An Ethiopian Magical Manuscript at the University Library of Cluj, Romania (BCU, MS 681)

Abstract

The University Library of Cluj (Biblioteca Centrala Universitara) owns an important number of incunabula, early printed books, and (mainly Western) manuscripts, all included in the "Gheorghe Sion" special collections department. The card catalogue of the collection labels MS 68 1 as a "Coptic manuscript," but no further information is offered. Upon examination of the manuscript, we were able to ascertain that the codex was in fact an Ethiopian book of magic. The book is written on thick vellum of a small, square format (75 ? 70 mm, text: 50 ? 55 mm). According to Siegbert Uhlig, the main authority on Ethiopian palaeography and codicology, this is the smallest book size in that culture.1 Small book sizes dominate in Uhligs periods VI and VII, spanning the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. However, square formats tend to disappear after the eighteenth century,2 which makes it possible that our manuscript belongs to that period. Moreover, according to Stefan Strelcyn and David Appleyard, most surviving Ethiopian magical texts fall into the period stretching precisely from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.3 The codex amounts to 53 unnumbered folios, bound into irregular groupings, as follows4: I2+1 (first fol. blank), 26-46, 5\ 610"2 (lacks the last two fols.), 76, 84-94, 106. The pages exhibit visible drypoint ruling and prickings in the margins. The text layout varies between one (fols. 2r, 4r-53v) and two columns (fol. 3rv); fol. 2r accommodates 17 lines of text; fols. 3r-53v mainly 12, but sometimes 10-11 lines. The only color in the manuscript is the red of rubrics; The binding of the manuscript consists of two bare wooden boards (78 ? 70 mm), tooled with a geometric pattern (Figure 2). The cover decoration has a hatched frame, inside of which is drawn an "X-form"- Sergew Hable Selassie's pattern nr 5.6 The book has been preserved together with its leather case (mahdar, Figure 3).7 The carrying case is of a simple type, as it does not contain an inner and an outer box. The book's decoration is extremely modest. The only ink drawing in the manuscript occupies fol. 2v (Figure 4), and belongs to one of the most frequent types of illustration in magical scrolls and books.8 According to the best survey of the literature, this type of drawing has generally been described as a "face in an eight-pointed star." 9 Some scholars believe that this magical figure represents a net to catch demons, "the secret king," leader of all demons,10 or "an eight-pointed star with the face of Satan."11 A more plausible interpretation posits a friendly figure, such as a Cherub or even God's face.12 We are tempted to interpret the drawing as a Cherub, or indeed as a stylized Theophany icon, both equally frequent in Ethiopian art.13 The apotropaic representation of icons would in any case be in keeping with the nature of Ethiopian magical syncretism. Magical writings in Ethiopian culture appear mainly in the form of scrolls, produced by healing dabtaras14 in the size of the person they meant to protect. However, dabtaras also owned sourcebooks from which they copied magical drawings, prayers, and formulas onto personalized scrolls. However, such sourcebooks ("carnets de dabtara" according to Strelcyn)15 containing magical prayers (maftdhe sdray) are generally thicker than Cluj, BCU MS 681. The manuscript contains magical spells and prayers, as follows: 1. 2r. Magical spells. Many letters are illegible. Written later than the rest of the manuscript, by hand A. In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. …