lālibala ethnologylegends of site
DESCRIPTION
christian art and symbolismTRANSCRIPT
The President and Fellows of Harvard College
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Legends of Lālibalā: The Development of an Ethiopian Pilgrimage SiteAuthor(s): Marilyn E. HeldmanSource: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, No. 27 (Spring, 1995), pp. 25-38Published by: The President and Fellows of Harvard College acting through the Peabody Museum ofArchaeology and EthnologyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20166915 .Accessed: 20/02/2011 13:27
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at .http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=pfhc. .
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
The President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, J. PaulGetty Trust are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to RES: Anthropology andAesthetics.
http://www.jstor.org
Legends of L?libal?
The development of an Ethiopian pilgrimage site
MARILYN E. HELDMAN
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a group of churches was carved from the mountains of
Ethiopia's Lasta province, thus creating the ceremonial
center of the Z?gw? dynasty (circa 1137-1270).1
Originally named Roha or Warwar, the site is presently known as L?libal?.2 Francisco Alvarez, a member of
the Portuguese delegation to the Ethiopian court in the
early sixteenth century, was the first European to visit
and describe this magnificent architectural complex of
rock-cut churches and to observe Ethiopian pilgrimage there, although it was not until the twentieth century that this architectural "wonder" achieved international
recognition.3 The churches have been photographed, restored more than once, and plans and elevations
have been drawn, but the varied associations of
holiness attached to this extraordinary complex remain
essentially unexplored.4 That the ceremonial center was
created by the Z?gw? kings as the "Holy Land in
Ethiopia" is commonly known. I have argued elsewhere
that originally L?libal? was created not only as the
"Holy Land in Ethiopia" but also as a new Aksum, Aksum being Ethiopia's ancient political capital and the
site of its metropolitan cathedral, Maryam Qeyon, or
Saint Mary of Zion.5
This study will investigate an important shift in the
basis of sanctity associated with the ceremonial center.
With this shift, which occurred during the fifteenth
century, the architectural quotations that originally invoked the special holiness of the site were enhanced
by a sanctity derived from the cult of saints.
A chapel of the Virgins, Beta Dan?gel (literally "House of the Virgins"), is carved into the south rock
face of the courtyard of a larger, freestanding church, Beta Maryam (the house or church of Saint Mary),
which is southwest of the great freestanding church of
the Redeemer (fig. 1).6 The chapel's dedication to the
Virgins presents an intriguing hagiographie puzzle; one
wonders about the identity of the Virgins. By 1. The political capital was at nearby Adafa; see Taddesse Tamrat,
Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 (Oxford, 1972), p. 59, n. 5.
Most dates of the dynasty are not firm; according to one tradition, the Z?gw? kings reigned for 133 years. The dynasty was overthrown
in a.d. 1270 by Yekunno Aml?k. For a summary of the historic
traditions, see G. W. B. Huntingford, "The Wealth of Kings' and the
End of the Zague Dynasty," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and
African Studies (University of London) 28, no. 1 (1965): 1-23.
2. Getatchew Haile, "On the House of Lasta from the History of
Zena G?bra'el," Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of
Ethiopian Studies, Moscow, 1986 (Moscow, 1988), vol. 6, p. 8 (text),
p. 13 (trans.).
3. F. Alvarez, The Pr?ster John of the Indies, a True Relation of the
Lands of the Pr?ster John, being the Narrative of the Portuguese
Embassy to Ethiopia in 1520, ed. C. F. Beckingham and G. W. B.
Huntingford, Hakluyt Society 2d ser., vols. 114-115 (Cambridge,
1961), vol. 1, pp. 205-227. Apparently it was not visited again by
Europeans until 1868 when the German explorer Gerhard Rohlfs
"rediscovered" it; in 1881 it was visited by Achille Raffray, the French
consul at Massawa. G. Rohlfs, Land und Volk in Afrika (Bremen,
1870), pp. 122 ff.; A. Raffray, "Voyage en Abyssinie et au Pays des
Gallas Ra?as," Bulletin de la Soci?t? de G?ographie, 2e trimestre
(Paris, 1882): 344 ff.
4. L. Bianchi Barriveriera, "Le chiese ?n roccia di Lalibel? e di altri
luoghi del Lasta," Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 18 (1962): 5-76 and pis. (not consecutively numbered); Bianchi Barriviera, "Le chiese ?n roccia
di Lalibel?," Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 19 (1963): 7-118 and pis.
Etchings of plans, elevations, and drawings by Bianchi Barriviera were
published in 1943 in a limited edition. His work was done in 1939
during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia under the direction of A. A.
Monti della Corte (Lalibel?, le chiese ipogee e monolitiche e gli altri
monumenti m?di?vale del Lasta [Rome, 1940]). See also G. Gerster, Churches in Rock (London, 1970), first published as Kirchen im Fels
(Stuttgart, 1968); International Fund for Monuments, Inc.,
Lalibel??Phase I, Adventure in Restoration (New York, 1967). In the
photograph of the church of the Redeemer (fig. 5) what appears to be
masonry supports are modern replacements of damaged rock-cut
piers. As of this writing, the structures are urgently in need of
extensive restorations.
5. M. E. Heldman, "Architectural Symbolism, Sacred Geography and the Ethiopian Church," Journal of Religion in Africa 22, no. 3
(1992): 222-241. When making reference to the Ethiopian $eyon cathedral I shall spell the name "Zion," following the title of the
special exhibition African Zion: Sacred Art of Ethiopia; when making reference to the mountain or church of the same name in Jerusalem, I
shall spell the name "Sion," following the Oxford Dictionary of
Byzantium (Oxford, New York, 1991). Ethiopia had only one
cathedral. Prior to the 1950s, when the Ethiopian Church became
autocephalous, its metropolitan bishop was an Egyptian monk
appointed by the Patriarch of Alexandria.
6. G. Gerster, Churches in Rock, pi. 63; for a plan and elevation, see L. Bianchi Barriviera, "Le chiese in roccia di Lalibel?" (1962):
pis. 11, 13.
26 RES 27 SPRING 1995
Figure 1. Ground plan of the first group of churches at L?libal?: (1) the dual church of Golgotha and Dabra Sin?, or Saint Michael; (2) Beta Maryam, or church of Saint Mary; (3) Beta Dan?gel, or chapel of the Virgins; (4) Madh?ne "?lam, or church of the Redeemer. Redrawn after L. Bianchi
Barriviera, "Le chiese in roccia di Lalibel? e di altri luoghi del
Lasta," Rasseqna di Studi Etiopici 18 (1962): pi. 3. Drawing: M. Heldman.
reconstructing the original meaning of this dedication
and comparing it with later traditions, it will become
apparent that the original dedication had been
supplanted by an association with purported virgin martyrs. This slight but significant shift in the
dedication is but one of a series of changes in
associations attached to the complex. These changes are explained by hagiographie traditions of Ethiopia's
holy King L?libal?.
According to priests at the ceremonial site, henceforth to be referred to as Roha-L?libal?
(combining its original name, Roha or Warwar, with its
present toponym, L?libal?), the chapel known as the
House of the Virgins was excavated from living rock in
honor of the Fifty Virgin Martyrs of Edessa and their
abbess Sophia.7 Alvarez referred to this chapel as "the
church of the Martyrs," thus demonstrating that by the
early sixteenth century, the dedication of the chapel of the Virgins was commonly associated with martyrs, the
Fifty Virgin Martyrs of Edessa to which the priests
presently refer.8 An account of their martyrdom is found in the
Synaxary of the Ethiopian Church. The Synaxary (the word derives from the Greek synaxarion) is a collection of r?sum?s of the lives of saints arranged for each day of the year; each r?sum? is read on the day of the saint's commemoration, which is usually the day of her or his death. Both the earlier recension of the Ethiopian Synaxary, which dates to the early fifteenth century, and the revised sixteenth-century recension feature the commemoration of the Fifty Virgin Martyrs of Edessa and their abbess Sophia on 10 Hed?r (19 November,
Gregorian calendar), the day in which they became
martyrs.9 According to the Ethiopian Synaxary, the nuns were martyred when Emperor Julian the Apostate passed through Edessa on his way to engage the Persians in battle and ordered his soldiers to kill the nuns and plunder their convent.10
Manuscripts of the Synaxary of Egyptian or Coptic Church, the recension of Lower Egypt, date to the sixteenth century and later feature the commemoration of the Fifty Virgin Martyrs of Edessa and their abbess
Sophia on 10 Hatur (10 Hed?r, or 19 November). In
contrast, the Upper Egyptian or Sahidic recension of the Coptic Synaxary, which is earlier and independent of the sixteenth-century recension of Lower Egypt, commemorates Saint Anba Markya (an ascetic of
Alexandria) on 10 Hatur, and includes no mention of
7. This information, collected and recorded by the anthropologist Dr. E. D. Hecht, was published in the Ethiopian Tourist Organization's booklet entitled Lalibel?, text by E. D. Hecht (Addis Ababa, n.d. [circa
1968]), p. 11. R. Sauter ("O? en est notre connaissance des ?glises
rupestres d'Ethiopie," Annales d'Ethiopie 5 [1963]: 264, no. 37)
reported that the chapel is dedicated to virgin martyrs, but questioned which virgin martyrs in specific. Gerster (see n. 4, p. 97) reported that
the chapel is dedicated to "the maidens martyred under Julian," without citing his source, which I presume to be the priests at
Roha-L?libal?.
8. Alvarez (see n. 3), vol. 1, pp. 205, 224.
9. On the earlier recension of the Ethiopian Synaxary preserved in
a late fifteenth-century manuscript in Paris, see R.-G. Coquin, "Le
synaxaire ?thiopien: note codicologique sur le ms. Paris B.N.
d'Abbadie 66-66bis.," Analecta Bollandiana 102 (1984): 50-51. The
Ethiopian Synaxary was revised and expanded between 1559 and
1581 at an undisclosed center of learning. 10. G. Colin, ed. and trans., "Le synaxaire ?thiopien, mois de
Hed?r," Patrolog?a Orientalis 44 (1988): 280-283 (10 Hed?r); E. A. W.
Budge, The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church (Cambridge,
1928; reprinted 1976), vol. 1, pp. 228-230.
Heldman: Legends of Lalibala 27
the Fifty Virgin Martyrs of Edessa.11 The omission of the
Fifty Virgin Martyrs from the earlier recension of Upper
Egypt is important, because the commemoration of the
Fifty Virgin Martyrs on 10 Hatur in the later Coptic
Synaxary of Lower Egypt seems to have been
introduced from the Synaxary of the Ethiopian Church.12
One might argue that an earlier, no longer extant
Coptic Synaxary from Lower Egypt included the
commemoration of the Fifty Virgin Martyrs on 10
Hatur, but a survey of Syriac hagiographie literature
indicates that this was not the case. The Fifty Virgin
Martyrs of Syriac city of Edessa are not commemorated
in the Synaxary of the Syriac Church.13 Indeed, Syriac
hagiographie literature makes no mention of these holy
virgin martyrs.14 Thus, according to Syriac literary
tradition, the Fifty Virgin Martyrs never existed.
Furthermore, neither the Greek nor the Latin churches
acknowledge them. Because their commemoration is
limited to the Ethiopian Church and to the Coptic Church after the sixteenth century, the obvious
conclusion is that the tale of their martyrdom was
invented by an Ethiopian author.15
Why would an Ethiopian hagiographer create this
tale of martyrdom? The search for an answer leads to a
reappraisal of the sanctity associated with the chapel named Beta Dan?gel and more generally with the site
of Roha-L?libal? itself. The original sacred associations
of Roha-L?libal?, derived from architectural quotations of renowned holy sites and churches, were signified by names and dedications as well as symbolic architectural forms. Although the interpretation of
names and architectural forms may change, the edifices
themselves, carved from living rock, are static and thus
provide decisive documentation for the reconstruction
of the original sacred associations of Roha-L?libal?.
In medieval Ethiopia, the process by which
architecture was endowed with symbolic form followed
that of the late antique Mediterranean world. One
endowed an architectural form with meaning by
incorporating into the fabric of a structure distinctive
features or measurements of a venerated model. The
resulting architectural form was not a duplicate or
exact copy; today it would be called a "quotation." A
structure that repeated significant, identifiable elements
of an earlier, venerated edifice was understood to be
endowed with the meaningful associations, even the
holiness, of its prototype. With churches, an
architectural replica or quotation could be created
merely by repeating the dedication of the holy prototype.16 Henceforth the terms "replica" and "copy" shall refer to the late antique and early medieval
model, a symbolic reproduction achieved by means of
quoting a name, dedication, measurements, and/or distinctive features.
The Life of Ethiopia's sainted King L?libal? of the
Z?gw? dynasty confirms this pattern of architectural
symbolism. According to this text, L?libal? was taken
11. R. Basset, ed. and trans., "Le synaxaire arabe Jacobite
(r?daction copte), les mois de Hatour et de Kihak," Patrolog?a Orientalis 3 (1971 reprint): 270-275. Basset's MS B (Paris,
Biblioth?que Nationale, 4869-70) represents the earlier recension of
Upper Egypt. See R.-G. Coquin, "Le Synaxaire des Coptes, un
nouveau t?moin de la recension de Haute Egypte," Analecta
Bollandiana 96 (1978): 351-365.
12. Although the earlier Ethiopie recension of the Synaxary was
taken from that of Lower Egypt, the sixteenth-century recension of the
Coptic Synaxary of Lower Egypt, which was restored after the great fire that destroyed the library of the Egyptian monastery of Saint
Anthony in 1484, probably follows the Ethiopie Synaxary. G. Colin, "Le synaxaire ?thiopien, ?tat actuel de la question," Analecta
Bollandiana 106 (1988): 273-317, esp. pp. 277-283, 300, 305. On
the translation of the Synaxary from Ethiopie (Ge'ez) to Arabie, the
language of the Coptic Church at this period, see Georg Graf,
Catalogue des manuscrits arabes chr?tiens conserves au Caire, Studi e
Testi 63 (Vatican City, 1934), MS 102, p. 39; G. Graf, Geschichte der
Christlichen Arabischen Literatur, vol. 2, Studi e Testi 133 (Vatican
City, 1947), p. 420.
13. They do not appear in the Syriac menologia published by F.
Nau, ed. and trans., "Un martyrologe et douze m?nologes syriaques,"
Patrolog?a Orientalis 10, fase. 1 (1973 reprint): 3-163, note especially his 'Sept m?nologes Jacobites," ibid., pp. 91 ff.; nor do they appear in
Paul Peeters, "Le martyrologe de Rabban Sliba," Analecta Bollandiana
27(1908): 166-169.
14. I am grateful for the expert opinion of Professors Sebastian
Brock and Susan Ashbrook Harvey concerning this question. 15. Indeed, the story of their martyrdom is merely a chain of
topoi. Because Julian the Apostate is one of the most reprehensible
villains in Christian hagiography, there was no need to establish a
motive for his order to destroy the nunnery and slaughter the nuns.
Sophia, the name of the abbess, is a popular name in hagiography, and Saint Sophia (Wisdom) and her three martyred virgin
daughters?Pistis, Elpis, and Agape (Faith, Hope, and Charity)?were
popular saints to whom the Ethiopian Church gives special liturgical
recognition (B. Velat, ?tudes sur le Me'er?f, Commun de l'Office
Divin ?thiopien, Patrolog?a Orientalis 33 [Paris, 1966]: 42). The Syriac city of Roha or Edessa is the logical site for their purported
martyrdom because Roha-L?libal? was a New Roha in Ethiopia. 16. Richard Krautheimer, "Introduction to an 'Iconography of
Medieval Architecture,'" Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld
Institutes 5 (1942): 15-16 (reprinted in R. Krautheimer, Studies in
Early Christian, Medieval and Renaissance Art [New York, London,
1969]).
28 RES 27 SPRING 1995
to heaven, where God showed him ten great structures, each with a distinctive feature and color, all cut from a
single stone. God explained that L?libal? would
become king of Ethiopia so that he could direct the
excavation from living rock of churches that followed
these divine archetypes.17 The Life also gives the
names of the churches: they are the great church
(Madtf?n? ^?lam, or the Redeemer), the church of Saint
Mary (?ef? Maryam), the church of Mount Sinai (Dabra
Sina) and the adjacent church of Golgotha, the church
named House of the Cross (?ef? Masqal), and one
called House of the Virgins (?ef? Dan?gel). The
remaining churches cited are Saint Gabriel, Abba
Matta', Saint Mercurius, Immanuel, and finally, the
church of Saint George, which is some distance from
the rest, and was designed and excavated in the shape of a cross.18
Historic documentation of the excavation of these
rock-hewn structures is lacking. Indeed, virtually no
internal documentation from the period of the Z?gw?
dynasty survives. The history of this dynasty was
evidently destroyed during the early years of the
dynasty that supplanted them. The kings of the new
dynasty claimed to be true Israelites and the rightful heirs of the kings of ancient Aksum, and a program of
retranslating major religious texts into Ge'ez (Ethiopie) from Arabic Christian texts was undertaken.19 Historic
notations entered into religious manuscripts were lost
with the destruction of those religious texts that had
been retranslated.20
External documentation of the period of the Z?gw?
kings establishes regnal dates for several Z?gw? rulers.
A brief statement in the biography of Patriarch Yuhanna VI (1166-1216) in the History of the Patriarchs of
Alexandria gives the name of the Ethiopian king in the
year A.D. 1210 as L?libal?.21 Moreover, King L?libal? was still reigning in A.D. 1225.22 According to Abu
Salih, a Christian who wrote in Egypt during the early thirteenth century, L?libal?'s predecessor, Saint
Yemreha Krestos, reigned during the third quarter of the
twelfth century.23
Ethiopian hagiographie traditions pose conflicting claims for the origins of the rock-cut churches of
Roha-L?libal?. The Life of Saint Yemreha Krestos
attributes to him the inauguration of the Ethiopian tradition of carving churches from living rock, although the Life of Saint L?libal? attributes the creation of all
the churches at Roha-L?libal??ten churches from one
rock?to L?libal?.24 However, the widespread distribution of rock-cut churches throughout highland Christian Ethiopia, especially in northern Ethiopia,
indicates that rock-cut architecture was not dependent on Z?gw? patronage. Indeed, it predates the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries.25 Rock-cut tombs at the
ancient Ethiopian capital of Aksum may be dated as
17. J. Perruchon, ed. and trans., Vie de Lalibala, roi d'Ethiopie
(Paris, 1892), pp. 88-89.
18. Perruchon (see n. 17), pp. 121-124. The statement that this
first group is composed of five beautiful churches carved in the same
rock is confusing because six are named. The first group includes the
church of the Redeemer, the church of Saint Mary, the church of the
Virgins, the church of the Cross, and the church of Golgotha, to
which is attached the church of Mount Sinai, which also is known as
the church of Saint Michael. (Churches are named after the
dedication of their altar tablet, and when a church has several altar
tablets, it may also have several names.) The same inconsistency is
repeated in the statement that there are ten churches cut from one
rock, when a total of eleven is named. The layout of the church of
Saint Gabriel suggests that it was not initially planned as a church;
neither does the plan of the church of the Cross suggest a church;
compare with L. Bianchi Barriviera, "Le chiese in roccia di Lalibel?,"
Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 18 (1962): pi. 11 ; and vol. 19 (1963): pis. 31-32. This insistence upon ten and only ten churches may have
been dictated by the idea that "ten" is a perfect number.
19. By the thirteenth or fourteenth century, Arabic was the spoken
language of Copts, that is, the indigenous Christians of Egypt. 20. See Getatchew Haile, "Who Is Who in Ethiopia's Past, Part II:
The Zagwe Royal Family after Zagwe," Northeast African Studies 7,
no. 3 (1985): 41 and n. 2. The new dynasty, established by Yekunno
Aml?k (r. 1270-1285), is known as the Solomonic dynasty because
these rulers presented themselves as true Israelites, that is, the heirs of
King Menelek I, the legendary son of King Solomon and the Queen of
Sheba.
21. History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, vol. 3, pt. 2, trans, and
annotated A. Khater and O. H. E. Burmester (Cairo, 1970),
pp. 192-193. On the author of the biography of Yuhanna VI, see J.
den Heijer, Mawh?b ibn Mans?r ibn Mufarrig et l'historiographie
copto-arabe: ?tude sur la composition de l'Histoire des Patriarches
d'Alexandrie, CSCO Subsidia 83 (Louvain, 1989), p. 11. The author
adds that the metropolitan bishop of the Ethiopian Church then
resided in a city known as 'Arafah; this is apparently the
no-longer-extant Adafa, the political center of the Zagwe dynasty, located not far from Roha-L?libal? (Taddesse Tamrat [see n. 1], 59).
22. C. Conti Rossini, "L'evangelo d'oro di Dabra Lib?nos," AW
dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Classe di Scienze moral i,
storiche e filologiche, Rendiconti 10, ser. 5 (1901): 190-191.
23. Abu Salih, The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and Some
Neighbouring Countries, ed. and trans. B. T. A. Evetts with notes by A. J. Butler (Oxford, 1985); the order of succession was probably Yemreha Krestos, Harb?, and Lalibala (Taddesse Tamrat [see n. 1],
p. 56).
24. Taddesse Tamrat (see n. 1), p. 58, citing the unpublished
Ethiopie text of Gadla Yemreha Krestos.
25. For a distribution map of rock-hewn churches, see David
Buxton, The Abyssinians (London, 1970), fig. 10. Roger Sauter ([see n. 7], pp. 235-292) presents an inventory of 114 rock-hewn churches
in central and northern highland Ethiopia; for a supplementary list,
Heldman: Legends of Lalibala 29
^4l"A
i 1. ??
Figure 2. Single panel of a sensul of three holy kings of Z?gw? Dynasty. Photo: M. Heldman, ? 1994.
early as the fourth century A.D.26 Nevertheless, no other
Ethiopian site presents such an impressive concentration of rock-cut structures as Roha-L?libal?.
The present name of the site, Lalibala, reflects the
hagiographie tradition of its foundation by Ethiopia's sainted king, while the original name of the site offers an insight into its intended symbolism. Roha or
Warwar, the site's original names, derive from ar-Ruha, the Arabic version of Orhay, the Syriac name of Edessa,
which was the royal city of King Abgar, the famed ruler
blessed by Christ.27 According to tradition, King Abgar not only exchanged letters with Christ but also received
Christ's portrait miraculously imprinted on a towel.28
The Z?gw? kings, by endowing their ceremonial center
with the name "Roha," founded a new Roha or Edessa.
The dedication also implied that they, like King Abgar, were blessed by Christ, and indeed, this is how they were subsequently perceived in Ethiopian tradition.
Three Z?gw? rulers are recognized as saints by the
Ethiopian Church.29 Churches dedicated to Saint
Yemreha Krestos and Saint Na'akkweto La'ab, nephew and successor of L?libal?, are located in the vicinity of
Roha-L?libal?.30 One panel of a small, folding strip of
painted parchment, datable to the seventeenth century, shows these holy kings (from left to right): Saints
Yemreha Krestos, L?libal?, and Na'akkweto La'?b, with
King Harb?, elder brother of Lalibala (fig. 2). This
see his article "?glises rupestres au Tigr?," Annales d'Ethiopie 10
(1976): 157-175.
26. S. C. Munro-Hay, Excavations at Aksum, an Account of
Research at the Ancient Ethiopian Capital Directed in 1972-74 by the
Late Dr. Neville Chittick, Memoirs of the British Institute in Eastern
Africa: No. 10 (London, 1989), pp. 155, 161.
27. The city was known as "Rohais" to the Latin Crusaders (R. L.
Crocker, "Early Crusade Songs," in The Holy War, ed. T. P. Murphy
[Columbus, Ohio, 1976], 84). The various forms of the name "Roha"
are derived from the Syriac name of Edessa; see J. B. Segal, Edessa:
The Blessed City (Oxford, 1970), pp. 6-7, 62-80.
28. Getatchew Haile, 'The Legend of Abgar in Ethiopie Tradition,"
Orientalia Christiana Peri?dica 55, no. 2 (1989): 375-410; E. von
Dobsch?tz, Christusbilder. Untersuchungen zur christlichen Legend, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen
Literatur, vol. 18 (Leipzig, 1899), pp. 102-196.
29. Kinefe-Rigb Zelleke, "Bibliography of the Ethiopie
Hagiographical Traditions," Journal of Ethiopian Studies 13, no. 2
(1975): no. 89 (Lalibala), no. 120 (Na'akkweto La'ab), no. 172
(Yemrehanna Krestos or Yemreha Krestos). For the Life of Na'akkweto
La'ab, see C. Conti Rossini, 'Gli Atti di Re Na'akueto la-'Ab," Annali
del R. Istituto Orientale di Napoli 2, n.s. (1943): 105-231. The Life of
Yemreha Krestos is unpublished. For the malke' (literally, "image," or
poetic eulogy) of the Three Holy Kings of Z?gw?, see EMML 1837, a
seventeenth-century manuscript at the monastery of Hayq Estif?nos: Getatchew Hai le and Wm. F. Macomber, A Catalogue of Ethiopian
Manuscript Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm
Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library,
Collegeville, vol. 5 (Collegeville, Minnesota, 1981), p. 336.
30. Sauter (see n. 7), no. 52, pp. 269-270, church of Na'akkweto
La'ab, and no. 33, p. 262, church of Yemreha Krestos. For the latter, see Gerster (see n. 4), pp. 110-114, pis. 118-128.
30 RES 27 SPRING 1995
>*?"
. "5>
??- ..j?fa<"
^^ ^
* ?
>j: '3^f|?
Figure 3. View of the Jordan River with a rock-hewn pillar topped by a cross. Photo: M. Heldman, ? 1994.
sensul, or "chain" of paintings, produced by a painter who worked in Lasta, may have been created as a
pilgrim's souvenir of the province's churches.31
Oral traditions of Roha-L?libal? are silent about King
Abgar, because his memory has been supplanted by
King L?libal?, just as the Ethiopian "replica" of King
Abgar's city was later renamed.32 An indirect reference
to the authentic portrait that King Abgar received from
Christ, however, is found in the Life of Saint L?libal?, which compares a visit to the churches of
Roha-L?libal? to the experience of seeing the face of
Christ, surely an indirect reference to Christ's portrait
imprinted on the towel received by King Abgar.33 Roha-L?libal? is also a replica of Jerusalem and
other holy sites in the Holy Land.34 Place names in and
around the site, as well as dedications?the Jordan
River, the Mount of Olives, the Tomb of Adam, and the
church of Golgotha?convey this association. At the
edge of an intermittent stream known as the Jordan
River, a cross on top of a pillar is carved (fig. 3), a
replica of the cross-column that marked the spot where
Jesus Christ was baptized on the bank of the Jordan River.35 The rock-cut Tomb of Christ within the church of Golgotha and the freestanding cube known as the tomb of Adam that stands before the church (fig. 4 and no. 1 of fig. 1) demonstrate that explicit associations
31. The remaining three panels of this folding sensul show Saint
Gabra Manfas Qeddus, Saints Claudius and George, and Mary with
the Infant Jesus. M. Heldman et al., African Zion, the Sacred Art of
Ethiopia (New Haven and London, 1993), pp. 247-248.
32. For the literary traditions of King Abgar of Edessa, see
Getatchew Haile (see n. 28).
33. Perruchon (see n. 17), p. 127; Dobschiitz (see n. 28), pp. 102
ff. The account of Christ's sending Abgar his true portrait appears in
the Synaxary reading for King Abgar, who is celebrated by the
Ethiopian Church on 29 Tabeas; see Budge (see n. 10), vol. 2,
pp. 426-427.
34. Story of L?libal? [Z?n? L?libal?]:
I blessed this place and from now onwards let it be a holy place as Mount Tabor, the place of my transfiguration, as Golgotha, the
place of my crucifixion, and as Jerusalem the land of my mother
and where I took flesh from her pure flesh. If a man abides in it, or undertakes pilgrimage to it, it is as equal as if he went to my
Sepulchre in Jerusalem. And if somebody receives my flesh and
blood in those churches he will be redeemed of all his sins.
Text and translation published by Sergew Hable Sel lassie (Ancient and
Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270 [Addis Ababa, 1972], p. 276); he cites no manuscript source for this composition. Z?n? L?libal? does
not appear by this title in the ten indexed catalogs of the Ethiopian
Manuscript Microfilm Project (Collegeville, Minnesota, 1975-93). Z?n? L?libal? appears to be a more recent composition than the Life
of Saint Lalibala.
35. Theodosius, an early sixth-century pilgrim to the Holy Land,
reported that a marble column topped by a cross marked the site of
Christ's Baptism on the banks of the Jordan (J. Wilkinson, Jerusalem
Pilgrimage before the Crusades [Warminster, England, 1977], pp. 5,
69). Later Byzantine representations of the Baptism sometimes show
this cross and column; see, for example, the mosaic of Hosios Lucas
(E. Diez and O. Demus, Byzantine Mosaics in Greece [Cambridge,
Massachusetts, 1931], fig. 6) and a miniature of a Gospel Lectionary, Mount Athos, Dionysiou MS 587m, fol. 141 v (S. M. Pelekanidis et al., The Treasures of Mount Athos, Illuminated Manuscripts [Athens,
1973], vol. 1, fig. 255).
Heldman: Legends of L?libal? 31
Figure 4. Tomb of Adam (and beyond) in the east of the church of Golgotha. Photo: M. Heldman, ? 1994.
32 RES 27 SPRING 1995
Figure 5. Madfr?ne y?lam, or church of the Redeemer. Photo: M. Heldman,? 1994.
with the holy sites in Jerusalem were imposed at the
time of the carving of these structures from rock in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries.36 Symbolic associations with the Holy Land, however, have
obscured the fact that the Z?gw? rulers endowed the
site with yet a third symbolic association in addition to
those of Edessa and Jerusalem. Roha-L?libal? preserves at least two clear references to Aksum, Ethiopia's ancient capital, which was abandoned as the political center by the end of the eighth century. The plan and
elevation of the church of the Redeemer demonstrate
that this structure is an architectural quotation or
replica of Aksum's great sixth-century metropolitan cathedral, the church of Zion (Maryam $eyon)?7
Evidently, the Z?gw? rulers had intended to supplant the ancient capital by re-creating its most holy church at Roha-L?libal?.
The church of the Redeemer, or Madfrane y?lam, the
largest at Roha-L?libal?, is a five-aisle basilica
surrounded by a rare external colonnade of piers
(fig. 5).38 The thirty-four piers of the external colonnade
plus twenty-eight of the interior make a total of
sixty-two.39 These three features?external colonnade, five aisles, and a total of sixty-two piers?are known to
have been the distinctive features of the cathedral, Saint Mary of Zion, of M?ry?m $eyon, at Aksum.
Although Saint Mary of Zion was badly damaged in
1535 during the jihad (holy war) waged by the neighboring Muslim state of Adal and later rebuilt
following a different plan,40 the colonnade and
36. As early as the fourth century Golgotha had been identified
with the site of Adam's tomb, and the tradition persisted. Wilkinson
(see n. 35), pp. 117, 200. The Ethiopie Gadla Add?m wa-Hew?n
records the same tradition (S. C. Malan, trans., The Book of Adam
and Eve [London and Edinburgh, 1882], p. 115). For the tomb of
Christ in the church of Golgotha at Roha-L?libal?, see Monti della
Corte (see n. 4), pi. 14.
37. Heldman (see n. 5), pp. 230-231; on the proposed
sixth-century date, see ibid., p. 226. David Buxton had previously noted that the church of the Redeemer "perpetuates the main layout" of Aksum's church of Zion, but he did not pursue the symbolic
implications of this fact; see D. Buxton and D. Matthews, 'The
Reconstruction of Vanished Aksumite Buildings," Rassegna di Studi
EthiopicilS, (1971-1972): 54, 74.
38. The term "five-aisle" basilica would be more accurately called
a basilica with "nave and double side-aisles," a plan like that of the
basilica of the holy sepulcher in Jerusalem or the Constantinian
martyrium of Saint Peter in Rome. I use the descriptive term
"five-aisled" because it is used by Alvarez and because the central
nave is no wider than the flanking aisles; see Bianchi Barriviera (see n. 6), pi. 18; Buxton and Matthews (see n. 37), figs. 22-23.
39. See the plan in Buxton and Matthews (see n. 37), fig. 22. Four
rows of seven piers separate the interior space into five aisles. Ten of
these interior piers, joined to walls that delineate areas of sanctuary and narthex, are not completely freestanding.
40. R. Basset, ed. and trans., "?tudes sur l'histoire d'Ethiopie," Journal asiatique 119 (Aug.-Sept., 1881): 99; for the rebuilt cathedral, see T. von L?pke, Profan- und Kultbauten Nordabessiniens aus ?lterer
und neuerer Zeit, Deutsche Aksum-Expedition (Berlin, 1913), vol. 3,
pp. 75-85, pl. 6.
Heldman: Legends of Lalibala 33
sixty-two piers of the grand Aksumite cathedral are
noted in a description of the cathedral preserved in the
Book of Aksum, a collection of historic texts and
traditions compiled in the seventeenth century.41 The
five aisles are described in the account of Alvarez, who
visited the cathedral before it was damaged.42 The
quotation of these distinctive elements in the fabric of
the church of the Redeemer demonstrates that it was
originally created as a replica of Aksum's Zion
cathedral and thus was endowed with the particular holiness of its prototype. In light of this architectural
quotation, one may conclude that the dedication of the
simple chapel to the Virgins within the same area was
intended to make reference to Aksum's church of the
Virgins (Beta Dan?gel), which also is recorded in the
Book of Aksum.43
As seen above, the Z?gw? kings imposed multiple
layers of meaning on their ceremonial center. It was a
New Roha or Edessa a replica of Jerusalem and the
Holy Land, and it simultaneously presented quotations of two churches at Aksum. In fact, the idea of
replicating Jerusalem in Ethiopia goes back to the sixth
century when churches at Aksum were conceived as
quotations of Jerusalem's churches. Aksum's
metropolitan cathedral and its adjoining church of the
Virgins quoted famed Christian sites in Jerusalem. The
dedication of the cathedral to Zion (Seyon) referred to
the great church of the Apostles on Mount Sion in
Jerusalem, while the dedication of the church of the
Virgins made reference to the monastery for women
that was once located near Jerusalem's church of the
Apostles.44 Although presently no church at Aksum
carries a dedication to the Virgins, this has been the
popular name for the church of the Four Living Creatures (Arba'ettu Ensesa), located just southwest of
the cathedral.45 Thus, both oral tradition and the Book
of Aksum preserve evidence of a church of the Virgins located near Aksum's cathedral, and the original
significance of the dedication of the chapel of the
Virgins at Roha-L?libal? is now clear. Just as the
physical structure of the church of the Redeemer at
Roha-L?libal? is a copy of Aksum's Zion cathedral, the
chapel of the Virgins at Roha-L?libal? is a quotation of
the church or chapel of the Virgins once situated near
the cathedral in Aksum.
By the early sixteenth century, when Alvarez visited
Roha-L?libal?, the original meaning of the dedication
of the chapel to the "Virgins" of the nunnery in
Jerusalem had been superseded by the tradition that the
chapel was dedicated to the Virgin Martyrs of Roha or
Edessa. This shift in the interpretation of the dedication
apparently coincides with the development of the cult
of King L?libal? as saint and the Ethiopian pilgrimage to his tomb at Roha-L?libal?.
The cult of Saint L?libal? was established at
Roha-L?libal? by the early fifteenth century. His Life, or
gadl, was composed by Krestos Harayo, probably
during the reign of Emperor Yeshaq (r. 1414-29).46 The
earliest known manuscript of his Life (London, British
Library, Or. 719), the colophon of which states that it
was copied by Abb? Ammeha for a church of
Golgotha, was acquired shortly thereafter by Emperor Zar'a Y?'eqob (r. 1434-68) for his own library.47 The
earliest representation of Saint L?libal? in Ethiopian art
is from the mid-fifteenth century (fig. 6). He is depicted on the wing of this triptych as a mounted warrior
(bottom left-hand corner) in the company of great Christian military saints?Saint Theodore, Saint
Basilides, and Saint Mercurius. This panel can be
attributed to the Ethiopian monk-painter Fr? Seyon (fl. 1445-80), who worked for the court of Zar'a
Y?Neqob.48
41. C. Conti Rossini, ed. and trans., Documenta ad illustrandam
historiam: Liber Axumae, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum
Orientalium 54 and 58, script, aeth. 24 and 27 (reprint ed., Louvain,
1954), pp. 6-7 (text), p. 7 (trans.).
42. Alvarez (see n. 3), vol. 1, pp. 151-153.
43. Conti Rossini (see n. 41), p. 4 (text), p. 4 (trans.).
44. Alvarez ([see n. 3], p. 151) reported that the cathedral is
named Saint Mary of Zion because the Apostles had sent its altar
stone from Mount Sion in Jerusalem. A monastery for women near the
church of Sion in Jerusalem was reported by the Piacenza Pilgrim, circa 570 (J. Wilkinson [see n. 35], p. 84).
45. Africa Orientale Italiana, Guida d'ltalia della Consociazione
Tur?stica Italiana (Milan, 1938), p. 266. The present church is a
nineteenth-century edifice, although its foundation appears to be
much older; see R. Plant, Architecture of the Tigre, Ethiopia
(Worcester, England, 1985), p. 209, map on pp. 204-205.
46. Getatchew Haile and Macomber (see n. 29), pp. 121-122.
47. W. Wright, Catalogue of the Ethiopie Manuscripts in the British
Museum Acquired since the Year 1847 (London, 1877), p. 193, no. 294. The scribal colophon appears on fol. 3v, and the note
concerning King Zar'a Y?'eqob appears on fols. 162v-163r.
Perruchon utilized the nineteenth-century manuscript of the Life of
Lalibala (British Library, Or. 718) for his Vie de Lalibala.
48. Addis Ababa, Institute of Ethiopian Studies no. 4053; see also
a fifteenth-century triptych with a portrait of Saint Lalibala (Addis
Ababa, Institute of Ethiopian Studies no. 3450). Heldman (see n. 31),
pp. 184-185, 187. For a more extended discussion of the triptych
panel, see M. E. Heldman, The Marian Icons of the Painter Fr? $eyon: A Study in Fifteenth-Century Ethiopian Art, Patronage and Spirituality
(Wiesbaden, 1994).
34 RES 27 SPRING 1995
Figure 6. Triptych wing, attributed to Fr? ?eyon, of Saint Lalibala (lower left) with
equestrian saints Theodore, Basilides, Mercurius, the head of Saint John the Baptist, and two half-length saints, Cyriacus and Stephen the Deacon, mid-fifteenth century. Addis
Ababa, Institute of Ethiopian Studies no. 4053. Photo: M. Heldman, ? 1994.
Heldman: Legends of Lalibala 35
Contemporary with the introduction of Saint L?libal?
in Ethiopian devotional images are references to
pilgrimage to his tomb at Roha-L?libal?. The Life of
Saint Krestos Samr?, a nun who lived at Lake Tana in
the mid-fifteenth century, describes how she went to
"the land of Roha and visited the sepulchre of St.
Lalibala."49 This account, composed in the late fifteenth
century, may be compared with a passage in the Life of
Saint Zen? M?ry?m, a late fourteenth-century nun from
the same area, whose hagiography was composed
shortly after her death. Although Saint Zen? M?ry?m had a vision of the heavenly dwelling place of Saint
George and Saint L?libal?, her Life is silent concerning
pilgrimage to the site of his tomb.50 This suggests that
pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint L?libal? developed
during the fifteenth century, after the Life of Saint Zen?
M?ry?m was written.
For example, an Ethiopian itinerary collected by Alessandro Zorzi in Venice in 1523 lists a site named
Urvuar (Warwar), where there is "the tomb of a holy
king that works miracles, and has the name Lalivela
[L?libal?]; whither go very many pilgrims from all the
lands."51 Similarly, Alvarez reported that King L?libal?
was buried in the church of Golgotha in which was
carved a tomb "made like the sepulchre of Christ in
Jerusalem."52 Thus, by the early sixteenth century, Roha-L?libal? had become a renowned pilgrimage center for Saint L?libal?, whose tomb was associated
with the copy of the tomb of Christ in the church of
Golgotha.53 Several miraculous tales of the Ethiopian saint Takla
H?ym?not (died circa 1313) were probably composed in the 1520s at the saint's monastery of Dabra L?banos
(Asbo), and they bear witness to the pilgrimage at
Roha-L?libal?. At that time this monastery was the
wealthiest and one of the most influential in Ethiopia, and these tales demonstrate that the clerical literati at
Dabra Lib?nos in Shoa acknowledged the importance of pilgrimage to Roha-L?libal?. One miracle relates
how Saint Takla H?ym?not saved a nun whom a
robber attempted to rape while she was going to the
church of Saint L?libal? at Roha-L?libal?, and another
tells how the saint saved a woman who was attacked
by a rhinoceros (hippopotamus in another version) while on her pilgrimage to Saint L?libal?'s church at
Roha-L?libal?.54
Although the earlier (fifteenth-century) recension of
the Synaxary of the Ethiopian Church does not include
Saint L?libal?, the commemoration of his death on 12
Sane (19 June) was added to the revised recension, the
earliest example of which is a beautifully copied
manuscript dated 16 December 1581.55 Thus by the
second half of the sixteenth century, the cult of Saint
L?libal? had been fully institutionalized by the
Ethiopian Church.
Saint L?libal?'s commemoration in the Synaxary relates how his jealous elder brother, the reigning king,
unjustly accused him of unnamed offenses and ordered
him to be beaten. Protected by an angel of God, L?libal? remained unharmed by the blows. The king then begged L?libal?'s pardon, and the brothers finally
made peace, after which God caused L?libal? to inherit
the throne. Because L?libal?'s reign was pleasing to
God, an angel came to him in a dream and showed
him how to build ten churches together, each different
from the other, and L?libal? did as God instructed.56
49. The saint welcomed her visit to his tomb; E. Cerulli, ed. and
trans., Atti di Krestos Samr?, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum
Orientalium 163/164, script, aeth. 33/34 (Louvain, 1956), p. 21 (text),
p. 15 (trans.). Not only does this passage demonstrate the importance
of the cult of Saint Lalibala but it also suggests that the monastery of
Dabra Lib?nos (Asbo), where her gadl was composed, employed the
authority of Saint Lalibala to validate this nun's reputation of sanctity. 50. Cerulli (see n. 49), translated vol., p. ii; E. Cerulli, "Gli Atti di
Zen? M?ry?m, monaca eti?pica del sec?lo XIV," Rivista degli studi
orientali 21 (1946): 154.
51. O. G. S. Crawford, ed., Ethiopian Itineraries, circa 1400-1524,
Hakluyt Society, 2d ser., vol. 109 (Cambridge, 1958), pp. 152-153.
52. Alvarez (see n. 3), vol. 1 pp. 207, 221.
53. A similar conflation of the tomb of Christ with tombs of kings or holy persons has been proposed by Slobodan Curcic, "Late
Byzantine Loca Sanctal Some Questions Regarding the Form and
Function of Epitaphioi," in The Twilight of Byzantium, Aspects of
Cultural and Religious History in the Late Byzantine Empire, ed. S.
Curcic and D. Mouriki (Princeton, New Jersey, 1991), pp. 257-261.
54. Getatchew Hai le and Wm. F. Macomber, A Catalogue of
Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript
Library, Collegeville, vol. 6, (Collegeville, Minnesota, 1982), p. 244:
EMML 2134, fols. 163r-v, 169r; Getatchew Haile and W. F.
Macomber, A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the
Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville, vol. 7 (Collegeville,
Minnesota, 1983), p. 241 : EMML 2919, fols. 110r-v. That Saint Takla
H?ym?not is more powerful than Saint L?libal? is the apparent subtext of these two tales; otherwise Saint L?libal?, not Saint Takla
H?ym?not, would have saved these pilgrims. 55. EMML 2054, fols. 189v-190r; the text is unpublished.
Getatchew Haile and Macomber (EMML catalog 6, see n. 54),
pp. 67-68.
56. EMML 2054, vols. 189v-190r. The text is essentially the same
as that published by I. Guidi, ed. and trans., "Le synaxaire ?thiopien, le mois de S?n?," Patrolog?a Orientalis 1 (reprint ed., Louvain, 1981):
523-524, 584-602; Budge (see n. 10), vol. 4, pp. 995-996.
36 RES 27 SPRING 1995
The Life of Saint L?libal? is not identical with the r?sum? of his life in the Synaxary, although the two
share essential elements: the jealous reigning elder
brother; false accusation and dreadful beating from
which an angel protects L?libal?; a vision of divine
archetypes and God's instruction to copy them; L?libal?'s divinely bestowed reign. The order of these
events, however, is different. In the Synaxary the angel of God gives L?libal? instructions for excavating the
churches as a reward for his love of God and for the
Christian goodness of his reign. In the Life L?libal? is
taken to heaven before inheriting the throne; God
shows him the divine archetypes and tells him
that he will become king in order to execute copies of
the archetypes. Moreover, the Life introduces several significant
themes that do not appear the Synaxary. L?libal? is
presented as a model monk, who lived for a while in
the desert as a "soldier in the army of God," and who never ceased fasting even after assuming the throne.57 In addition, L?libal? is presented as a Christlike figure, for the author of his Life draws parallels between the
saint's life and the life of Christ. Just as a star appeared at the birth of Christ, so did a significative swarm of
bees appear at the birth of L?libal?.58 L?libal? was
given poison, fell into a deathlike coma for three days, and on the third day rose up, just as Christ arose from the tomb on the third day.59 The parallels also extend to the tomb of Christ. According to his Life, L?libal?
went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he was
visited by Christ, who renewed the instructions to build the churches that follow divine archetypes. Christ
promised him that the pilgrim who visits the sanctuary of L?libal? will be blessed the same way as the pilgrim who visits the holy sepulcher, and the pilgrim who venerates the tomb where the corpse of L?libal? will be
laid would be similar to the pilgrim who venerates the
tomb of Christ.60 This demonstrates how the purported tomb of Saint L?libal? came to be identified with the replica of the tomb of Christ at the church of Golgotha.
Comparison of the reading in the Synaxary with the Life of the saint suggests that the latter was composed at Roha-L?libal? by an author committed to promoting the saint's cult at the church of Golgotha. It also seems
likely that the early fifteenth-century manuscript of his
Life (London, British Library, Or. 719), copied for a
church named Golgotha, was made for the church of
Golgotha at Roha-L?libal?, now the pilgrimage church
of the saint.61
The fifteenth-century Life of Saint L?libal? introduces a more personal and perhaps more profound reason for
recognizing the holiness of the complex of ten
churches. The churches do not cease to be replicas of
man-made prototypes, but now they may also be
regarded as manifestations of divine archetypes revealed by God directly to King L?libal?.
In addition, some of the churches at Roha-L?libal?
acquired new saintly associations. As demonstrated
above, the church of Golgotha became the locus of the cult of Saint L?libal?. Also, an association with the
Disciples of Christ was proposed for the church of the Redeemer. This is revealed in the description of the church of the Redeemer presented in the Life of Saint L?libal?. Although the original reason for endowing the church with sixty-two piers was to create a replica of the cathedral of Aksum with its sixty-two piers, the author introduced a new meaning by pronouncing the total number of piers at the church of the Redeemer
(Madh?n? "?lam) to be seventy-two. (This statement is
completely arbitrary, for the total number of piers remains sixty-two.) The unfounded assertion that the number of piers is seventy-two effectively cancels one
aspect of the quotation of the Aksum cathedral and
establishes a new symbolism for the piers and the church because the number seventy-two refers to the
seventy-two Disciples of Christ the Redeemer.62 A similar shift occurred at the chapel of the Virgins
(Beta Dan?gel) at Roha-L?libal?. While the original dedication that made reference to the church of the
Virgins (Beta Dan?gel) at Aksum was not completely altered, it was transformed with the identification of the
57. Perruchon (see n. 17), pp. 92-93, 110.
58. Perruchon (see n. 17), p. 80.
59. Perruchon (see n. 17), p. 89.
60. S. Kur, "?dition d'un manuscrit ?thiopien de la Biblioth?que Vaticane: Cerulli 178," Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei,
M?moire, Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, ser. 8,
vol. 16 (1972): 414-415..This remarkable passage was omitted by Perruchon in his edition of the Life of L?libal? ([see n. 17], pp. 407,
384).
61. According to a note in EMML no. 1614, Krestos yarayo, author of the Life of L?libal?, deposited one copy of his composition in the church of Saint Mary at Roha-L?libal? (see Getatchew Haile
and Macomber [see n. 29], p. 121).
62. See, for example, the "Anaphora of the Apostles," in Marcos
Daoud and Marsie Hazen (trans.), The Liturgy of the Ethiopian Church
(Addis Ababa, 1954), p. 56, sec. 7.
Heldman: Legends of L?libal? 37
Virgins as virgin martyrs. In this way, the Virgins of the
original dedication acquired new identity. This shift is
documented by Alvarez's reference to the church as
the church of the Martyrs, as opposed to the church of the Virgins; by the early sixteenth century, therefore, the story of the martyrdom of the nuns of Edessa had become common knowledge at Roha-L?libal?. Indeed, the account of their martyrdom was probably
composed there.
A new identity was also formulated in Saint Mary's church at Roha-L?libal?. At the east end of the nave of the church, before the entrance to the sanctuary, stands a single rock-hewn pier completely wrapped in fabric, known as the Pillar of Light C?mda Berh?n) (fig. 7). Priests of this church say that a copy of the letter sent
by Jesus Christ to King L?libal? is inscribed on the
pier.63 Their assertion, which cannot be verified because the sacred pillar is wrapped with fabric, derives from the legend of King Abgar of Edessa. The letter that King Abgar received from Christ was
inscribed as an apotropaic device upon Edessa's city
gate.64 The persona of King Abgar was transferred to
Saint L?libal?, just as the replica of the tomb of Christ became Saint L?libal?'s sepulcher.
The introduction of the cult of Saint L?libal? at
Roha-L?libal? and the transformation of the meaning of the dedications of the church of the Redeemer and the
chapel of the Virgins could not have developed without the full endorsement of the local clerics to whom should be attributed the composition of the martyrdom
of the Fifty Virgins and their abbess Sophia as well as
the several versions of the Life of St. L?libal?. Thus, the
sacredness of the ceremonial center of the Zagwe
dynasty that was founded originally upon architectural
quotations of the cathedral of Aksum with the church of the Virgins as well as great pilgrimage churches and
sites of the Holy Land was renewed by the presence of
saints, especially the cultic focus on Saint L?libal?.
Moreover, the tale of the Fifty Virgin Martyrs of Edessa
Figure 7. "Anida Berh?n, or P/7/ar of Light, at Bel? M?ry?m, or
church of Saint Mary. Nave interior, looking east. Photo: M. Heldman, ?1994.
gave new meaning to the dedication of the Beta
Dan?gel, or chapel of the Virgins. Reasons for cloaking the original Aksumite
quotations at the church of the Redeemer and the
chapel of the Virgins are not altogether clear. While
growing popular interest in the cult of saints should not
be overlooked, political considerations may also have
been a factor. With the fall of the Zagwe dynasty in
A.D. 1270, a new political center was established to the
south of Roha-L?libal?, in the area called Tagwelat (near the town of Dabra Berh?n in the modern
province of Shoa). Emperor Yekunno Aml?k, founder of
the Tagwelate, or so-called Solomonic dynasty, claimed
that he, not the kings of the Zagwe dynasty, was the
rightful ruler of Ethiopia because his father descended
63. The author's interview with the priests at the church of Saint
Mary, L?libal?, in May 1974.
64. Procopius, History of the Wars, vol. 2, xii, 26; see E. Kitzinger, 'The Cult of Images in the Age before Iconoclasm," Dumbarton Oaks
Papers, no. 8 (1954): 103. The letter exists in several Ethiopie
recensions, the apotropaic lines of which are "Blessed are you and
your city and whoever dwells in it for eternity" and "And peace to
your city, and no enemy will ever be able to enter it." Haile (see n. 28), pp. 386, 400.
38 RES 27 SPRING 1995
from the kings of Aksum.65 The new Tagwelate, or
Solomonic, dynasty emphasized its Aksumite heritage,
and, in accord with this stratagem, Emperor Zar'a
Y?'eqob renewed the ancient tradition of royal enthronement at Aksum in 1436.66 With Roha
L?libal?'s quotations of Aksum cloaked or modified by the cult of saints, it was no longer the new Aksum, and
thus the old Aksum could be restored to its numinous
position as Ethiopia's sacred center. Meanwhile, Roha-L?libal? became the holy city of Saint L?libal?, a
site of flourishing pilgrimage.
65. Yekunno Aml?k's father was Tasf? lyyasus, presumed descendant of the last Aksumite ruler (M. E. Heldman and Getatchew
Haile, "Who Is Who in Ethiopia's Past, Part III: Founders of Ethiopia's
Solomonic Dynasty," Northeast African Studies 9, no. 1 [1987]: 2).
The preparation or composition of the early fourteenth-century
recension of the Kebra Nagast by Yeshaq, nebura ed of Aksum, may
be related to attempts to restore Aksum to its position as the sacred
center. On the date, see E. A. Wallis Budge, trans., The Queen of
Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek (London, Boston, 1922),
pp. 228-229; E. Cerulli, La letteratura eti?pica, 3d ed. (Florence,
Milan, 1968), pp. 36-39.
66. J. Perruchon, ed. and trans., Les Chroniques de Zar'a Y?yeqob et de Ba'eda M?ry?m, rois d'Ethiopie (Paris, 1893), pp. 49-52; for
determination of the date of his enthronement, see Taddesse Tamrat
(seen. 1), p. 248.