The Ethiopian Psalter: An Introduction to its Codicological Tradition

The Anglo-Ethiopian Society News File - Winter 2014

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The Ethiopian Psalter: An Introduction to its Codicological

Tradition

Sophia Dege-Müller As a member of the Ethio-SPaRe project,1 I was able to compare a large number of Ethiopian manuscripts containing the same text: the Psalter. It became clear that in Ethiopian Psalters there are distinctive patterns and reccurring phenomena of scribal practice, which remain unknown when one deals with a single manuscript. Moreover, thanks to the large amount of collected material, it became possible to obtain statistical data of these phenomena and comparative results. This article focuses on Psalter manuscripts in Ethiopia and, in terms of scribal practice and text arrangement, the characteristic features of this text. The 167 Psalter manuscripts catalogued during the Ethio-SPaRe project served as a basis for evaluating these features. I will attempt to determine which features have a foreign derivation, whilst highlighting the individual practices created by Ethiopian scribes. Moreover, I will contextualize certain characteristics that are widespread in Ethiopian scribal schools. Among the phenomena of scribal practice presented here are: the marking of the midpoint of the Ethiopian Psalter; the columnar layout for Pss 148, 150, and the tenth Canticle of the Prophets; the mise-en-page of Ps 135 and Canticle 10; and the rubrication of nomina sacra. The distribution of these scribal practices in Ethiopian Psalter manuscripts is high, and thus worth investigating. For instance, in about 47% of the Ethio-SPaRE Psalter manuscripts, the midpoint of the Psalter has been marked at Ps 77,14. Whereas, the other phenomena occur in almost all of the examined manuscripts! The Psalter has a special role in Ethiopia, not only because it is the most frequently used book by Christian Ethiopians, but also because it is among those texts whose existence in Ethiopia is attested from an early time. The translation of the Bible into Ge’ez was, most probably, not completed at once, but over a period of time. By the sixth century AD, at the latest, the Psalter had also reached Ethiopia or, more precisely, the Aksumite kingdom, and had been translated into Ge’ez, as is shown by the existence of several inscriptions of this period with quotations from Psalms. However, no Psalter manuscripts of this period have survived, and the earliest Book of Psalms are found in manuscripts dating to the fourteenth century. The Ethiopian Psalter, as the rest of the Old Testament, follows the Septuagint (the Greek translation) instead of the Hebrew Bible, as is the case of many Oriental Churches.

___________________ 1. ‘Ethio-SPaRe: Cultural Heritage of Christian Ethiopia: Salvation, Preservation, and Research;’ located at Hamburg University, Germany, with Dr. Denis Nosnitsin as Principal Investigator. The main goals of the project is to digitize and catalogue manuscripts held in Ethiopian churches.


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When speaking about the Psalter in the Ethiopian context, we usually consider the combination of the Book of Psalms (150 plus the so called ‘apocryphal’ Ps 151), the Canticles of the Prophets, and the Song of Songs, as well as the Praise of Mary (Weddase Maryam) and the Gate of Light (Anqäsä Berhan) that generally accompany the text. In Ethiopia, this entire compendium of texts is known under the name of Mäzmurä Dawit or simply Dawit. Although the Praise of Mary and the Gate of Light are known to exist independently in manuscripts, the Book of Psalms is only very rarely found without the other four texts. It should be noted that Ethiopian manuscripts containing the Book of Psalms show a very stable manuscriptological tradition. According to its special layout the Psalter is probably the only manuscript that even people who are not able to read Ge’ez are able to recognize with certainty. In fact, the Ethiopian Book of Psalms is one of the very few known examples that, as a rule, is written in two different layouts: the first three texts are written in stichometric format; and the latter two in columnar form. What is stichometry, and how does it influence the layout? Stichometry derives from the Greek words stichos for line and metrein for measuring or counting. The term is used for the counting of the lines in ancient manuscripts. The oldest traces of stichometry are found in prose texts attributed to Herodotus and poetic and legal writings from Plato. The latter demanded that grave inscriptions should not exceed four stichoi (plural of stichos). Initially, the stichometric counts were limited to the Greek speaking regions. In the Hebrew Bible they are found only in the poetic pieces: Psalms, Job and Proverbs. Line counting was applied, for example, by the clan-like group of scribes called Soferim from the Second Temple period. They are known for their authoritative work on the Holy Scriptures, and for applying stichometric arrangements to their writings. Stichometry had different functions. It played an important role in the library system. In fact, in antiquity the total number of lines was always part of the description of a text. Leading in this were the catalogues of the Library of Alexandria established by Callimachus, which contained, next to author and title, the number of lines for every item. Stichometric counts were also guidelines for the scribes, allowing them to determine whether they had copied the text completely, and helping them calculate the amount of writing material needed for one text. This had a direct effect on merchants and commissioners, enabling them to estimate the costs of manuscript production. Finally, scribes were paid according to the number of lines they had written. For instance, the Roman Emperor Diocletian issued a decree stating that scribes with a beautiful handwriting should be rewarded 25 denarii per 100 stichoi, and those with an ordinary hand only 20 denarii. One often finds witness of the practice of line counting in the numbers written in the margins or at the end of a text in a normal column. In Ethiopia this tradition is especially evident in manuscripts containing the Four Gospels or the Pauline Epistles. Line counting is a phenomenon less frequently attested in the Ethiopian Psalter: of the 167 Psalter manuscripts catalogued during the Ethio-SPaRe project, only ten contain stichometric references (Fig. 1). The term stichometric arrangement describes the practice of writing one entire verse in one line of the page instead of adopting a running text layout. For codicological analysis


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Fig. 1.Stichometric Count Marking (ቃሉ ፡ ፵፬ - 44 lines) in a Psalter Manuscript from Debre Damo Monastery, Ethio-SPaRe DD-038, 14th century, fol. 66v. (© Ethio-SPaRe). The count mark has been underlined in red on the photograph to make it more visible.


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Fig. 2.Left Margin Justified and Right Margin Ragged in a Psalter manuscript from Menequsayto Qeddest Maryam, Ethio-SPaRe MALM-013, late 18th century, fol. 107v. (© Ethio-SPaRe). Arrows added by the author.

Fig. 3.Elaborated Midpoint mark in a Hebrew Manuscript, London, The British Library, 13th century, Add MS 9402, fol. 32v. (© The British Library Board).

this creates an uncommon layout, with a justified left margin a ragged right margin (Fig. 2). This arrangement is only attested in the layout of the first three texts of the Ethiopian Psalter. The following texts, that is the Praise of Mary and the Gate of Light, are usually written in two columns. A varying mise-en-page like the one described above is only found in a few other texts, as in the introduction to the Four Gospels. Other examples are found in texts that include lists or tables of contents, for instance in the Faith of the Fathers (Haymanotä Abaw), or in the Antiphonary (Diggwa). However, in these latter examples the two-fold layout is only attested in a minority of manuscripts, whereas in Psalter manuscripts it is a uniform scribal tradition. The stichometric layout of the Psalter has also had another effect, which is represented in a large number of manuscripts, and which originated in the Mediterranean region. The aforementioned Soferim were known to calculate more than just the final sum of lines – they also established the middle letter, the two middle words, and the middle verse of the Torah. This practice was also adopted by the Massorets, another group of Jewish scholars. These midpoint marks appear in different forms: in the form of ornaments; or in a written form with words like ‘middle of the book.’ The example in Fig. 3 shows an elaborately drawn midpoint mark, within which the words ‘this is the middle’ are written. The true meaning of marking the midpoint is lost to us. It might have been an encouragement for students or scribes alike, telling them that they were half finished. Alternatively, its use might be ascribed to the divine mystic of numerology. For example, this can be seen in the original Hebrew Ps 119 (118 in Ethiopia), which is made up of twenty-two strophes of eight verses each; the strophes are arranged according to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, in such a way that in each strophe all eight verses begin with the same letter. Midpoint marks are frequent in Hebrew texts, but in


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Ethiopia this scribal practice has survived only in a small number of texts. Nevertheless, the majority of manuscripts in which we do find it are generally a Psalter. The concept of the exact midpoint of the Psalter is also unclear, even for the Western tradition. In the Massoretic tradition it is at 78,36 or 78,38. It is worthwhile to note that the Ethiopic tradition marks a different passage as the midpoint, namely Ps 77,14, but adopted exactly the same way of marking it as the Hebrew scribes. These midpoint marks can be divided into two groups: 1. Secondary marks: these appear in two forms, with words like ‘middle of the book;’

or, more frequently, as a combination of marginal drawings with words like the one mentioned above (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Stichometric Midpoints Marks at Ps 77,14 With Words Combined in Ornaments, from top to bottom Ethio-SPaRe: a) KY-039, late 18th century, fol. 65r; b) KY-030, late 19th century, fol. 52r; c) MQM-009, late 19th century, fol. 65v; d) DD-004, 1908 AD, fol. 70r. (© Ethio-SPaRe).


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2. Original marks: these also appear in two forms and are characterized by alterations in the layout of the text, in the first form the line is indented and enhanced with a little ornament; in the second form the letters are written alternating red and black ink (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5. Indented Lines With Small Ornaments in A and B, and Alternating Inks in C and D, from top to bottom Ethio-SPaRe: a) EMQ-027, late 18th/early 19th century, fol. 73r; b) SFM-006, late 18th/early 19th century, fol. 71r; c) FBM-009, early 19th century, fol. 62v; d) SM-002, early 19th century, fol. 58r. (© Ethio-SPaRe).

One of the most significant differences between the two groups is that secondary marks can be introduced at a later stage, whereas original marks show that the scribe had already intended to indicate the midpoint. It is difficult to determine when the practice of marking the midpoint was introduced to Ethiopia. It is attested in one Psalter dated to the fourteenth century, thus one can assume that the practice was known already at this time. The next scribal feature worth mentioning is rubrication, which consists of the use of red ink to highlight parts of a text. Depending on the textual and scribal tradition that is followed, different words and passages in the Psalter are rubricated. Particularly interesting, in Ethiopian Psalter manuscripts, is the rubrication of nomina sacra (sacred names). The word Egziabeher (God) is rubricated in roughly 14% of the manuscripts. In this respect, a short digression on the format of Psalter manuscripts is in order, as another interesting feature is found in combination with rubrication. The shape of Psalter manuscripts is generally square, with a height to width ratio of between 0.9 and 1.1. However, in those Psalters where the word God is rubricated, the format is often changed to a rectangular one and the ratio is approximately 0.6-0.9. Analysis has shown that these


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latter manuscripts are of a more recent age. The word Maryam (Mary) is usually, and logically, only rubricated in the two texts that accompany the Psalter: the Praise of Mary and Gate of Light. However, a number of Psalters include another text, which is the so-called Mäzmurä Dengel (the Psalms of the Virgin). Generally, in this text every Psalm of David is followed by one Psalm of the Virgin and, in this case, the name of Mary is rubricated. Another important element of scribal practice is that of columetric text arrangement . Columetr ic , or columnar, writing is a technique in which the text is carefully arranged to make identical words, or the same letters, fall beneath each other on succeeding lines. The origin of this scribal practice has yet to be identified, but it was especially widespread among the Samaritan scribes. As Ethiopian scribes of the Psalter did not alter the sequence of words they could not enforce words to fall beneath each other. Yet, in

certain passages of the Psalms, this feature comes naturally, and the scribes enhanced or emphasized it through the use of red ink. In Ps 145, 148, 150, and in the tenth Canticle of the Prophets, the columetric arrangement in combination with rubriation can be observed extensively (Fig. 6). When observing the rubrication in Psalm 135 and Canticle 10 their particular layout should also be observed. Both texts have in common that each verse is followed by a refrain. The scribal practice here is to write out the refrain in the first line, and then abbreviate it in the following lines. The abbreviation is usually at the right margin of the text block, and consists of one letter or the first word only: for Ps. 135 it is the line እስመ፡ ለዓለም፡ ምሕረቱ (for his mercy is forever); for Canticle 10 it is the line ሰቡሕኒ፡ ውእቱ፡ ወልዑልኒ፡ ውእቱ፡ ለዓለም ‘sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.’ Abbreviation is quite common in Ethiopian manuscripts, however, this particular mise-en-page can only be observed in the aforementioned examples. Ethiopian Psalter manuscripts deserve a special consideration when it comes to their codicological features and text arrangement. They were highly influenced by traditions originating from different regions, different religious schools, as well as different scribal practices. However, the Ethiopian scribes found a way of adopting these scribal practices and adapting them in such a way that the Ethiopian Psalter, even today, has unique characteristics, which have been set in the same, stable and fixed layout, for centuries.

Fig. 6. Canticle 10 in an Early 19th Century Psalter from Feqeda Maryam Church With Columnar Writing at the Beginning of the Line (ይባርክዎ) and Abbreviation of the Chorus at the End (ሰቡ), Ethio-SPaRe FBM-009, fol. 125v. (© Ethio-SPaRe).

The Ethiopian Psalter: An Introduction to its Codicological Tradition

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