5000 Ethiopian Manuscripts outside of Ethiopia
Local 3
A Serious Question of Ethiopian Studies
Five Thousand Ethiopian Manuscripts Abroad, and the International Community
by Dr Richard Panhurst
Introduction
Ethiopic, or Ge’ez, manuscripts [hereafter MSS] are of fundamental importance for scholarship. Ethiopic literature formed a major part of ancient and medieval Christian literature.
Many important Ethiopic works were, and still are, unknown to the outside world: Foreign scholars learnt for example of the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees only because they were preserved in Ethiopia. Though most Ethiopic literature is religious, numerous texts also cover subjects, including history, philosophy, law, mathematics, and medicine.
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