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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

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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.