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serious, because it eliminates the school Marcel Cohen directly or indirectly created,2) and above all the formidable cultural network in which it was inserted. I would like to mention here not only Ethiopicists like Wolf Leslau, Roger Schneider, Stefan Strelcyn, Joseph Tubiana, and Bernard Velat, but also Semitists like David Cohen, Ara- bists like Gérard Troupeau, and Islamicists like Maxime Rodinson. Nor would I like to leave unmentioned the aston- ishing copenetration between Ethiopian studies and national French anthropology, concretized in studies like those of Debora Lifchitz3) or of the same Strelcyn, who began the most important part of his career with the fourth volume of SEMITICA the Catalogue of the Griaule collection.4) This type of studies was, if one may say so, symbolized by the person of Marcel Griaule, editor of Ethiopian texts connected with VOIGT, R. (Ed.) — Die äthiopischen Studien im 20. Jahr- magic,5) and at the same time head of the Mission Dakar- hundert/Ethiopian studies in the 20th century. Akten der Djibouti of the years 1931-1933. This Mission brought rich internationalen äthiopischen Tagung Berlin 22. bis 24. material to the in Paris, and it is well Juli 2000. (Semitica et Semitohamitica Berolinensia, 2). Musée de l’Homme known that some texts collected by that Mission in Gondar Shaker Verlag GmbH, Aachen, 2003. (21 cm, 184). have been the object of the magnificent study by Rodinson ISBN 3-8322-2269-3. ISSN 1616-525X. / 35,80 paper- on magic, medicine, and the s in Gondar.6) Then there back. zar is also a writer like Michel Leiris who has to be mentioned A tiny booklet on the history of Ethiopian studies in the in this connection.7) I do believe that never as in this case twentieth century? Professor Voigt has succeeded in putting have Ethiopian studies played a so important role in the cul- all the essential for a most useful survey of a field which is tural development of a country. of crucial importance for those interested in Semitic, Chris- But there is another serious lacuna, this time due to an tian Oriental, and African studies, together. The volume unhappy valuation, which greatly diminishes the value of contains a Vorwort by Voigt (pp. 7-10) and the following the volume: the lack of any space dedicated to philology. articles: in the Section Sprachwissenschaft und Philologie This in turn derives from the very conception and definition “Ethiopian studies in the United Kingdom in the 20th Cen- of what philology is. In this volume, organized and set up tury” (pp. 13-30) by David Appleyard; “The Ethiopian lan- by linguists, philology goes together with linguistics, as they guage area: An overview of studies published in Central were more or less the same thing (or, at most, as the first and Eastern Europe” (pp. 31-54) by Václav Blazek; was the preparatory and documentary phase of the second). “Ethiopian studies in Israel” (pp. 55-70) by Gideon Gold- This opinion is very widespread, and one can really find a enberg; “Italian Ethiopian studies in the 20th Century” (pp. lot of papers and books which tirelessly treat the problem 71-102) by Marcello Lamberti; “Äthiopistik in Berlin: Das of “philology and linguistics” from this point of view.8) Wirken von Eugen Mittwoch und Aläqa Tayyä” (pp. 103- The entire matter is surely not clarified by the unfortunate 121) by Rainer Voigt. In the Section Archäologie “Die English terminological confusion between (comparative) archäologische Erforschung Äthiopiens und Eritreas” (pp. 125-143) by Steffen Wenig. In the section Historiographie “Ethiopian Historiography in the Twentieth Century” (pp. 2) A general panorama in J. Bureau, Marcel Cohen et ses successeurs 147-157) by Sven Rubenson, and “A turning-point in ou Cent Ans d’Études Ethiopiennes en France, Contribution à la célébra- tion du centième anniversaire des relations diplomatiques franco-éthiopi- Ethiopian historiography from within” (pp. 159-182) by ennes (Addis Ababa 1997). Bairu Tafla. 3) Textes éthiopiens magico-religieux (Paris: Institut d’Ethnologie 1940). At first sight these essays appear to be fairly unequal, 4) Catalogue des manuscrits éthiopiens de la Collection Griaule (Paris: some of them being devoted to general outlines, while oth- Imprimerie Nationale 1954). 5) We quote only the most important ones: “Mythes, croyances et cou- ers treat particular problems. But one is struck by the tumes du Bégamder (Abyssinie)”, JA 212 (1928) 19-124; Le livre de absence of the history of Ethiopian studies in France, due recettes d’un dabtara abyssin (Paris: Institut d’Ethnologie 1936). to some reason unknown to me. Of course, it is not a ques- 6) Magie, médecine et possession à Gondar (The Hague/Paris: Mouton tion of the elementary fact that the work and the cultural 1967). 7) “Le taureau de Syfou Tchenger”, Minotaure 2 (1933) 75-82; “Le setting of one of the undisputed masters of these studies, culte des Zars à Gondar (Ethiopie septentrionale)”, Aethiopica 2 (1934) 96- Marcel Cohen, has no place in this volume.1) This is highly 103, 125-136; “Un rite médico-magique éthiopien: le jeu du danqarà”, disappointing in itself, but also because, Marcel Cohen hav- Aethiopica 3 (1935) 61-74; “La croyance aux génies “zar” en Ethiopie du ing been a pupil of Antoine Meillet, this connection could nord”, Journal de Psychologie Normale et Pathologique 35 (1938) 108- 152; La possession et ses aspects théâtraux chez les Éthiopiens de Gondar have offered the occasion of studying the connection (Paris: Plon 1958). between Semitic and Indo-European linguistics, and in gen- 8) See for example Th. Cable, “Philology: analysis of written records”, eral of Ethiopian studies, with the cultural climate of France in Edgar C. Polomé (ed.), Research guide on language change (Berlin/New in the first decades of that century. It is exactly from this York: Mouton de Gruyter 1990) 97-105; L. Campbell, “Discussion on historical linguistics and philology” in A. Almquist (ed.), Papers from the 5th last point of view that this lacuna appears all the more International Conference on Historical Linguistics (Amsterdam/Philadel- phia, Benjamins 1983), 442; M. van Mulken, “Copyist behavior: Histori- cal linguistics and text filiation”, in J. Fisiak (ed.), Medieval dialectology (Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter 1995), 153-174, or the volume by 1) For another important personage, Sylvain Grébaut, see the bibliogra- J. Fisiak (ed.), Historical linguistics and philology (Berlin/New York: Mou- phy by J. Tubiana in JA 253 (1965) 123-149. ton de Gruyter 1990). 0993-8_BIOR_2008/1-2_01 21-04-2008 14:39 Pagina 137

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philology and comparative-historical linguistics.9) If it is MSS utilized by Charles in 1906,14) of which 22 collated obvious that any linguistic study must start from a sound directly, one passes to the 32 of Knibb in 1976, of which only philological basis, to reduce philology to such an ancillary 7 collated directly; and above all to a new stemma according role means in fact to eliminate its most important branch, to which the old bipartite genealogy is articulated in three dif- that is textual criticism. Textual criticism is of course con- ferent phases, thanks to the very important MS Tana 9, nected with linguistics, but, as the art d’éditer les anciens known also to Knibb, but too late to be fully utilized.15) For textes (Bédier, 1928), is also quite autonomous on its own, the second question, one cannot help feeling that the book of and also helps (maybe even more) to solve historical prob- Ullendorff on the phonology of the Semitic languages of lems.10) One must speak, therefore, not only of the role of Ethiopia16) has misled many scholars towards the false idea philology inside linguistics, but also of that of philology that Geez was the mother tongue of all the other languages. parallel to linguistics.11) With this concept of philology as False — in all probability — from a factual point of view, a by-product (or pre-product) of linguistics, it can safely be but above all from the point of view of the method employed. stated that at least one half of the most relevant contribu- In U.’s opinion, the phonology of the modern Semitic tions to Ethiopian studies gets lost. Ethiopian languages could be explained just through Geez — For Great Britain, the essay by David Appleyard is very forgetting that these Geez phonemes were at the same time clear and charming. It is obviously centered on the SOAS, simply those of Semitic. Anyway, U.’s book was nothing else and particularly on the personage of Edward Ullendorff — a than the tentative, made by means of a notoriously not very scholar who surely deserves such a treatment (perhaps, from safe classification device like phonology,17) to prove for Geez this point of view, a product of Ullendorff’s teaching activ- what Polotsky (only quoted by U. in this connection on p. ity in St. Andrews could have been mentioned, the PhD The- 229) had suggested for general Ethiopic,18) on the basis of a sis by David Alan Hubbard, The literary sources of the Kebra much more reliable element like the verbal system. Nagast [1957], at present the only systematic essay on this Václav Blazek’s paper is very useful indeed, because it pro- important work).12) vides us with a bibliographical list of books and articles pub- Nevertheless, A.’s essay suffers from two shortcomings: lished in Central and Eastern Europe, so in part not known to the absence of philology (for the reasons indicated above), the specialists. Some titles can be integrated19) (also with some and the lack of criticism (which in a very sensitive way the references to summaries in Africana Bulletin and others). volume in its entirety avoids). For the first problem, there is The essay by Gideon Goldenberg on Ethiopian studies in no doubt that at least the activities in the field of the apoc- Israel is complete and illuminating, as it should have been rypha and pseudepigrapha could have been mentioned, par- expected, and very aptly stresses also the Jewish-oriented inter- ticularly those by Charles. In the history of Ethiopian (and, ests of that country in the field of Ethiopian studies, especially generally speaking, oriental) philology the work on apoc- for the Falashas. It is this kind of broader approach that could rypha and pseudepigrapha is particularly significant because, give a more comprehensive character to surveys like those con- being in direct contact with classical studies, it has always tained in the present volume, beyond the purely internal per- made use of modern textual criticism. For example, Charles was one of the first to try to classify the MSS on the Book of Enoch (even without drawing a stemma codicum) and from 14) R.H. Charles, The Ethiopic version of the Book of Enoch (London: this point of view a device like that of Knibb in his Henoch Oxford University Press 1906). edition (the xerocopy of one of the MSS, suggested by Ullen- 15) See above all P. Piovanelli, “Sulla Vorlage aramaica dell’Enoch 13 etiopico”, Studi Classici e Orientali 37 (1987) 545-589; “Il testo e le dorff himself) undoubtedly marks a retrograde step. ) This traduzioni dell’Enoch etiopico 1976-1987”, Henoch 10 (1988) 85-95; cp. problem of the Book of Enoch perhaps represents a typical E. Isaac, “New light upon the Book of Enoch from newly-found Ethiopic and instructive case of the recent progresses of philology MSS”, JAOS 103 (1983) 399-411; “The oldest Ethiopic manuscript (K-9) which should have been taken into account. From the 29 of the Book of Enoch and recent studies of the Aramaic fragments of Cave 4”, in D.M. Golomb & S.T. Hollis (eds.), Working with no data: Semitic and Egyptian studies presented to T.O. Lambdin (Winona Lake: Eisen- brauns 1987), 195-207; also S. Uhlig, “Bemerkungen zur Textkritik des 9) J. Barr, “The ancient Semitic languages. The conflict between philol- äthiopischen Henoch…”, ZDMG 139 (1989) 21-42. ogy and linguistics”, TPhS (1968) 37-55; Comparative philology and the 16) E. Ullendorff, The Semitic languages of Ethiopia. A comparative text of the Old Testament (London: Oxford University Press 1968). phonology (London: Taylor’s (Foreign) Press 1955). 10) See e.g., for Geez, P. Marrassini, “Problems of Ge’ez philology”, in 17) See the discussion after Hetzron’s paper in J. & Th. Bynon (eds.), P. Zemánek (ed.), Studies in Near Eastern languages and literatures. Hamito-Semitica. Proceedings of a Colloquium held … at the School of Ori- Memorial volume of Karel Petrácek (Praha: Academy of Sciences of the ental and African Studies … on the 18th, 19th and 20th of March 1970 (The Czech Republic Oriental Institute 1996) 371-8. Hague/Paris: Mouton 1975), 102-127; for a general evaluation from a pos- 11) See e.g. A. Ronconi, “Appunti per un parallelo fra filologia e lin- itive point of view see R. Hetzron & M.L. Bender, “The Ethio-Semitic lan- guistica”, Rivista di cultura classica e medievale 6 (1964) 3-16; recently guages”, in M.L. Bender, J.D. Bowen, R.L. Cooper and C.A. Ferguson (eds.), M.D. Reeve, “Shared innovations, dichotomies, and evolution”, in A. Fer- Language in Ethiopia (London: Oxford University Press 1976), 30-33. rari (ed.), Filologia classica e filologia romanza: esperienze ecdotiche a 18) In JAOS 49 (1969) 37-38 = Collected papers (Jerusalem: Magnes confronto. Atti del Convegno Roma 25-27 maggio 1995 (Spoleto: Centro Press 1971), 577-582 (a review of W. Leslau, Gafat documents (New italiano di studi sull’Alto Medioevo 1997) 445-505; the special number of Haven: The American Oriental Society 1945); see also the only really crit- Studi Germanici 8, 1, 1970, dedicated to German philology; also J. ical review by Marcel Cohen in BiOr 13 (1956) 13-20 (not really the other, Grand’Henry, “La notion de variante en critique textuelle et en linguistique: much more generical, in Africa 26 (1956) 88-90). l’exemple arabe”, Hemisphères 10 (1995) 53-58; a tentative of application 19) E.g. W.K. Brzuski, “Les verbes amhariques en contexte guèze dans in P. Marrassini, “Le sud-sémitique entre généalogie, géographie et les chroniques royales éthiopiennes”, RO 30 (1967) 19-26; Arabic bor- développement parallèle”, Faits de langues 27/2 (2006), 217-234. rowings in old and contemporary Amharic, Diss. Univ. Varsoviensis 182, 12) On Ullendorff’s most recent essays see the bibliography by D. Ullen- Warszawa, Wyd. Uniw. Warszawiskiego 1983; J. Mantel-Niecko, “Notes dorff, “Bibliography of the writings of Professor Edward Ullendorff (1988- sur les verbes bilitères avec première consonne prépalatale en amharique”, 99)”, JSS 45 (2000) 131-6. GLECS 10 (1963) 1-5; “Quantitative research on the phonetic structure and 13) M.A. Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch. A new edition in the light derivative stems of the Amharic verb”, JSS 9 (1964) 27-41 (AAb 15 (1964), of the Aramaic Dead Sea fragments, 2 vols. (London: Oxford University n. 645). The bibliography of Strelcyn can be integrated in that published by Press 1978). Tubiana (JSS 27 (1982) 7-15) or by me (JEthSt 16 (1983) 92-103). 0993-8_BIOR_2008/1-2_01 21-04-2008 14:39 Pagina 138

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spective. A general example of the crossing between research others.25) Also the many possessors of important northern and Jewish culture, in a somewhat reversed perspective, could manuscripts (utilized by Conti Rossini or others) or discov- also be the study of the tendency to find the Ario-Semitic erers of important antiquities may be quoted: general nexus by many Jewish scholars in Europe, like Graziadio Isaia Baratieri, lieutenant Bruna, captain Carbone, colonel Ascoli. Of course the prominent figure is Hans Jakob Polot- Carossini, lieutenant Celoria, sea-captain Cerrina Feroni, lieu- sky, with his many pupils like Goldenberg himself, Ullendorff, tenant De Rossi, captain Gastaldi, lieutenant Giannini, cap- Raz,20) Hetzron,21) and, last but not least, Olga Kapeliuk, who, tain Rossini, captain Talamonti, major Tancredi, captain like her master and together with Goldenberg and in part Het- Zanardi, and others. zron, is particularly sensible to the problems of Neo-Semitic. Against this impressive amount of work on the languages Marcello Lamberti’s essay on the Ethiopian studies in Italy of Eritrea and Tigray, only few books on Amharic were pub- on purpose avoids speaking of archaeology and history (p. lished before about 1920: apart from Afevork’s Grammatica 71), but, as a matter of fact, probably for the reasons pointed della lingua amarica (Roma 1905), a manual of captain Fed- out before, not even of philology. As a review of linguistic erico Piano,26) a dictionary of Amleto Bevilacqua,27) and a studies, it is really excellent and complete, and includes also phrase-book of Lucio Scolart.28) Somali studies, a field in which L. is particularly versed. At In the second place, it must be stressed that Italy, differ- the beginning there is also a very opportune hint to the “fool- ently from the developed colonial powers like France, Great ish colonialist ambitions” inside which these studies began Britain or Germany, and in the same way as the underdevel- and flourished in Italy.22) oped colonial powers like Spain and Portugal, just because One can add two considerations. First of all, the fact that of this never arrived to really understand the peoples it was Italian scholars were at the beginning, before the fascist dominating, and never developed an anthropology or, more aggression of 1935, much more concerned with Eritrea and in general, a science of the alterity of any significant weight. Tigray, and from the linguistic point of view with Tigrinya, Even less this tendency ever penetrated in the universities. than with Ethiopia/Amharic. The connection of Italy with So, all the great Italian Ethiopicists were not university pro- Eritrea began with the purchase of the Bay of Assab in 1870, fessors, but officers of the Ministry of the Treasury (Conti followed by the foundation of some journals and/or associa- Rossini), of that of Foreign Affairs (Moreno) and of that of tions (Società Geografica Italiana, Firenze 1867, afterwards the Colonies (Cerulli, afterwards also ambassador). No won- in Roma from 1873; the journal L’esploratore, founded in der that they left no school at all. Also the teaching of sev- Milano by Manfredo Camperio in 1877; the Società di Esplo- eral Ethiopian subjects after the War, in Naples, did not pro- razione Commerciale in Africa, Milano 1879; the Club duce any significant effect. So, a total absence of continuity Africano, afterwards Società Africana d’Italia, Napoli 1880; is to be pointed out between the old generation of Italian and many others in Firenze, Bari, Torino, etc.). The occupa- Ethiopicists, and that of the present time. This unproductive tion of Massawa was realized in 1885, that of Keren and situation was the reason why, as far as classical (i.e. philo- Asmara in 1889; the Colonia Eritrea was created in January, logical) Ethiopian studies are concerned, during the Seven- 1st, 1890 (Ferdinando Martini was the first civilian governor, ties Cerulli tried to encourage some young people to enter 1898-1907). Taking into account only the production of gram- upon this field by organizing a series of Seminars at the mars and dictionaries, to the exclusion of historical or gen- Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, under the direction of Ste- eral essays (many of them of merely popular character) this fan Strelcyn, with the consequence that some then young peo- northern connection is reflected in the scholarly (or nearly so) ple got interested in this subject: among them R. Fattovich activities of some military23) or religious personnel24) or by for archaeology, and P. Marrassini for philology. The former, an Egyptologist from Trieste, developed an excellent archaeological school in Naples (see below). The latter, being a 20) See Aethiopica 3 (2000) 190-191, by the same Goldenberg. Semitist from Florence, was lucky enough to utilize the great 21) See his bibliography in A. Zaborski (ed.), New data and new meth- ods in Afroasiatic linguistics. Robert Hetzron in memoriam (Wiesbaden: philological tradition of his original milieu, and to produce, Harrassowitz Verlag 2001), xi-xix. without the least continuity with the preceding Italian tradi- 22) For the popularity of Italian at that time one can add the very impor- tion, the actual generation of Ethiopian philologists in Italy: tant Le tribù dei Mensa, by K.G. Rodén, of the Swedish Evangelical Mis- A. Bausi (Naples), A. Gori (Florence), G. Lusini (Naples), P. sion, partly promoted by Ferdinando Martini, edited in Asmara and Stock- holm in 1913, and translated into German only in 1961. Piovanelli (Québec). 23) Captain Ruffillo Perini, Manuale teorico-pratico della lingua tigrè This brings us to the major subject which has not been (Roma 1893); and the magnificent Di qua dal Mareb (Marèb-Mellàsc') treated by L. (as well as the rest of the authors of this vol- (Firenze: Tip. Cooperativa 1905), dedicated to Ferdinando Martini, and offi- ume, see above), that is, Philology. There is no doubt that cially approved by the military governor general Baratieri and by the com- mander-in-chief general Arimondi; captain Manfredo Camperio, Manuale tigrè-italiano, con dizionarietti italiano-tigrè e tigrè-italiano e cartina dimostra- tiva degli idiomi parlati in Eritrea (Milano: Hoepli 1894) (in cooperation with 25) Alessandro Allori, Piccolo dizionario eritreo (Milano: Hoepli 1895); husband and wife Rodén, and two local learned persons), not very good but Giovan Michele Bianchi, Dizionario e frasario eritreo, Italiano-tigrai e reprinted in 1919 and in 1936; the excellent Esercizi di lettura in lingua tigrai-italiano (Milano: Fratelli Treves 1900); Alfonso Cimino, Vocabo- tigrigna (Roma: Casa Editrice Italiana 1894), the Grammatica elementare della lario italiano-tigrai e tigrai-italiano (Asmara: Tipografia della Missione lingua tigrigna (Roma: Tipografia Poliglotta della S.C. de Propaganda Fide Svedese 1904). 1895), and the Vocabolario della lingua tigrina (con introd. e indici di C. Conti 26) Dizionario italiano-amarico (Roma 1887); Id., Raccolta delle frasi Rossini) (Roma: Casa Editrice Italiana 1896), by major Ludovico De Vito, più usuali tradotte dall’italiano in amarico, coll’aggiunta di un piccolo governor of Akkele Gyzay from 1895, and fallen at Adua one year later. dizionario (Roma: Tipografia Voghera Carlo 1887). 24) Angelo da Ronciglione, Manuale tigray-italiano-francese (Roma: 27) Vocabolario italiano-amarico (Roma: Casa Editrice Italiana 1917); Ministero degli affari esteri. Direzione centrale degli affari coloniali. Uffi- II ed. Nuovo vocabolario italiano-amarico (Roma: Tipografia del Senato cio di studi coloniali, Casa Editrice Italiana 1912); Francesco da Bassano, 1937). Vocabolario tigray-italiano e repertorio italiano-tigray (Roma: Casa 28) Frasario e vocaboli in lingua amarica-oromona-araba-inglese, con Editrice Italiana di C. De Luigi 1918); Missione Cattolica di Asmara, le preghiere in etiopico, ad uso dei viaggiatori in Abisssinia (Napoli: Tip. Grammatica della lingua tigré (Asmara: Tipografia Francescana 1919). Michele Gambella 1888). 0993-8_BIOR_2008/1-2_01 21-04-2008 14:39 Pagina 139

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really critical editions of Geez texts, today, are much more works on a general subject as they are, exactly in the exag- numerous than in the past, and that the fetishist attachment gerated importance given to archaeology. W. offers an inter- to the “basic manuscript” has become for many authors an esting and agile sketch (always with clear chronological indi- old-fashioned principle. In this context, the Italian school has cations) of the most important explorations and excavations acquired a prominent position (explicitly recognized by the in Ethiopia, from Alvarez (1520) to the German excavations fact of entrusting to Bausi the report on Philology at the of Helmut Ziegert, begun in Aksum in the year 2000. The Ethiopian Conference in Hamburg in 2003) by making use only criticism could be some confusion in the denominations of a rigorous neo-lachmannian method (as against e.g. that (Institute for Ethiopian Studies, Institut éthiopien d’Études et extremely outdated one of Colin, and the mixed one of de Recherches, Istituto di Studi Etiopici; Section d’Archéolo- Kropp), for example in the editions of the Life of Libanos29) gie, Istituto Archeologico Etiopico, Centro per la Ricerca e or of Gabra Manfas Qeddus,30) or in the Geez as well as the la Conservazione del Patrimonio Culturale), and minor short- Arabic text of the Martyrium Arethae,31) just published. This comings, like the fact of putting on the same level the foun- new text-critical approach is surely the most relevant inno- dation of the Annales d’Éthiopie in 1955, and the amateurish vation in the field of traditional Ethiopian studies in Italy, and Bollettino dell’Istituto di Studi Etiopici (Erythraean, after all) it cannot be left out in a survey like this. founded in Asmara in 1952. Also the important franco-ital- The paper on the Ethiopian studies in Berlin, by Voigt ian excavations at Yeha, by Ch. Robin and A. de Maigret in himself, is of course very interesting as far as the creation of 1998, could have been mentioned. the Seminar für Orientalische Sprachen (SOS) is concerned, Of the two contributions on history, the first, by Sven and goes in depth in the episodes of Eugen Mittwoch and of Rubenson, is interesting in that it gives, after some statements Aläqa Tayyä — but it cannot be held (nor was this the inten- about History and Historiography, a sketch of the studies on tion of Voigt) that Ethiopian studies in Germany stop here. history at Addis Ababa University, and makes a list of the In fact, a survey which would pretend to show a minimum teachers in this subject (from Rubenson himself to Sergew of completeness should not help making clear that Ethiopian Hable Sellassie, Richard Pankhurst, Zvi Yabetz who founded studies in Germany were in the past perhaps not at the same the History department, Taddesse Tamrat, Mordechai Abir, level as in France or in Great Brtain (nor in Italy), but that Donald Crummey, Richard Caulk, Merid Wolde Aregay, they underwent a gigantic development in the last decades, Bahru Zewde). But there is nothing about the most fruitful thanks, again, to philology, with the great cataloguing enter- innovations of the last decades, i.e. the encounter of history prises begun by Ernst Hammerschmidt (an Austrian) with his with philology (Kropp and others) and with anthropology masterly catalogues of the manuscripts of Lake Tana,32) con- (Triulzi and others). More interesting is the paper by Bairu tinued today (like the others, as volumes of the VOHD = Tafla, on Ethiopian native historiography. This is surely a Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutsch- subject that should be continued in the future, also by valu- land) by Veronika Six.33) Also trifles like the philological and ating more in depth the degree of continuity between mod- historical works by Kropp, or the formidable enterprise by ern Ethiopian historiography and the ancient tradition. Uhlig in Hamburg (the journal Aethiopica, and the Ency- So, in conclusion, a volume which does not offer a com- clopaedia Aethiopica, the group of young Ethiopicists, and plete panorama in all the fields it covers, but anyway a very so on) should have been mentioned. useful and stimulating one. In the section on archaeology Steffen Wenig (an outsider coming from Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology, as he him- Firenze, Paolo MARRASSINI self declares) complains that Ethiopian archaeology has November 2006 developed comparatively later than the other sectors, and that a history of this discipline (in which, in his opinion, a complete list of the archaeological sites should be included) has been written only in 1992 by R. Fattovich.34) But frankly speaking, to say that Anfray’s Les anciens Éthiopiens (1990), or Munro-Hay’s Aksum (1991) contains too little on this subject is really to show an immoderate appetite, in front of books which, especially the second, really go too far, as

29) A. Bausi, La “Vita” e i “Miracoli” di Libanos, CSCO 595/596, SAe 105/106, Louvain, Peeters 2003. 30) P. Marrassini, “Vita”, “Omelia”, “Miracoli” del santo Gabra Manfas Qeddus, CSCO 597/598, SAe 107/108, Louvain, Peeters 2003. 31) A. Bausi & A. Gori, Tradizioni orientali del “Martirio di Areta”. La prima recensione araba e la versione etiopica. Edizione critica e traduzione, Quaderni di Semitistica 27, Firenze, Dipartimento di Linguis- tica, 2006. 32) E. Hammerschmidt, Äthiopische Handschriften vom Tanasee. Teil I (Wiesbaden: Steiner 1973); Teil II, Wiesbaden: Steiner 1977). 33) E. Hammerschmidt & V. Six, Äthiopische Handschriften. 1. Die Handschriften der Staatsbibliothek preussischer Kulturbesitz (Wiesbaden: Steiner 1983); 2. Die Handschriften der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek (Wiesbaden: Steiner 1989); 3. Handschriften deutscher Bibliotheken, Museen und aus Privatbesitz (Wiesbaden: Steiner 1994); V. Six, Äthiopis- che Handschriften vom Tanasee. Teil III (Stuttgart: Steiner 1999). 34) Storia dell’archeologia dell’Etiopia e della Somalia, Supplemento 71 to vol. 52 of AION, Napoli 1992.