Māryām Nāzrēt (Ethiopia)

The Twelfth-century Transformations of an Aksumite Site in Connection with an Egyptian Christian Community1

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3637589
AutoresMarie-Laure Derat (0000-0002-6890-5629, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Emmanuel Fritsch (0000-0001-5790-0008, University of French Polynesia), Claire Bosc-Tiessé (0000-0002-5009-0425, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Antoine Garric (French University of Egypt), Romain Mensan (0009-0001-7503-8885, Travaux et Recherches Archéologiques sur les Cultures, les Espaces et les Sociétés), François-Xavier Fauvelle (0000-0001-9421-0559, Collège de France), Hiluf Berhe (Mekelle University)
Año2020
Volumen239
Número239
Páginas473-507
Fecha de publicación2020-09-17
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCahiers d études africaines (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0008-0055 • E-ISSN: 1777-5353
EditorialOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4000/etudesafricaines.31358
OpenAlexW3084109794
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas18

The monument known as Māryām Nāzrēt in Ethiopia, near the city of Mekelle, has often been visited but has hitherto remained hermetic. A fresh investigation has identified the main monument as a massive cathedral erected atop a long-pre-existing Aksumite structure. This unique monument is surrounded by satellite hermitages, among which the one at Golegota shows remains of a small church sharing common architectural features with the cathedral. Cross-referencing these remains with information provided by a written document enables to ascribe the construction of this cathedral to the twelfth-century Metropolitan Mikāʾēl. Named by the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria among Egyptian monks, the Metropolitan was head of the Ethiopian Church. Māryām Nāzrēt was most certainly the episcopal seat in the twelfth and thirteenth century, during the reign of the Zāgwē dynasty, and hosted an Egyptian Christian community. At the crossroad of documented history and particular architectural trends, of contemporaneous developments in Ethiopian liturgy and church building, the paper deals with ecclesiastical and regal interaction in the region of Mekelle in the twelfth century

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Liturgy · Metropolitan area · Political science · Reign · Theology · African history and culture analysis · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy