Review

The Kulturhistorisk museum in Oslo possesses a small collection of ten Ethiopic codices predominantly acquired in the mid1930s. Included among them are an illuminated fifteenth-century psalter (UEM36096) and a late-fifteenth/early-sixteenth century hagiographical manuscript (UEM35900).

Obituary

This article argues that it is possible to improve our understanding of Ethiopian manuscript illumination of the early Solomonic period by adopting a systematic comparative approach. It does so by presenting a case study which analyses and compares the iconography of two examples of the long cycle dating to the second half of the fourteenth century. This comparison shows how technical skills and artistic choices contributed to the shaping of Ethiopian manuscript illumination, and in doing so it sheds some light on the artistic practices of early Solomonic illuminators.

Bibliography of Ethiopian Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic Linguistics XX: 2016

Obituary

Review

Table of Contents

Review article

The Muslim scholars of Wällo are known for composing panegyrics that are usually chanted on special occasions or gatherings like ḥaḍra and Mawlid (festival to solemnize the birthday of the Prophet). The Ramsa is a very famous collection of poems made up of three Arabic litanies: the first two of them were composed by šayḫ Aḥmad Ādam (d. 1903) the founder of Dana, centre of Islamic learning and mysticism located in Yäǧǧu province, northeastern Wällo. The third one is by šayḫ Ibrāhīm Č̣ale (d. 1958). This paper is a preliminary attempt to introduce the first of the three invocational poems composing the Ramsa to the academic world, to give a first impression of the level of Arabic proficiency of local Ethiopian scholars and to discuss the message the text contains as part of a spiritual culture practiced and cherished for at least a century by both the Muslim intelligentsia and the laity. Some codicological information about one of the manuscripts which preserve these texts is also given.