Ethiopian Coptic Ge’ez Bible.
Ethiopian Coptic Ge’ez Bible.
RARE HANDWRITTEN ETHIOPIAN COPTIC GE’EZ BIBLE ILLUMINATED WITH SEVEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURE PAINTINGS
Ethiopia:, C. 18th Century.
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Item Number: 149864
Rare illustrated Ethiopian Coptic Ge’ez Bible. Octavo, bound in full calf over boards, parchment manuscript in black and red ink, illustrated with seven full-page hand-painted miniatures depicting the Annunciation, the birth of Christ, the Baptism of Christ, the Passion of Christ, the Crucifixion, and the Madonna and child flanked by two cherubs. In very good condition. A very nice example.
Ethiopian Handwritten Coptic Ge’ez Bibles were produced as early as the fourteenth century until the late 19th century throughout Ethiopia, the first country to become an independent African nation. Christianity was introduced to Ethiopia in the 4th century when Syrian missionaries first translated the Bible into Ge’ez, the language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The surviving body of Ge’ez literature in composed almost entirely of Christian liturgy, as education was exclusively the responsibility of priests and monks. The bibles produced typically contain the gospels of the New Testament, recounting the life of Jesus of Nazareth and the foundation of the Christian faith with illuminated miniature paintings depicting the lives of the Saints.
