The employment of the Geez or Ethiopic language for literary purposes
appears to have begun no long time before the introduction of
Christianity into Abyssinia, and its pagan period is represented by two
Axumite inscriptions (published by D.H. Mueller in J.T. Bent's _Sacred
City of the Ethiopians_, 1893), and an inscription at Matara (published
by C.C. Rossini, _Rendiconti Accad. Lincei_, 1896). As a literary
language it survived its use as a vernacular, but it is unknown at what
time it ceased to be the latter. In Sir W. Cornwallis Harris's
_Highlands of Aethiopia_ (1844) there is a list of rather more than 100
works extant in Ethiopic; subsequent research has chiefly brought to
light fresh copies of the same works, but it has contributed some fresh
titles. A conspectus of all the MSS. known to exist in Europe (over 1200
in number) was published by C.C. Rossini in 1899 (_Rendiconti Accad.
Lincei_, ser. v. vol. viii.); of these the largest collection is that in
the British Museum, but others of various sizes are to be found in the
chief libraries of Europe. R.E. Littmann (in the _Zeitschrift fuer
Assyriologie_, xv. and xvi.) describes two collections at Jerusalem, one
of which contains 283 MSS.; and Rossini (Rendiconti, 1904) a collection
of 35 MSS. belonging to the Catholic mission at Cheren. Other
collections exist in Abyssinia, and many MSS. are in private hands. In
1893 besides portions of the Bible some 40 Ethiopic books had been
printed in Europe (enumerated in L. Goldschmidt's _Bibliotheca
Aethiopica_), but many more have since been published.
Geez literature is ordinarily divided into two periods, of which the
first dates from the establishment of Christianity in the 5th century,
and ends somewhere in the 7th; the second from the re-establishment of
the Salomonic dynasty in 1268, continuing to the present time. It
consists chiefly of translations, made in the first period from Greek,
in the second from Arabic. It has no authors of the first or even of the
second rank. Its character as a sacred and literary language is due to
its translation of the Bible, which in the ordinary enumeration is made
to contain 81 books, 46 of the Old Testament, and 35 of the New. These
figures are most probably obtained by adding to the ordinary canonical
books _Maccabees, Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch,
Jubilees, Enoch_, the _Ascension of Isaiah, Ezra IV., Shepherd of
Hermas, the Synodos_ (Canons of the Apostles), the _Book of Adam_, and
_Joseph Ben Gorion_. For the distinction between canonical and
apocryphal appears to be unknown to the Ethiopic Church, whose chief
service to Biblical literature consists in its preservation of various
apocryphal works which other parts of Christendom have lost or possess
only in an imperfect form (see ENOCH; JUBILEES, BOOK OF, &c.). It should
be observed that the _Maccabees_ of the Ethiopic Bible is an entirely
different work from the books of that name included in the Septuagint,
of which, however, the Abyssinians have a recent version made from the
Vulgate; specimens of their own _Maccabees_ have been published by J.
Horovitz in the _Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie_, vol. xx. The MSS. of the
Biblical books vary very much, and none of them can claim any great
antiquity; the oldest extant MS. of the four Books of Kings appears to
be one in the Museo Borgiano, presented by King Amda Sion (1314) to the
Virgin Mary in Jerusalem (described by N. Roupp, _ibid._ xvi. 296-342).
Hence P. de Lagarde supposed the Ethiopic version to have been made from
the Arabic, which indeed is in accordance with a native tradition. This
opinion is held by few; C.F.A. Dillman distinguished in the case of the
Old Testament three classes of MSS., a _versio antiqua_, made from the
Septuagint (probably in the Hesychian text), a class revised from Greek
MSS., and a class revised from the Hebrew (probably through the medium
of an Arabic version). An examination of ten chapters of St Matthew by
L. Hackspill (ibid. vol. xi.) led to the result that the Ethiopic
version of the Gospels was made about A.D. 500, from a Syro-occidental
text, and that this original translation is represented by Cod. Paris.
Aeth. 32; whereas most MSS. and all printed editions contain a text
influenced by the Alexandrian Vulgate, and show traces of Arabic.
Rossini (_ibid._ x. 232) has made it probable that the Abba Salama,
whom the native tradition identifies with Frumentius, evangelist of
Abyssinia, to whom the translation of the Bible was ascribed, was in
reality a Metropolitan of the early 14th century, who revised the
corrupt text then current. Of the ancient translation the latest book is
said to be Ecclesiasticus, translated in the year 678. The New Testament
has been published repeatedly (first in Rome, 1548-1549; some letters
about its publication were edited by I. Guidi in the _Archivio della
Soc. Rom. di Storia Patria_, 1886), and C.F.A. Dillmann edited a
critical text of most of the Old Testament and Apocrypha, but did not
live to complete it; portions have been edited by J. Bachmann and
others.
Other translations thought to belong to the first period are the
_Sher'ata Makhbar_, ascribed to S. Pachomius; the _Kerilos_, a
collection of homilies and tracts, beginning with Cyril of Alexandria
_De recta fide_; and the _Physiologus_, a fanciful work on Natural
History (edited by F. Hommel, Leipzig, 1877).
Of the works belonging to the second period much the most important are
those which deal with Abyssinian history. A court official, called
_sahafe te'ezazenet_ (secretary), having under him a staff of scribes,
was employed to draw up the public annals year by year; and on these
official compositions the Abyssinian histories are based. The earliest
part of the Axum chronicle preserved is that recording the wars of Amda
Sion (1314-1344) against the Moslems; it is doubtful, however, whether
even this exists in its original form, as some scholars think; according
to its editor (J. Perruchon in the _Journ. Asiat._ for 1889) it is
preserved in a recension of the time of King Zar'a Ya'kub. Under King
Lebna Dengel (1508-1540) the annals of his four predecessors, Zar'a
Ya'kub, Baeda Maryam, Eskender and Na'od (1434-1508) were drawn up;
those of the first two were published by J. Perruchon (Paris, 1893); in
the _Journ. Asiat._ for 1894 the same scholar published a further
fragment of the history of Baeda Maryam, written by the tutor to the
king's children, and the history of Eskender, Amda Sion II. and Na'od as
compiled in Lebna Dengel's time. The history of Lebna Dengel was
published by the same scholar (_Journ. Semit._ i. 274) and Rossini
(_Rendiconti_, 1894, v. p. 617); that of his successor Claudius
(1540-1559) by Conzelmann (Paris, 1895); that of his successor Minas
(1559-1563) by F.M.E. Pereira (Lisbon, 1888); those of the three
following kings, Sharsa Dengel, Za Dengel, and Ya'kub, by Rossini
(_Rendiconti_, 1893). The history of the next king Sysenius (1606-1632)
by Abba Meherka Dengel and Tekla Shelase was edited by Pereira (Lisbon,
1892); the chronicles of Joannes I., Iyasu I. and Bakaffa (1682-1730) by
I. Guidi, with a French translation (Paris, 1903-1905); all are
contemporary, and the names of the chroniclers of the last two kings are
recorded. Besides these we have the partly fabulous chronicle of
Lalibela (of uncertain date, but before the Salomonian dynasty was
restored), edited by Perruchon (Paris, 1892); and a brief chronicle of
Abyssinia, drawn up in the reign of Iyasu II. (1729-1753), embodying
materials abridged, but often unaltered, was published by R. Basset, in
the _Journ. Asiat._ for 1882 (cf. Rossini in the _Rendiconti_,
1893-1894, p. 668), and has since formed the basis for Abyssinian
history. Many compilations of the sort exist in MS. in libraries, and
great praise is bestowed on the one which E. Rueppell, when travelling in
Abyssinia, ordered to be drawn up for his use. It is now in the
collection of his MSS. at Frankfurt. Ethiopic scholars speak of a
special "historical style" which comes from the mixture of the styles of
different periods, and the admixture of Amharic phrases and idioms. The
historian of the wars of Amda Sion is credited with some literary merit;
most of the chroniclers have little.
The remaining literature of the second period is thought to begin
somewhat earlier than these chronicles. To the time of King Yekuno Amlak
(1268-1283) the historical romance called _Kebra Nagaset_ (Glory of
Kings) is assigned by its editor, C. Bezold (Bavarian Academy, 1904);
other scholars gave it a somewhat later date. Its purpose is to glorify
the Salomonian dynasty, whence, in spite of a colophon which declares it
to be a translation, it was regarded as an original work; since,
however, it shows evident signs of having been translated from Arabic,
Bezold supposes that its author, Ishak, was an immigrant whose native
language was Arabic, in which therefore he would naturally write the
first draft of his book. To the time of Yagbea Sion (ob. 1294) belongs
the _Vision of the Prophet Habakkuk in Kartasa_, as also the works of
Abba Salama, regarded as the founder of the Ethiopic renaissance, one of
whose sermons is preserved in a Cheren MS. With his name are connected
the _Acts of the Passion_, the _Service for the Dead_ and the
translation of Philexius, i.e. Philoxenus. King Zar'a Ya'kub composed or
had composed for him as many as seven books; the most important of these
is the _Book of Light_ (Mashafa Berhan), paraphrased as
_Kirchenordnung_, by Dillmann, who gave an analysis of its contents
(_Ueber die Regierung des Koenigs Zar'a Ya'kob_, Berl. Acad., 1884). He
also organized the compilation of the Miracles of the Virgin Mary, one
of the most popular of Ethiopic books; a magnificent edition was printed
by E.W. Budge in the Meux collection (London, 1900). In the same reign
the Arabic chronicle of al-Makin was translated into Geez. Under Lebna
Dengel (ob. 1540), besides the above-mentioned collection of chronicles,
we hear of the translation from the Arabic of the history and martyrdom
of St George, the Commentary of J. Chrysostom on the Epistle to the
Hebrews, and the ascetic works of J. Saba called _Aragawi manfasawi._
Under Claudius (1540-1559) Maba Sion is said to have translated from the
Arabic _The Faith of the Fathers_, a vast compilation, including the
_Didascalia Apostalorum_ (edited by Platt, London, 1834), and the _Creed
of Jacob Baradaeus_ (published by Cornill, _ZDMG_. xxx. 417-466), and to
the same reign belong the _Book of Extreme Unction (Mashafa Kandil_),
and the religious romance _Barlaam et Joasaph_ also paraphrased from the
Arabic (partly edited by A. Zotenberg in _Notices et Extraits_, vol.
xxviii.). _The Confession of Faith_ of King Claudius has been repeatedly
printed. The reign of Sharsa Dengel (ob. 1595) was marked by many
literary monuments, such as the religious and controversial compilation
called _Mazmura Chrestos_, and the translation, by a certain Salik, of
the religious encyclopaedia (Mashafa Haia) of the monk Nikon; an Arab
merchant from Yemen, who took on conversion the name Anbakom (Habakkuk),
translated a number of books from the Arabic. Under Ya'kub (ob. 1605)
the valuable chronicle of John of Nikiou was translated from Arabic
(edited by A. Zotenberg with French translation in _Notices et
extraits_, vol. xxiv.). Under John, about 1687, the _Spiritual Medicine_
of Michael, bishop of Adtrib and Malig, was translated. The literature
that is not accurately dated consists largely of liturgies, prayers and
hymns; Ethiopic poetry is chiefly, if not entirely, represented by the
last of these, the most popular work of the kind being an ode in praise
of the Virgin, called _Weddase Maryam_ (edited by K. Fries, Leipzig,
1892). Various hymn-books bear the names _Degua, Zemmare_ and _Mawas'et_
(Antiphones); there is also a biblical history in verse called _Mashafa
Madbal_ or _Mestira Zaman_. Homilies also exist in large numbers, both
original and translated, sometimes after the Arabic fashion in rhymed
prose. Hagiology is naturally an important department in Ethiopic
literature. In the great collection called _Synaxar_ (translated
originally from Arabic, but with large additions) for each day of the
year there is the history of one or more saints; an attempt has been
made by H. Duensing (1900) to derive some actual history from it. Many
texts containing lives of individual saints have been issued. Such are
those of Maba Sion and Gabra Chrestos, edited by Budge in the Meux
collection (London, 1899); the Acts of S. Mercurius, of which a fragment
was edited by Rossini (Rome, 1904); the unique MS. of the original, one
of the most extensive works in the Geez language, was burned by thieves
who set fire to the editor's house. The same scholar began a series of
_Vitae Sanctorum antiquiorum_, while _Monumenta Aethiopiae hagiologica_
and _Vitae Sanctorum indigenarum_ have been edited by B. Turaiev
(Leipzig and St Petersburg, 1902, and Rome, 1905). Other lives have been
edited by Pereira, Guidi, &c. Similar in historical value to these works
is the _History of the Exploits of Alexander_, of which various
recensions have been edited by Budge (London, 1895). See further
ALEXANDER THE GREAT, section on the legends, ad fin.
Of Law the most important monument is the _Fatha Nagaset_ (Judgment of
Kings), of which an official edition was issued by I. Guidi (Rome,
1899), with an Italian translation; it is a version probably made in the
early 16th century of the Arabic code of Ibn 'Assal, of the 12th
century, whose work, being meant for Christians living under Moslem
rule, was not altogether suitable for an independent Christian kingdom;
yet the need for such a code made it popular and authoritative in
Abyssinia. The translator was not quite equal to his task, and the Brit.
Mus. MS. 800 exhibits an attempt to correct it from the original.
Science can scarcely be said to exist in Geez literature, unless a
medical treatise, of which the British Museum possesses a copy, comes
under this head. Philosophy is mainly represented by mystical
commentaries on Scripture, such as the _Book of the Mystery of Heaven
and Earth_, by Ba-Hailu Michael, probably of the 15th century, edited by
Perruchon and Guidi (Paris, 1903). There is, however, a translation of
the Book of the Wise Philosophers, made by Michael, son of Abba Michael,
consisting of various aphorisms; specimens have been edited by Dillmann
in his Chrestomathy, and J. Cornill (Leipzig, 1876). There is also a
translation of _Secundus the Silent_, edited by Bachmann (Berlin, 1888).
Far more interesting than these is the treatise of Zar'a Ya'kub of Axum,
composed in the year 1660 (edited by Littman, 1904), which contains an
endeavour to evolve rules of life according to nature. The author
reviews the codes of Moses, the Gospel and the Koran, and decides that
all contravene the obvious intentions of the Creator. He also gives some
details of his own life and his occupation of scribe. A less original
treatise by Walda Haywat accompanies it. Epistolography is represented
by the diplomatic correspondence of some of the kings with the
Portuguese and Spanish courts; some documents of this sort have been
edited by C. Beccari, _Documenti inediti per la storia d' Etiopia_
(Rome, 1903); lexicography, by the vocabulary called _Sawasew_. The
first Ethiopic book printed was the Psalter (Rome, 1513), by John Potken
of Cologne, the first European who studied the language.
See C.C. Rossini, "Note per la storia letteraria Abissina," in
_Rendiconti della R. Accad. dei Lincei_ (1899); Fumagalli,
_Bibliografia Etiopica_ (1893); Basset, _Etudes sur l'histoire de
l'Ethiopie_ (1882); Catalogues of various libraries, especially
British Museum (Wright), Paris (Zotenberg), Oxford and Berlin
(Dillmann), Frankfurt (Goldschmidt). Plates illustrating Ethiopic
palaeography are to be found in Wright's Catalogue; an account of the
illustrations in Ethiopic MSS. is given by Budge in his _Life of Maba
Sion_; and a collection of inscriptions in the church of St Stefano
dei Mori, in Rome, by Gallina in the _Archivio della Soc. Rom. di
Storia Patria_ (1888). (D. S. M.*)