Aksumite eraRIÉ 271 and 190

Greek and Geʿez witnesses to ʿEzana’s Noba campaign

The surviving Greek lines of RIÉ 271 parallel the much longer Geʿez-in-South-Arabian-script RIÉ 190 account of ʿEzana’s campaign against the Noba.

Date: fourth century CE
Place: Aksum, Ethiopia
Language: Ancient Greek
Script: Greek

01 · Original text

Ancient Greek

GreekSurviving Greek excerpt, lines 22–26 and 32

22 Ἐξῆλθα πολεμῆσαι 23 τοὺς Νωβα, ὅτι κατέκραξαν κατ᾽ αὐτῶν 24 οἱ Μανγαρθω καὶ Χασα καὶ Ἀτιαδιται 25 καὶ βαρεωται λέγοντες ὅτι κατεπόνη- 26 σαν ἡμᾶς οἱ Νωβα, […] 32 ἔφθασα εἰς Μαμβαριαν καὶ ἐκῖθεν ἐσιτάρχησα

Physical lines follow the Beta TEI; the lacuna represents lines 27–31. RIÉ 190 is the longer Geʿez parallel in South Arabian script.

Scholarly transliteration

22 Exēltha polemēsai 23 tous Nōba, hoti katekraksan kat’ autōn 24 hoi Mangarthō kai Khasa kai Atiaditai 25 kai Bareōtai legontes hoti kateponē- 26 san hēmas hoi Nōba, […] 32 ephthasa eis Mambarian kai ekeithen esitarchēsa

02 · Translation

English translation

I went out to wage war against the Noba because the Mangartho, Khasa, Atiaditai, and Bareotai cried out against them, saying that the Noba had oppressed us. I reached Mambarian, and from there I provisioned <my forces>.

Habesha History translation of the checked Greek excerpt in Beta maṣāḥǝft RIÉ 271, after RIÉ III.A (2000), pp. 15–21.

Sources

Editions & references

Edition, catalogue, and image records used for this entry.

RIÉ 271 and 190
RIÉ I (Bernand, Drewes and Schneider 1991), page 286-271, page 370-372; RIÉ I (Bernand, Drewes and Schneider 1991), page 268—271, page 370—372; RIÉ II, plates (Bernand, Drewes and Schneider 1991), plate 124—128, plate 181; RIÉ III.A, Greek texts (Bernand 2000), page 15—21; RIÉ III.B (Drewes 2019), page 242—248

Habesha History corpus

Abraham J. Drewes, Recueil des inscriptions de l’Éthiopie III.B (2019), pp. 242–248