Book of Aksum
Encyclopedia
The Book of Aksum or Mats'hafa Aksum (Ge'ez
መጽሐፈ ፡ አክሱም maṣḥafa aksūm, , ) is the name accepted since the time of James Bruce
for a collection of documents from the St. Mary Cathedral of Aksum providing information on Ethiopia
n history
. The earliest parts of the collection date to the mid-15th century during the reign of Zar'a Ya`qob
(r. 1434 - 1468).
The documents were classified by the book's editor Carlo Conti Rossini into three parts: the first, earlier, section describes the Church Maryam Seyon
in Aksum prior to its damaging in the mid-16th century, the topography of Aksum and its history, and contains a list of services and the like regarding Maryam Seyon and its clergy. The second part, dated to the early 17th century, contains 103 historical and legal texts, many dealing with land grants, along with their protocols, while the third text dates to the late 17th century and contains 14 miscellaneous legal and historical texts regarding Aksum's history. The book was also supplemented in the mid-19th century with further later documents.
Ge'ez alphabet
Ge'ez , also called Ethiopic, is a script used as an abugida for several languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea but originated in an abjad used to write Ge'ez, now the liturgical language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Church...
መጽሐፈ ፡ አክሱም maṣḥafa aksūm, , ) is the name accepted since the time of James Bruce
James Bruce
James Bruce was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia, where he traced the origins of the Blue Nile.-Youth:...
for a collection of documents from the St. Mary Cathedral of Aksum providing information on Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
n history
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
. The earliest parts of the collection date to the mid-15th century during the reign of Zar'a Ya`qob
Zara Yaqob
Zar'a Ya`qob or Zera Yacob was of Ethiopia , and a member of the Solomonic dynasty...
(r. 1434 - 1468).
The documents were classified by the book's editor Carlo Conti Rossini into three parts: the first, earlier, section describes the Church Maryam Seyon
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion
The Church of Our Virgin Mary of Zion of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the most important church in Ethiopia...
in Aksum prior to its damaging in the mid-16th century, the topography of Aksum and its history, and contains a list of services and the like regarding Maryam Seyon and its clergy. The second part, dated to the early 17th century, contains 103 historical and legal texts, many dealing with land grants, along with their protocols, while the third text dates to the late 17th century and contains 14 miscellaneous legal and historical texts regarding Aksum's history. The book was also supplemented in the mid-19th century with further later documents.