The Book of Axum[1] (Ge'ez መጽሐፈ ፡ አክሱም maṣḥafa aksūm, Amharic: meṣhafe aksūm, Tigrinya: meṣḥafe aksūm, Latin: Liber Axumae) is the name accepted[2] since the time of James Bruce[3] in the latter part of the 18th century CE for a collection of documents from Saint Mary's Cathedral of Axum providing information on History of Ethiopia. The earliest parts of the collection date to the mid-15th century during the reign of Zar'a Ya`qob (r. 1434-1468).

The book's editor Carlo Conti Rossini classified the book into three parts: the first, earlier, section describes the Church Maryam Seyon in Axum prior to it being damaged in the mid-16th century, the topography of Axum and its history, and contains a list of services and the like regarding Maryam Seyon and its clergy. The second part is dated to the early 17th century and contains 104 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 Axum's history. The book was also supplemented in the mid-19th century with further later documents.[4]

The book derives the name Ethiopia from Itiyopp'is, an (otherwise unmentioned) son of the Biblical Cush.[5] According to the Book of Axum Itiyopp'is built Mazaber, the Kingdom of Axum's first capital.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ Tefera, Amsalu (1 Jan 2015). "Traditions on Zion and Axum". The Ethiopian Homily on the Ark of the Covenant (The Ethiopian Homily on the Ark of the Covenant ed.). Brill. pp. 39–80. doi:10.1163/9789004297180_004. ISBN 9789004297180. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  2. ^ Shahan, Thomas (1907). ""Axum."". New Advent. New York: Robert Appleton Company: The Catholic Encyclopedia. pp. Vol. 2. Retrieved 6 April 2021. Among the valuable Ethiopic manuscripts found in Abyssinia in modern times is the Book of Axum, or Abyssinian Chronicles, brought back by the traveller Bruce.
  3. ^ Bruce of Kinnaird, James (1804). "Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 (1804 Edinburgh 2nd ed. text used here)". Oliver's Bookshelf. Retrieved 6 April 2021. Although the years laid down in the book of Axum do not precisely agree with our account, yet they are so near, that we cannot doubt that the revolt of the ten tribes, and destruction of Rehoboam's fleet, which followed, occasioned the removal of Menilek's capital to Tigre. † But, whatever was the cause, Menilek did remove his court from Azab to a place near Axum, at this day called Adega Daid, the House of David; and, at no great distance, is another, called Azabo, from his ancient metropolis, where there are old remains of buildings of stone and lime; a certain proof that Axum was then fallen, else he would have naturally gone thither immediately upon forsaking his mother's capital of Azab.
  4. ^ Lusini, Gianfrancesco "Aksum:Mäṣḥafä Aksum" in Uhlig, Siegbert et alii, Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 1: A-C (Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003.), p. 185.
  5. ^ "Ethiopia". Berhan Ethiopia Cultural Center. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  6. ^ Africa Geoscience Review, Volume 10. Rock View International. 2003. p. 366. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  7. ^ Stuart Munro-Hay, "Aksumawi," in Uhlig, Siegbert, ed. Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2003), p. 186.

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