Ethiopia – thoughts and sources

"And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon because of the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions" (1 Kings 10:1)

"Encompassed on all sides by the enemies of their religion, the Ethiopians slept near a thousand years, forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten" (Edward Gibbon: The History of the Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire, Chapter 47).

"Ethiopia offers a gate through time to a state of being that is full of flavour of Old Testament times..... The scene is of David and all the house of Israel playing before the Lord on harps and lyres, drums and sistra, dancing with all their might." (Donald Levine, Wax and Gold, 1952).

The Star of David, a common talisman in Ethiopia, illustrated here with a cross inside it, just about says it all: a very Judaic Christianity blending together two religions in one.

A fascinating people whose language I was privileged to study at University. Get a flavour of Ethiopian culture from the link to the Anglo-Ethiopian website. Also linked are my lecture reports and book reviews for the society's magazine, News File.

www.anglo-ethiopian.org

Website of the Anglo-Ethiopian Society
Up-to-date information on what's on, when and where

Chairman 2012-2013 Geoffrey Ben-Nathan

www.avparsons.com/scribes

Centuries old techniques of bookmaking in Ethiopia are alive and well in remote areas. This website by John Mellors and Anne Parsons describes: parchment manufacture, pens, inks,writing, decoration and bookbinding

Five Jews in search of Christmas at Lalibela, Ethiopia's Jerusalem

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