leur voyage écrit par Dimothéos fut rapidement publié et grandiloquemment dédié à la reine Victoria (avec une permission formelle). Le voyage a néanmoins peu retenu l’attention des historiens et les raisons pour celui-ci ont été mal comprises. Leur première intention était de demander la libération d’Européens emprisonnés par le roi d’Éthiopie Tewodros (Théodore). Celle-ci est devenue cependant caduque après la libération des captifs par une expédition d’Inde britannique. Cet article se penche ensuite sur le rôle joué par ces deux Arméniens dans la politique locale et les intrigues ecclésiastiques.

Type
Journeys and Sources
Information
History in Africa , Volume 46 , June 2019 , pp. 137 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amsalu, Aklilu, “Assaggakan,” in: Uhlig, Siegbert (ed.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, volume 1 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2003), 386.Google Scholar
Binns, John, The Orthodox Church of Ethiopia: A History (London: Tauris, 2016).Google Scholar
Coulbeaux, Jean-Baptiste, Histoire politique et religieuse de l’Abyssinie depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à l’avènement de Ménélik II (3 volumes) (Paris: Geuthner, 1929).Google Scholar
Crummey, Donald, Priests and Politicians: Protestant and Catholic Missions in Orthodox Ethiopia 1830–1868 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972).Google Scholar
Crummey, Donald, “Salama,” in: Uhlig, Siegbert (ed.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, volume 4 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010), 489–490.Google Scholar
Crummey, Donald, and Haile, Getatchew, “Abuna Salama, Metropolitan of Ethiopia 1841–1867: A New Ge'ez Biography,” Journal of Ethiopian Studies 37–1 (2004), 5–40.Google Scholar
de Lorenzi, James, “Caught in the Storm of Progress: Timoteos Saprichean, Ethiopia, and the Modernity of Christianity,” Journal of World History 19–1 (2008), 89–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimothéos, , Deux ans de séjour en Abyssinie, ou vie morale, politique et religieuse des Abyssins, 2 volumes (Jérusalem: Typographie Arménienne du Couvent de Saint-Jacques, 1871).Google Scholar
Grierson, Roderick, and Munro-Hay, Stuart, The Ark of the Covenant (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1999).Google Scholar
Heldman, Marilyn, “Tabot,” in: Siegbert Uhlig, (ed.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, volume 4 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010), 802–804.Google Scholar
Kreuter, Marie-Luise, “Sapricean, Timotheos Vardapet,” in: Uhlig, Siegbert (ed.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, volume 4 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010), 534.Google Scholar
Meinardus, Otto, “A Brief History of the Abunate of Ethiopia,” Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenländes 58 (1962), 39–65.Google Scholar
Meinardus, Otto, “The Ethiopians in Jerusalem,” Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte Serie 4 , 14 (1965), 112–147, 217–232.Google Scholar
Monneret de Villard, Ugo, Aksum: richerche di topografia generale (Roma: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1938).Google Scholar
Nosnitsin, Denis, “Abuna,” in: Uhlig, Siegbert (ed.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, volume 1 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2003), 56.Google Scholar
Pankhurst, Richard, “The History of Ethiopian-Armenian Relations,” Revue des Études Arméniennes 12 (1977), 273–345, 13 (1978/1979), 259–312, and 15 (1981), 355–400.Google Scholar
Pankhurst, Richard, “Kirkham, John Charles,” in: Uhlig, Siegbert (ed.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, volume 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2007), 409.Google Scholar
Pedersen, Kirsten, “The Qeddusan: Ethiopian Christians in the Holy Land,” in: O’Mahoney, Anthony (ed.), The Christian Heritage of the Holy Land (London: Scorpion Cavendish, 1995), 129–159.Google Scholar
Phillipson, David W., Foundations of an African Civilisation: Aksum and the Northern Horn 1000 BC-AD 1300 (Woodbridge UK: Currey, 2012 [Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University Press, 2014]).Google Scholar
Rubenson, Sven, King of Kings Tewodros of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa: Haile Sellassie I University/Oxford University Press, 1966).Google Scholar
Rubenson, Sven, The Survival of Ethiopian Independence (London: Heinemann, 1976).Google Scholar
Rubenson, Sven (ed.), Tewodros and his Contemporaries 1855–1868 (Lund/Addis Ababa: Lund University Press/Addis Ababa University Press, 1994).Google Scholar
Shiferaw, Bekele, “Kassa and Kassa: The State of their Historiography,” in: Beyene, Taddese, Pankhurst, Richard and Bekele, Shiferaw (eds.), Kasa and Kasa: Papers on the Lives, Times and Images of Tewodros II and Yohannes IV (1855–1889) (Addis Ababa: Institute of Ethiopian Studies, 1990), 289–404.Google Scholar
Timoteos, Saprichean, Zwei Jahre in Abyssinien: oder Schilderung der Sitten und des staatlichen und religiösen Lebens der Abyssinier, von Sr Hochgw. Pater Timotheos, Legat Sr Eminenz der Armenischen Patriarchen bei König Theodor von Abyssinien (Leipzig: Wilhelm Friedrich, 1888).Google Scholar
Zewde, Gabre-Sellassie, Yohannes IV of Ethiopia: A Political Biography (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975).Google Scholar