Here you can explore some general information about the project. See also Beta maṣāḥəft institutional web page. Select About to meet the project team and our partners. Visit the Guidelines section to learn about our encoding principles. The section Data contains the Linked Open Data information, and API the Application Programming Interface documentation for those who want to exchange data with the Beta maṣāḥǝft project. The Permalinks section documents the versioning and referencing earlier versions of each record.
Click to get back to the home page. Here you can find out more about the project team, the cooperating projects, and the contact information. You can also visit our institutional page. Find out more about our Encoding Guidelines. In this section our Linked Open Data principles are explained. Developers can find our Application Programming Interface documentation here. The page documents the use of permalinks by the project.
Descriptions of (predominantly) Christian manuscripts from Ethiopia and Eritrea are the core of the Beta maṣāḥǝft project. We (1) gradually encode descriptions from printed catalogues, beginning from the historical ones, (2) incorporate digital descriptions produced by other projects, adjusting them wherever possible, and (3) produce descriptions of previously unknown and/or uncatalogued manuscripts. The encoding follows the TEI XML standards (check our guidelines).
We identify each unit of content in every manuscript. We consider any text with an independent circulation a work, with its own identification number within the Clavis Aethiopica (CAe). Parts of texts (e.g. chapters) without independent circulation (univocally identifiable by IDs assigned within the records) or recurrent motifs as well as documentary additional texts (identified as Narrative Units) are not part of the CAe. You can also check the list of different types of text titles or various Indexes available from the top menu.
The clavis is a repertory of all known works relevant for the Ethiopian and Eritrean tradition; the work being defined as any text with an independent circulation. Each work (as well as known recensions where applicable) receives a unique identifier in the Clavis Aethiopica (CAe). In the filter search offered here one can search for a work by its title, a keyword, a short quotation, but also directly by its CAe identifier - or, wherever known and provided, identifier used by other claves, including Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca (BHG), Clavis Patrum Graecorum (CPG), Clavis Coptica (CC), Clavis Apocryphorum Veteris Testamenti (CAVT), Clavis Apocryphorum Novi Testamenti (CANT), etc. The project additionally identifies Narrative Units to refer to text types, where no clavis identification is possible or necessary. Recurring motifs or also frequently documentary additiones are assigned a Narrative Unit ID, or thematically clearly demarkated passages from various recensions of a larger work. This list view shows the documentary collections encoded by the project Ethiopian Manuscript Archives (EMA) and its successor EthioChrisProcess - Christianization and religious interactions in Ethiopia (6th-13th century) : comparative approaches with Nubia and Egypt, which aim to edit the corpus of administrative acts of the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia, for medieval and modern periods. See also the list of documents contained in the additiones in the manuscripts described by the Beta maṣāḥǝft project . Works of interest to Ethiopian and Eritrean studies.
While encoding manuscripts, the project Beta maṣāḥǝft aims at creating an exhaustive repertory of art themes and techniques present in Ethiopian and Eritrean Christian tradition. See our encoding guidelines for details. Two types of searches for aspects of manuscript decoration are possible, the decorations filtered search and the general keyword search.
The filtered search for decorations, originally designed with Jacopo Gnisci, looks at decorations and their features only. The filters on the left are relative only to the selected features, reading the legends will help you to figure out what you can filter. For example you can search for all encoded decorations of a specific art theme, or search the encoded legends. If the decorations are present, but not encoded, you will not get them in the results. If an image is available, you will also find a thumbnail linking to the image viewer. [NB: The Index of Decorations currently often times out, we are sorry for the inconvenience.] You can search for particular motifs or aspects, including style, also through the keyword search. Just click on "Art keywords" and "Art themes" on the left to browse through the options. This is a short cut to a search for all those manuscripts which have miniatures of which we have images.
We create metadata for all places associated with the manuscript production and circulation as well as those mentioned in the texts used by the project. The encoding of places in Beta maṣāḥǝft will thus result in a Gazetteer of the Ethiopian tradition. We follow the principles established by Pleiades and lined out in the Syriaca.org TEI Manual and Schema for Historical Geography which allow us to distinguish between places, locations, and names of places. See also Help page fore more guidance.
This tab offers a filtrable list of all available places. Geographical references of the type "land inhabited by people XXX" is encoded with the reference to the corresponding Ethnic unit (see below); ethnonyms, even those used in geographical contexts, do not appear in this list. Repositories are those locations where manuscripts encoded by the project are or used to be preserved. While they are encoded in the same way as all places are, the view offered is different, showing a list of manuscripts associated with the repository.
We create metadata for all persons (and groups of persons) associated with the manuscript production and circulation (rulers, religious authorities, scribes, donors, and commissioners) as well as those mentioned in the texts used by the project. The result will be a comprehensive Prosopography of the Ethiopian and Eritrean tradition. See also Help page for more guidance.
We encode persons according to our Encoding Guidelines. The initial list was inherited from the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, and there are still many inconsistencies that we are trying to gradually fix. We consider ethnonyms as a subcategory of personal names, even when many are often used in literary works in the context of the "land inhabited by **". The present list of records has been mostly inherited from the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, and there are still many inconsistencies that we are trying to gradually fix.
This section collects some additional resources offered by the project. Select Bibliography to explore the references cited in the project records. The Indexes list different types of project records (persons, places, titles, keywords, etc). Visit Projects for information on partners that have input data directly in the Beta maṣāḥǝft database. Special ways of exploring the data are offered under Visualizations. Two applications were developed in cooperation with the project TraCES, the Gǝʿǝz Morphological Parser and the Online Lexicon Linguae Aethiopicae.
Help

You are looking at work in progress version of this website. For questions contact the dev team.

Hover on words to see search options.

Double-click to see morphological parsing.

Click on left pointing hands and arrows to load related items and click once more to view the result in a popup.

Do you want to notify us of an error, please do so by writing an issue in our GitHub repository (click the envelope for a precomiled one).
On small screens, will show a navigation bar on the leftOpen Item Navigation
Edit Not sure how to do this? Have a look at the Beta maṣāḥǝft Guidelines!
Hide pointersClick here to hide or show again the little arrows and small left pointing hands in this page.
Hide relatedClick here to hide or show again the right side of the content area, where related items and keywords are shown.
EntryMain Entry
TEI/XMLDownload an enriched TEI file with explicit URIs bibliography from Zotero API.
SyntaxeSee graphs of the information available. If the manuscript contains relevant information, then you will see visualizations based on La Syntaxe du Codex, by Andrist, Canart and Maniaci.
RelationsFurther visualization of relational information
TranscriptionTranscription (as available). Do you have a transcription you want to contribute? Contact us or click on EDIT and submit your contribution.
Link to imagesLink to images available not on this site

London, British Library, BL Oriental 496

Eugenia Sokolinski

This manuscript description is based on the catalogues listed in the catalogue bibliography

Work in Progress
https://betamasaheft.eu/BLorient496
British Library[view repository]

Collection: Oriental

Other identifiers: Wright cat. XX, Wright 20

General description

Old Testament books

Number of Text units: 35

Number of Codicological units: 1

For a table of all relations from and to this record, please go to the Relations view. In the Relations boxes on the right of this page, you can also find all available relations grouped by name.

Origin

(dating on palaeographic grounds)

Provenance

The manuscript had very probably belonged to a church in the Gondar area, from where it was taken by Tewodros II and brought to Madḫāne ʿĀlam . It was then looted by the British Napier expedition in 1868.

Summary

  1. ms_i1 (check the viewerFols 3r–20v ), ʾIyob
  2. ms_i2 (check the viewerFols 21r–36v ), Proverbs
  3. ms_i3 (check the viewerFols 37r–41v ), Ecclesiastes
  4. ms_i4 (check the viewerFols 42r–53v ), Ṭǝbaba Salomon
  5. ms_i5 (check the viewerFols 54r–83v ), Book of Isaiah
  6. ms_i6 (check the viewerFols 83v–127v ), Books of Jeremiah
    1. ms_i6.1 (check the viewerFols 83v–84v ), Book of Baruch
    2. ms_i6.2 (check the viewerFols 84v–86r ), Epistle of Jeremiah
    3. ms_i6.3 (check the viewerFols 86r–119r ), Book of Jeremiah
    4. ms_i6.4 (check the viewerFols 119r–121v ), Lamentations
    5. ms_i6.5 (check the viewerFols 121v–121v ), Prophecy of Jeremiah Told to Pashhur
    6. ms_i6.6 (check the viewerFols 121v–127v ), Tarafa nagar za-Bārok za-ʾi-kona ḫǝbuʾa za-ʾama yǝḍewawu Bābilon
  7. ms_i7 (check the viewerFols 128r–139v ), Daniel, Book of
  8. ms_i8 (check the viewerFols 139va–139vb ), Life of Daniel
  9. ms_i9 (check the viewerFols 140r–172v ), Daqiqa nabiyāt
    1. ms_i9.1 (check the viewerFols 140r–145v ), Za-Hoseʿ nabiyy
    2. ms_i9.2 (check the viewerFols 145v–150v ), Za-ʾAmoṣ nabiyy
    3. ms_i9.3 (check the viewerFols 150v–154r ), Za-Mikyās nabiyy
    4. ms_i9.4 (check the viewerFols 154r–156r ), Book of Joel
    5. ms_i9.5 (check the viewerFols 156r–156v ), ዘአብድዩ፡ ነቢይ።
    6. ms_i9.6 (check the viewerFols 156v–158r ), Book of Jonah
    7. ms_i9.7 (check the viewerFols 158r–159v ), Book of Nahum
    8. ms_i9.8 (check the viewerFols 159v–161r ), Book of Habakkuk
    9. ms_i9.9 (check the viewerFols 161r–162v ), Za-Sofonyās nabiyy
    10. ms_i9.10 (check the viewerFols 162v–164r ), Za-Ḥagge nabiyy
    11. ms_i9.11 (check the viewerFols 164r–170v ), Za-Zakāryās nabiyy
    12. ms_i9.12 (check the viewerFols 170v–172v ), Za-Milkǝyās nabiyy
  10. ms_i10 (check the viewerFols 173r–178v ), Catholic Epistles
    1. ms_i10.1 (check the viewerFols 173r and following ), First Epistle of Peter
    2. ms_i10.2 (check the viewerFols 174v and following ), Second Epistle of Peter
    3. ms_i10.3 (check the viewerFols 175r and following ), First Epistle of John
    4. ms_i10.4 (check the viewerFols 176v and following ), Second Epistle of John
    5. ms_i10.5 (check the viewerFols 177r and following ), Third Epistle of John
    6. ms_i10.6 (check the viewerFols 177r and following ), Epistle of James
    7. ms_i10.7 (check the viewerFols 178r and following ), Epistle of Jude

Contents


check the viewerFols 83v–127v Books of Jeremiah (CAe 2035)

Subscription ( ): check the viewerFol. 127v In the subscription the name of the original owner has been erased, and that of Walda ʾAmlāk owner substituted.


check the viewerFols 140r–172v Daqiqa nabiyāt (CAe 1315)

check the viewerFols 173r–178v Catholic Epistles (CAe 3506)

Additions In this unit there are in total 1 , 1 , 1 .

  1. check the viewerFol. 3r (Type: OwnershipNote)

    The note states that the manuscript belongs to the church of Madḫāne ʿAlam

    ( gez ) ኢዮብ፡ ዘቅ' ፡ መ' ፡ ዓለም።

  2. check the viewerFol. 2v (Type: PurchaseNote)

    a note, stating that this Ms. belonged by purchase to one Walda ʾAmlāk owner

    ( gez ) ዝመጽሐፍ፡ ዘወልደ፡ አምላክ፡ ዘአጥረዮ፡ በንዋዩ፡ ከመ፡ ይኵኖ፡ ለመድኃኒተ፡ ነፍሱ፡ ወሥጋሁ፡ ዘሠረቆ፡ ወዘፈሐቆ፡ በሥልጣነ፡ ዼጥሮስ፡ ወጳውሎስ፡ ውጉዘ፡ ይኩን፡ ከመ፡ አርዮስ፡ ለዓለመ፡ ዓለም። አሜን።

  3. check the viewerFol. 193v (Type: GuestText)

    A short history of Prophet Daniel

    ( gez ) ዳንኤል፡ ነቢይ፡ እምነገደ፡ ይሁዳ፡ ወእምዘመደ፡ ነገሥት፡ ውእቱ ፤ ወኮነ፡ ስመ፡ አቡሁ፡ ሴምዩ፡ ወስመ፡ እሙ፡ ሚላናስ፡ etc.

Catalogue Bibliography

  • Wright, W. 1877. Catalogue of the Ethiopic Manuscripts in the British Museum Acquired since the Year 1847 (London: Gilbert and Rivington, 1877).
    page 18ab

Secondary Bibliography

  • Knibb, M. A. 1980. ‘The Ethiopic Version of the Lives of the Prophets: Ezekiel and Daniel’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 43/2 (1980), 197–206 (DOI: 10.2307/616038).
    page 198

Physical Description

Form of support

Parchment Codex

Extent

+NaN (leaf) .Entered as 1+178+2 One or two unnumbered blank leaves at the beginning, referred to as check the viewerfols. i, in the library's digitization, and two or three unnumbered blank leaves at the end, referred to as check the vieweri–ii in the library's digitization. 6.85 6
Outer dimensions
Height 6.85in
Width 6in

Foliation

Foliation in the upper right corner by the library.

State of preservation

good

Condition

Binding

Binding material

wood

leather

Original binding

Yes

Layout

Layout note 1

Number of columns: 2

Number of lines: 25

Ruling
  • (Subtype: pattern)1A-1A-1A1A/0-0/0-0/C
  • The upper line is written above the ruling, the lower line is written above the ruling.
Pricking
  • Pricking and ruling are visible.
  • Primary pricks are visible, horizontal pricks are visible.

Palaeography

  • Hand 1

    Script: Ethiopic

    Ink: Black, red

    Date: 1600-1700

    Good hand of the 17th century. 1600-1700
  • Hand 2

    Script: Ethiopic

    Ink: Black, red

    Date: 1600-1700

    The hand of the Rest of the Words of Baruch 1600-1700
  • Hand 3

    Script: Ethiopic

    Ink: Black

    Date: 1800-1868

    Hand of the purchase note. 1800-1868
  • Publication Statement

    authority
    Hiob-Ludolf-Zentrum für Äthiopistik
    pubPlace
    Hamburg
    publisher
    Die Schriftkultur des christlichen Äthiopiens und Eritreas: Eine multimediale Forschungsumgebung / Beta maṣāḥǝft
    availability

    This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.

    date
    2017-01-19
    date
    type=expanded
    5.7.2022 at 14:24:19
    date
    type=lastModified
    31.5.2022
    idno
    type=collection
    manuscripts
    idno
    type=url
    https://betamasaheft.eu/manuscripts/BLorient496/main
    idno
    type=URI
    https://betamasaheft.eu/BLorient496
    idno
    type=filename
    BLorient496.xml
    idno
    type=ID
    BLorient496

    Encoding Description

    Encoded according to TEI P5 Guidelines.

    Encoded according to the Beta maṣāḥǝft Guidelines. These Guidelines detail the TEI format ruled by the Beta maṣāḥǝft Schema. The present TEI file is enriched with an Xquery transformation taking advantage of the exist-db database instance where the data is stored and of the many external resources to which this data points to.

    Definitions of prefixes used.

    Select one of the keywords listed from the record to see related data

    No keyword selected.
    This page contains RDFa. RDF+XML graph of this resource. Alternate representations available via VoID.
    Hypothes.is public annotations pointing here

    Use the tag BetMas:BLorient496 in your public hypothes.is annotations which refer to this entity.

    Suggested Citation of this record

    To cite a precise version, please, click on load permalinks and to the desired version (see documentation on permalinks), then import the metadata or copy the below, with the correct link.

    Eugenia Sokolinski, Alessandro Bausi, Dorothea Reule, ʻLondon, British Library, BL Oriental 496ʼ, in Alessandro Bausi, ed., Die Schriftkultur des christlichen Äthiopiens und Eritreas: Eine multimediale Forschungsumgebung / Beta maṣāḥǝft (Last Modified: 31.5.2022) https://betamasaheft.eu/manuscripts/BLorient496 [Accessed: 2024-04-25+02:00]

    Revisions of the data

    • Dorothea Reule Added layout on 31.5.2022
    • Dorothea Reule Added link to images on 26.11.2020
    • Dorothea Reule Added bibliography and Life of Daniel on 4.11.2019
    • Dorothea Reule Corrected catalogue reference, updated keywords on 1.11.2019
    • Eugenia Sokolinski explicit type subscription introduced on 16.5.2017
    • Eugenia Sokolinski Created catalogue entry on 19.1.2017

    Attributions of the contents

    Alessandro Bausi, general editor

    Eugenia Sokolinski, editor

    Dorothea Reule, contributor

    This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.