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 CHAPTER VI.

ETHIOPIAN (ABYSSINIAN) AMULETS.

The early history of that section of the “ black-

visaged ” peoples whose home was the country in
north-east Africa now known as Abyssinia is lost,
if it ever existed, and of the superstitions and religion
of the primitive Ethiopians there is nothing to be
said. A black stone Cippus of Homs, which was
imported into Ethiopia from Egypt, and was dis¬
covered by the great traveller Bruce, proves that
there lived in the country during the IVth or Illrd
century b.c. people who were acquainted with,
and who probably practised, the “ Black Magic ”
of Egypt. The Arabs who invaded Ethiopia in the
Xth century b.c. introduced Sabaeism, or the cult
of the sun, and moon, and stars, and sky, and earth,
into the country, and the Hebrew traders who
settled in Ethiopia several centuries before Christ,
of course took with them their religion of Yahweh
or Jah. One thing is quite clear ; up to the beginning
of the IVth century a.d. the Ethiopians were pagans,
magicians were their priests, and every branch of
magic flourished. The conquests of the Egyptians
in Upper Nubia in the second millennium before
Christ were known to the peoples of Northern
Ethiopia, and they learned from the Egyptians many
kinds of magic, and the use of Egyptian amulets.
But of the native amulets of that period we know
A

nothing. Whilst king ‘Ezana, king of Aksum, was

M
178 AMULETS AND SUPERSTITIONS

fighting on the Island of Meroe his soldiers captured

a priest who was wounded in the fight. They took
from the priest a kedada of silver, and a hekat of
gold. The hekat of gold was, undoubtedly, a magical
box or case in which was placed the kedada of silver,
which was probably a figure of some object which the
priest carried about with him to give him magical
power over the enemy against whom his lord was
fighting. (See my History of Ethiopia, vol. i. p. 256,
1. 26.)
In the first half of the IVth century of our Era
Ethiopia was ruled by the mighty king 'Ezana, the
Aizanes of the Greeks, and before the close of his
reign he renounced paganism and made Christianity
the official religion of his empire. The crescent and
the star, the symbols of Sabaeism, which was brought
into Ethiopia by the Arabs, were replaced by the
Christian Cross at the beginning of his inscriptions.
It does not by any means follow that his subjects
throughout the country abandoned their pagan
cults and amulets, but there is no doubt that among
such of them as embraced Christianity the Cross
became the first and greatest of all amulets and
protective symbols. Pictures of the Cross are
nailed to the walls of houses to protect them from
evil spirits, and they are often laid on the bodies
of sick persons, old and young, to annul the evil
influences which are causing the sicknesses. The

commonest form of the Cross is but several

other forms are known, and the group of six crosses

figured on p. 179 are characteristic examples. These
are taken from a magical Book of the Dead in the
 ETHIOPIAN (ABYSSINIAN) AMULETS 179

Tracings of the magical forms of the Cross found in an Ethiopian Book of

the Dead called “ Lefafa Sedek ” (Brit. Mus. MS. Add. 16204).
180 AMULETS AND SUPERSTITIONS

British Museum, in which they served as Vignettes.

Each belonged to a section of the work, which was
called “ Lefafa Sedek," or the “ Bandlet of Right¬
eousness/' and each was supposed to possess a special
power.
The commonest amulet in Abyssinia appears in
the form of a strip of parchment (sheep skin), which
varies in length from a few inches to five or six
feet, and in width from two to six or seven inches.
These strips are sometimes folded flat and sewn up
inside leather coverings which are attached to cloaks
and inner garments, and sometimes they are rolled
up and enclosed in cylindrical leather sheaths which
often resemble cartridge cases. When cords are
attached to them they hang from the neck or are
tied to the left arm.
All such amulets have inscriptions written on
one side in Ge'ez, i.e. Ethiopic, the old literary
language of Abyssinia. The written letters were
held in great reverence, and were themselves sup¬
posed to possess magical powers. This was the
case in Egypt. A remarkable example of this
fact is supplied by the Papyrus of Nesi-ta-neb-
ashru in the British Museum. All the chapters of
the Book of the Dead are in this papyrus written
in the hieratic characters, but the “ Negative Con¬
fession" (Chapter cxxv), a most important text, is also
given in hieroglyphs, which were believed to have
been invented by the god Thoth.
The inscriptions on these amulets include : (i) the
various names of God, e.g. Adonai, Elohim, Yah,
El-Shaddai, etc. ; (2) the names of archangels, e.g.
Michael and Gabriel; (3) the magical names of
Christ ; (4) the names of the fiends and devils which
 ETHIOPIAN (ABYSSINIAN) AMULETS 181

produce sicknesses and diseases in the human

body ; (5) strings of letters arranged singly or in
groups of three—spells which cannot be translated,
e.g. the ancient palindrome, Satgr Arepo Tenet
Opera Rotas ; (6) traditional “ words of power/'
e.g. those used by Christ, “ Asparaspes ! ” and
’Askoraskis ! ” and those used by Solomon,
“ Lofham ! ” and “ Mahfelon ! (7) Legends of
our Lord and St. Susenyos the martyr.
On many of the longer amulets there are drawn
or painted figures of some of the Seven Archangels,
e.g. Michael and Gabriel, who are usually represented
in the form of knights of the Byzantine period, and
figures of saints, e.g. Susenyos, the martyr, and
St. George of Lydda. The saints sometimes appear
on horseback, and they are generally provided with
a long spear with which they are spearing either the
“ dragon/’ or some prostrate fiend. Side by side
with these we find series of magical drawings
which were supposed to protect the wearer of the
amulet. These are as important as the figures of
angels and saints and the actual texts. The
Ethiopians and their descendants the Abyssinians
wore their amulets for the material benefits which
they believed would accrue to them through them.
Women believed that they would give them fecundity
and ccnception, and immunity from miscarriage, and
safety during the period of gestation, and a safe
delivery and healthy children ; and they expected
them to protect their children from the Evil Eye.
Men wore them to give them virility and strength,
and both men and women expected them to preserve
them from the attacks of the devils which cause
sickness and disease.
182 AMULETS AND SUPERSTITIONS

The greater part of a good typical amulet is

reproduced on Plate XVII. It was written about the
end of the XVIIth century for a woman called
’Absara Dengel,” i.e. the Virgin hath sent her
as a “glad tiding.” At the top is the figure of an
archangel or angel, with a halo from which emerge
rays of light. He is arrayed in voluminous flowered
garment, and holds a sword in his right hand. The
inscription begins with the usual formula, " In the
Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, One God.” Then follows a prayer that
’Absara Dengel may be saved from miscarriage and
a series of sicknesses of various kinds, and from the
demon who attacks children when they are suckling
at their mothers' breasts. Next we have the
Legend of Susenyos, who was martyred in the reign
of Diocletian. According to this, Werzelya, the
sister of the saint, had union with the Devil, and
the saint slew her. Susenyos married, and his wife
bore him a man child, who was killed by Werzelya.
Susenyos then mounted his horse and, taking his
spear in his right hand, went forth to slay Werzelya.
An old woman told him where she was, and he went
into a garden and found her sitting under a tree,
with a company of devils grouped about her. The
saint dismounted and knelt down with his face to the
earth and prayed for strength to kill Werzelya, the
murderer of children, and the closer of the wombs of
women. Then he remounted his horse, and took
his spear in his right hand and drove it through the
right side of Werzelya. As she was dying she swore
by the Seven Ranks of the Archangels that she
would never again go to any place [or person] where
the name of Susenyos was found. Therefore the
 PLATE XVII

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Portion of the amulet of ’Absara Dengel. Vignette : St. Michael the Arch¬
angel. Text : The legend of Susenyos, who slew the devil-woman
Werzelya, his sister.
 ETHIOPIAN (ABYSSINIAN) AMULETS 185

woman who has hung on her person an amulet

on which the name of Susenyos and the story of his
life are written was held to be safe from the attacks
of Werzelya, and her child also, when suckling at
her breast. After Susenyos had slain Werzelya he
became a martyr, and the prayer which he prayed
in the garden before he speared her was regarded
as a spell of very great power.
The fear of the Evil Eye always has been, and still
is, common in Abyssinia. The pagan Ethiopians,
like the Egyptians, wore stones, beads and other
objects to attract the Evil Eye away from their
persons, but the Christians used other means, and
tried to avert it by the use of a spell. This spell
took the form of a legend, which we find written on
many parchment amulets, and which may be thus
summarized : Our Tord and His disciples were
walking by the Sea of Tiberias and they saw an old
woman of most foul appearance and terrifying aspect
sitting upon a seat of filth. Her eyes shot out rays
of yellow light like the glitter of gold, her hands and
her feet seemed to be like wheels, or to move about
like wheels, and flashes of fire sixty-eight cubits
(i.e. over one hundred feet) came forth from her
mouth. The disciples said to Our Tord, “ What
is this thing, O Lord?" And He replied, “ This
is the Eye of Earth, evil and accursed. If a glance
of it falls on a ship at sea, straightway that ship
sinketh. If its glance followeth a horse, both horse
and rider are cast down. If its glance falleth on a
cow which is being milked, the milk goeth sour
and is turned into blood. When this Eye looketh
upon a woman with child, a miscarriage taketh
place, and both child and mother are destroyed."
186 AMULETS AND SUPERSTITIONS

Then our Lord pronounced the two words of power

“ ’Asparaspes ” and “ ’Askoraskis,” and the disciples
took the Eye of Earth, which was called “ "Aynat,”
and they burned the old woman and scattered the
ashes of her to the east and the west, and to the
south and the north. An amulet with this legend
written upon it was supposed to keep away any
trouble from the eyes of its wearer.
Some of the best-written and oldest amulets
contain prescriptions which are sheer nonsense-
Thus in the amulet of Walatta Kidan the wearer is
told to recite seven times the sounds—
Shar Shar Shar Shar Shar Shar Shar
Djar D]ar Djar Djar Djar Djar Djar
Tje Tje Tje Tje Tje Tje Tje

This formula is said to have been given by God

to ’Adernaha’el, who was instructed to make it
known to men who suffered from colic and stomach
ache. And in another amulet we are told that evil
spirits and diseases of all kinds may be kept away
from a man by reciting the formula—
Yalbed Yalbed Yalbed Y albed Yalbed Yalbed Yalbed
Nor Nor Nor Nor Nor Nor Nor
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
Ka Ka Ka Ka Ka Ka Ka
Ae Ae Ae Ae Ae Ae Ae
Ao Ao Ao Ao Ao Ao Ao

most curious; and interesting <example of

Ethiopian amulet folded and in book form was brought
to me in the British Museum several years ago for
description by the late Father Pollen, S.J. After
his death I asked Father Thurston. S.J., if he knew
what had become of it, and he informed me that it
belonged to the Convent of the Sacred Heart at
 ETHIOPIAN (ABYSSINIAN) AMULETS 187

Hammersmith, and advised me to make further

enquiries of the Lady Superior. I did so, and the
Abbess very kindly sent it to me for further examina¬
tion. How the amulet got to England is not known,
but it was probably brought home by one of the
Roman Catholic missionaries a generation or two
ago, and either given by him or a brother missionary
to the Convent. After a further examination of
the amulet I told the Abbess that I should like to
write about it, and after a short correspondence I
made a modest offer to buy it, and my offer being
accepted I became the possessor of the amulet
and am now able to describe it. The amulet is in
the form of a book and measures 4J inches by
3^ inches. It consists of one long strip of parch¬
ment 14 feet 4 inches in length, which is formed of
several short strips neatly sewn together. This
strip is covered on both sides with columns of
Ethiopic text written in black ink and arranged in
page form, the titles of the various compositions,
and the names of saints and the Virgin Mary, and
the name of the owner of the amulet being in red
ink. Many pages are water stained, and in a few
places, where the text has been rubbed away or
otherwise destroyed, patches of vellum inscribed
with the missing portions of lines have been added.
The little book can be drawn out like a concertina.
The oldest parts of the text were probably written
in the XVIIth century. The name of the first
owner of the book was Batra Giwargis, i.e. “ staff
of George,” but in two places at least we find the
name Walda Maryam.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of this amulet
is due to the fact that it throws considerable light on
188 AMULETS AND SUPERSTITIONS

the Ethiopian’s views about religion. If we begin at

one end and turn over folio after folio we find that the
texts written on one side of the long strip of parchment
(which we have already said is over 14 feet long) are
taken from the Homilies of Severus of Antioch on
St. Michael the Archangel, and the Miracles of the

The Divine Face surrounded with the Eight Aeons or Emanations, and
the Seven Astrological Stars.
(From the amulet of Batra Giwargis.)

Virgin Mary. All very right and proper for an

orthodox Ethiopian Christian. But when we turn
the book over and from the other end of it read the
texts on the other side of the strip of parchment,
we find series of spells and charms, and magical
prayers and drawings which were beloved by the
 ETHIOPIAN (ABYSSINIAN) AMULETS 189

pagan Ethiopian. The one strip of parchment was

thus able to supply both of the spiritual wants of
Batra Giwargis, and illustrates the character of the
product of the religious views produced by fusing
Christianity with paganism and its religious magic.
The magical drawings in the book are of consider¬
able interest. The first of them is painted in crude

Magical Drawing representing the Chariot of Elijah.

(From the amulet of Batra Giwargis.)

colours and purports to represent the Divine Face

(see page 188). A human face, with large prominent
eyes, is seen set in a rectangle, from each side of
which two right-angled triangles (?) project. Above
and below the square are three “ heavens,” or aeons,
or aspects of the Deity, and on each side of it is one
190 AMULETS AND SUPERSTITIONS

heaven. The seven symbols, each formed of two

interlaced crescents, the horns of which terminate
in small circles, represent the Seven Planets. These
last are found in Greek and Coptic magical papyri.
The whole scene probably represents the heavens by
day, for immediately following this vignette is a

Magical Drawing representing thmNet in which Solomon caught the fiends

and devils.
(From the amulet of Batra Giwargis.)

somewhat similar central face and figure which

symbolizes the heavens by night ; a star is attached
to the ends of the light projections from the rectangle
containing the features of a man. Several pages in
the little book are filled with drawings of various
forms of the Cross, groups of four eyes, and human
 ETHIOPIAN (ABYSSINIAN) AMULETS 191

heads which probably represent Christ and the Four

Evangelists. No explanations are given of the
linear designs which appear in large numbers,
but their significations must have been well
known of the owner of the amulet, for the name
of Batra Giwargis is found on nearly all of them.

Solomon with his wife.

(From the amulet of Batra Giwargis.)

Some of the drawings are of special interest, ifor I

have found them in no other Ethiopic manuscript.
Among these may be mentioned the Sargala ’Elyas
or “ Chariot of Elijah ” (page 189), the object
of which was to give Batra Giwargis the means
of ascending into heaven when his soul left the
earth.
192 AMULETS AND SUPERSTITIONS

Traditions extant in Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and

Ethiopic all agree in stating that King Solomon
was a master magician, and that he had authority
over all the fiends of Hell, which he caught in a
net like fishes, as he had over all beasts and birds.
The Ethiopian Christian wished to possess this

Adam and Eve, who holds up a serpent, sitting in the Garden of Eden.
(From the amulet of Batra Giwargis.)

authority, and we find in the amulet of Batra

Giwargis a picture of the Marbabeta Salomon
or “ Net of Solomon ” (page 190). Many Ethiopian
historians, accepting the legend of Solomon's union
with Makeda, the Oueen of Sheba, have regarded
Solomon a the true founder of their kingdom. As
 ETHIOPIAN (ABYSSINIAN) AMULETS 193

Batra Giwargis wished to obtain the benefit of

his protecting magic, and this could be best secured
by drawing a picture of him, together with his potent
spells, on his amulet, we find there the scene repro¬
duced on page 191. Here we see King Solo¬
mon seated in a sort of shrine, with his long hair

The Cross with the Divine Face.

(From the amulet of Batra Giwargis.)

falling on each side of his head. By his side is seated

a woman who is covering her mouth, in the well-
known Oriental fashion, with a portion of her outer
garment. She is wearing shoes with pointed turned
up toes. A little above the king's head on his
right is the crescent moon, and a little above the
woman's head, on her left, is the sun. This scene
N
194 AMULETS AND SUPERSTITIONS

is described as “ Salomon mesla be’esitu,” “ Solo¬

mon with his wife,” the wife here represented being
the Oueen of Sheba.
Another drawing, which is very rarely found in
magical texts, is that which is reproduced on

The Cross of 'Abu Fara.

(From the amulet of Batra Giwargis.)

page 192. Here we see Adam and Eve, who are

both naked, seated in the Garden of Eden. Eve
is holding up with her right hand a long serpent,
which appears to be speaking to her. The
Ethiopic description of the scene is “ Za kama
’ashata kaysi la-Hewan,” i.e. “ How the serpent
 ETHIOPIAN (ABYSSINIAN) AMULETS 195

seduced Eve.” The tree with the forbidden fruit

is on the left of Eve, and the object on the right
of Adam is perhaps the mandragora. The object of
including this picture among the Vignettes in the
amulet is not clear.
Another remarkable drawing is reproduced on
page 193. Here we have on the right a variant
form of the Divine Face which forms the centre
of a cross. To the left of it is a cross drawn on a
cross-shaped background, and on each of the four
arms is an eye. Below are fifteen small panels on
which are drawn groups of four eyes, pairs of eyes,
and X-shaped crosses. This drawing was regarded
as a very special protection against the attacks of
fiends and devils and the Evil Eye, and it was
intended to show that the Face of God dwelt in
the cross and in figures and drawings of it. Finally we
may note the very elaborately decorated cross which
is reproduced on page 194. Above it is written in
Ethiopic “ Deliver thy servant Batra Giwargis,”
and below are the words “ tebab za ’Abufara Seltana,”
which may be rendered the “ wisdom (or, medicine)
of Abu Fara (?) our Sultan.”
The inscriptions which are found on parchment
amulets, i.e. prayers, spells, magical names and
names of the Deity and angels are generally derived
from Jewish, Christian (i.e. Gnostic and Coptic)
sources, and these are comparatively easy to identify.
There are however some which are of pagan origin,
and words, names and formulas are found in them
which are inexplicable. Occasionally we meet with,
a mixture of paganism and Christianity in the
inscriptions, and among magical writings of this
class special mention must be made of a little work
196 AMULETS AND SUPERSTITIONS

entitled “ Lefafa Seder ” or the “ Bandlet of

Righteousness/' The rubrics in it claim that if a
man carries a copy of it on his person it will make
his business in this world to prosper, and give him
health and strength and preserve him from attacks
of sickness caused by demons, and help him to come
forth uncondemned by the Great Judge in the Hall
of Judgment, and to escape punishment in the River
of Fire in Hell. The preliminary narrative states
that the author of the book was God, who dictated
it to our Lord, who wrote it down and gave it first
to Mary, His Mother, and subsequently to the Arch¬
angel Michael, who made its contents known in
due course to the Apostles and others. It is further
stated that when God heard from His Son of the
tears and distress of the Virgin Mary when she
thought of her parents and kinsfolk being punished
in the River of Fire, He dictated the book to His
Son so that the happiness of the Virgin in heaven
might not be destroyed. The Lefafa Sedek is
constructed on the same plan as the Egyptian
Book of the Dead, and is a veritable Ethiopian
Book of the Dead. But the author, who was a
Christian, substitutes God for Ra, Christ for Thoth,
and the Virgin Mary for Isis. The magical names of
the Persons of the Trinity, and the names of the
Archangels and other celestial beings take the places
of the names of Egyptian fiends in the spells which
were believed to preserve the dead body intact,
and to ensure its remaining in its grave, and to
enable the soul of the dead man to find its way
through the earth to the dread Hall of Judgment,
and to save it from the River of Fire. The texts
in the Lefafa Sedek were written on a strip or sheet
 ETHIOPIAN (ABYSSINIAN) AMULETS 197

of linen which was wrapped round the body of the

dead, just as a sheet of papyrus inscribed with copies
of Chapters of the Book of the Dead was often
wrapped round the body of the dead Egyptian.
The belief in the existence of a Hall of Judgment
and a River of Fire was borrowed from the
Egyptians, and it is possible that some of the magical
names given in the Lefafa Sedek are transcriptions
of the names of Egyptian devils. The Ethiopic
text with an English translation and a commentary
are published in my Bandlet of Righteousness, London,
1929 (Luzac's Series).
The Ethiopians believed that Moses, Solomon,
Christ and His Apostles and Disciples were all
magicians, and therefore the Books of the Old and
New Testaments and copies of them were often
regarded as amulets. The “ Book of the Miracles
of the Virgin Mary ” and the “ Weddase
Maryam ” or “ Praises of Mary ” were also con¬
sidered to be sources of magical protection. The
Book of Psalms formed a very favourite amulet
among those who could afford to pay for a copy of
it to be made. And certain native Ethiopian books
are regarded with very great veneration throughout
Abyssinia, and upon the possession of the most
famous of these, the Kebra Nagast, or “ Glory of
Kings/' the stability of the kingdom was at one time
supposed to rest. It will be remembered that when
the British Army captured Makdala, the strong
fortress in which Theodore, the mighty Abyssinian
king, had estabhshed himself with his army, the
great collection of about 900 Ethiopic manuscripts
which Theodore had collected fell into the hands of
the British. These were brought to the British
198 AMULETS AND SUPERSTITIONS

Museum in 1868, and the late Professor William

Wright, who catalogued the collection, found among
them two fine copies of the Kebra Nagast. He
printed full descriptions of them in his Catalogue of
the Ethiopia MSS., London, 1877, No. CCCXCI,
p. 297, and in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgen-
landischen Gesellschaft, Bd. XXIV, pp. 614, 615.
On August 10, 1872, Prince Kasa, who was sub¬
sequently crowned as King John IV (December 14,
1872), wrote to Earl Granville thus :—
" Again, there is a book called Kivera Negust
(i.e. Kebra Nagast), which contains the Law of
the whole of Ethiopia, and the names of the Shums
(i.e. Chiefs), Churches, and Provinces are in this
book. I pray you will hnd out who has got this
book, and send it to me, for in my Country my
people will not obey my orders without it/’ In
short, King John IV says that without this book
he cannot rule Ethiopia. A copy of this letter
was sent to the British Museum, and the Trustees
decided to grant King John's request, and the manu¬
script was restored to him on December 14, 1872.
M. Hugues Le Roux, a French envoy from the
President of the French Republic to Menyelek II,
King of Ethiopia, applied personally to the king for
permission to make a translation of the Kebra
Nagast. The king was most willing for the book
to be translated, and he replied in words which
M. Le Roux translates thus : “ Je suis d’avis qu'un
peuple ne se defend pas seulement avec ses armes,
mais avec ses livres. Celui dont vous parlez est la
fierte de ce Royaume. [The italics are mine.] Depuis
moi, TEmpereur, jusqu’au plus pauvre soldat qui
marche sur les chemins, tous les Ethiopiens seront
 ETHIOPIAN (ABYSSINIAN) AMULETS 199

heureux que ce livre soit traduit dans la langue

frangaise et porte a la connaissance des amis que
nous avons dans le monde. Ainsi Ton verra claire-
ment quels liens nous unissent avec le peuple de
Dieu, quels tresors ont ete confies a notre garde.
On comprendra mieux pourquoi le secours de Dieu
ne nous a jamais manque contre les enemis qui nous
attaquaientA The manuscript was fetched from
Adis Ababa for M. Le Roux to use, and he found
written on the last folio the words, “ This volume
was returned to the King of Ethiopia by order of the
Trustees of the British Museum, December 14, 1872.
J. Winter Jones, Principal Librarian/’ M. Le Roux
adds the following most interesting facts :—
“ C’etait le livre que Theodoros avant cache sous
son oreiller, la nuit ou il se suicida, celui que les
soldats anglais avaient emporte a Londres, qu’un
ambassadeur rendit a TEmpereur Jean, que ce
meme Jean feuilleta dans so tente, le matin du
jour ou il tomba sous cimeterres des Mahdistes,
celui que les moines avaient derobe ” (Chez la Reine
de Saba, Paris, 1914, pp. 120-121).