Maps, dear reader, were, as you know, rare all over the world in former times -including Ethiopia.
There was, however, one old-time Ethiopian map – or more exactly a diagramatic sketch of one, with which we are concerned today. At least five variations of it are known to the present writer. They are included in five different 18th century Ethiopian manuscripts – works of the later Gondarine period as historians call it.
Archive for the ‘Manuscripts’ Category
Historical notes on books: An early Ethiopian map
Posted in Manuscripts on May 6, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Ethiopia’s historic heritage and the struggle for its preservation (Part 2)
Posted in Conservation, Manuscripts, Restitution on February 25, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Pankhurst’s Corner continues this week on the theme of heritage preservation, highlighting the nation’s precious trove of rare manuscripts. The professor illuminates us on efforts underway in various initiatives, to maintain and establish the repositories of Ethiopian antiquity.
Why some Maqdala books were torn up
Posted in Manuscripts, Restitution, The Maqdala loot on November 19, 2007| Leave a Comment »
A grievous and perhaps unforgivable consequence of war is the senseless looting and plunder that victorious armies perpetrate on what is to the rampaging solider, ‘spoils of war’, but to the defeated side the very essence of their civilization and heritage. Magdalla – or to use Professor Pankhurst’s spelling Maqdalla – is remembered not only for the martyrdom of Emperor Teodros but also as an instance of cultural genocide on a mass scale. Welcome to Pankhurst’s Corner!
Richard Pankhurst 