The Garima Gospels

Manuscripts preserved in a monastery in the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia, and according to legend written and partly illuminated by the Ethiopian missionary Abbu Garima, who arrived in Ethiopia in 494 CE: this is the first book to present all the illuminated pages with comparative materials. 300+ col illus and preface by Michael Gervers. The three Garima Gospels are the earliest surviving Ethiopian gospel books. They provide glimpses of lost late antique luxury gospel books and art of the fifth to seventh centuries, from the Aksumite kingdom of Ethiopia. This book reproduces all of the Garima illuminated pages for the first time, and presents extensive comparative material. It will be an essential resource for those studying late antique art and history, Ethiopia, eastern Christianity, New Testament textual criticism, and illuminated books. 316 colour illustrations. Like most gospel manuscripts, the Garima Gospels contain ornately decorated canon tables which function as concordances of the different versions of the same material in the gospels. Analysis of these tables of numbered parallel passages, devised by Eusebius of Caesarea, contributes significantly to our understanding of the early development of the canonical four gospel collection. The origins and meanings of the decorated frames, portraits of the evangelists, Alexandrian circular pavilion, and the unique image of the Jerusalem Temple are explored.

Pages: 336, Edition: Geïllustreerd, Hardcover, Manar Al-Athar, University of Oxford