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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Hermits, saints, and snakes: the archaeology of the early Ethiopian monastery in wider context
Author:Finneran, NiallISNI
Year:2012
Periodical:International Journal of African Historical Studies (ISSN 0361-7882)
Volume:45
Issue:2
Pages:247-271
Language:English
Geographic term:Ethiopia
Subjects:religious buildings
archaeology
Christianity
Abstract:The Ethiopian monastery has historically served as a vital and powerful sociocultural and economic node within the historic Christian landscape of the Ethiopian highlands. In many areas of the former Roman empire, the monastery in Ethiopia played an active role in the Christianization of the secular polity. It is the contention of this paper that the study of the Ethiopian monastery within a broader historical-archaeological context (apart from one exception) remains largely overlooked. The paper contains a basic chronological model for the development of Ethiopian monasticism up until the end of the Zagwe period, starting with the establishment of a monastic culture within the Aksumite church and fleshing out with a study of the monastic system of Tigray, which during the period of Zagwe dominance retained a great deal of economic and political power. The author also considers the place of the Ethiopian monastery in a wider context (spatial typology) as well as stressing the importance of the international dimension of the Ethiopian monastery. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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