Shelfmark

Zanasi-Li Volsi 5

Owning institution

Private collection of Giuseppina Zanasi, Rome

Typology

Scroll

Copying date

19^th–20^th century

Title

Asmat-prayers against demons

Subject

Prayers, Healing

Language

Gǝʿǝz

Short description of the content

1) Ṣälot bäʾǝntä Legewon rǝkus wäBuda wänähabt (“Prayer against the unclean Legewon, the Buda, and the metalworkers”)

Incipit: […]ሎት፡ በእንተ፡ ሌጌዎን፡ ርኩስ፡ ወቡዳ፡ ወነሀብት፡ ሐ[…]ሮ፡ … … …ናሽ፡ ኩኩናአ…ኵናኩ[…]ል። ምዝኤል፡ ሎፍሐም፡

2) Ṣälot bäʾǝntä maʾsäromu läʾaganǝnt wämaʾsärä Säyṭan (“Prayer for binding the demons and binding Satan”)

Incipit: […]ት፡ በእንተ፡ ማእሠሮሙ፡ ለአጋንንት፡ ወማእሠረ፡ ሰይጣን። ስድድ፡ ማኒ፡ አኒጦር፡ ወሽድሪ። አመራ፡ ለሐሐሮን። ሐጅጅሄ፡ አሽድር፡ ጨጨማ።

3) Excerpt from Mt 8:28.

Incipit: […]ል፡ ዘማቴዎስ፡ ወበጺሖ። ማእዶተ። ባሕር፡ ዘስሙ፡ ጌርጌሴዎን፡ ተቀበራዎ፡ ፲ወ፪አጋንንት። ወወጺኦሙ፡ እምውስተ፡ መቃብራት። ወእኩያን፡ ጥቀ።

4) Ṣälot bäʾǝntä ḥǝmamä nähabt (“Prayer against the suffering [caused] by the metalworkers”);

Incipit: […]ት፡ በእንተ፡ ሕማመ፡ ነሀብት፡ ሐሮፓቶስ፡ ሐሮፓሮሮስ፡ አርክም<፡> ኅዩድ፡ አልዩድ፡ ሼር፡ ሼር፡ ናሼር። ቁቁርሽ<፡> ኩኩናኤል፡ አኵናኩኤል፡

5) Ṣälot bäʾǝntä ḥǝmamä q^wǝrṣät (“Prayer against colic”).

Incipit: […]ፈስ፡ ቅዱስ፡ ፩አምላክ፡ ጸሎት፡ በእንተ፡ ሕማመ፡ ቍርጸት፡ አምላከ፡ አናንያ፡ ወአዛርያ፡ ወሚሳኤል፡ ዘአድኃንኮሙ፡ እምእቶነ፡ እሳት፡ ዘይነድድ፡ በምሕረትከ፡ ወበኂሩትከ፡ ተመየጥ፡ እግዚኦ፡

Writing material

Parchment

Outer size

1505 x 78 mm

Number of strips

4

Sewing

The strips are joined together by means of small parchment strips.

Leather case

The scroll is wrapped in a round leather case.

Layout

1 column

Scribe

Unknown

Colophon

–

Additional notes

–

Decoration

On the first strip: a polychrome angel with sword and scabbard (red, violet, yellow). The angel is surrounded by two bands with zigzag and arrow-shaped lines.

On the second strip: an ornamental band with zig-zag lines, originally coloured in red.

On the third strip, at the top of text 4: crude “Net of Solomon”, consisting of a stylized human face framed by four horns and four triple circles on the sides. The image is polychrome (red, violet, yellow).

On the fourth strip, at the end of text 5: a black and red cross.

Borders outlined in black ink along the edges of the written side of the scroll.

Another red and purple figure, perhaps an angel, is drawn on the unwritten side of the first strip.

State of preservation

Discrete.

Provenance and history

Unknown provenance. The manuscript came into possession of the Zanasi-Li Volsi family at some time in the 20^th century.