ETHIOPIC LITERATURE. Reference has al ready been made to the early inscriptions. On the translation of the Bible, see under BIBLE, the section on Versions. The Ethiopic Old Testament contains, in addition to the canonical hooks, also the Apocrypha (except the Books of Maccabees), and a number of works, such as the Book of Enoch, the Ascension of Isaiah. the Book of Jubilees, and the Apocalypse of Ezra. These additions have all been published; but many of the canonical books are extant only in manu scripts. Several apocryphal hooks are also ap pended to the New Testament, among them a Synotios, \\ilia includes canons of councils, an exposition of the Nicene Creed, Apostolic contri butions, and other matter. The remaining litera ture is mainly theological, and includes transla tions of Greek fathers, liturgies, lives of saints. monastic. rules, hymns, and the like. A so-called contains a musical notation. The Saraser are very imperfect studies of the lan guage. The lists of kimts are of considerable value, though the narratives are mostly drawn from Arabic writers. Numerous manuscripts are preserved in Enropeau libraries. Catalogues of the principal collections have been published.
The Abyssinian monasteries are known to possess large numbers of mannse•ipts.
('onsull Erman, Jogiipten um) iirayptiselo 1,e1,rn inn .11terthum (Tfibingen, 1S45) ; W. M. ision send Europa nach Altagyptischrn Denkntu/ern (Leipzig, 1893) ; Maspero, anrienne des peuples elassique (Paris, 1895-99) ; Ludolf, llistoric .Ethiopica (Frank fort, ) • Tellez, general de Ethiopia (Coimbra, IGO); d'Almeida, Historia do Ethi opia OM (1624) ; Bosset, "Etudes stir l'histoire d'Ethiopie," in Journal Asiatique (Paris, 1881) ; Dillmann, Lieber (lie Anpinge (les Belches (Berlin, 1879) ; Perruehon, "Notes pour Fhistoire d'Ethiopie," in Recur 8emitiqUe ( Paris, 1893) ; Glaser, Die Abyssinier in. Arabien and .1 frika. (Alunicb, 1895) ; I3ent, The Sacred City of the Ethiopians (London, 1893) ; Bruce, Travels in Abyssinia (Edinburgh, 1768-73) ; Hoskins, Travels in. Ethiopia (London, 1835) ; Dillmann, qratninalik der aethiopisehen Sprache (Leipzig, 1859) ; Pretorius, Die a in ha risch c !wrier+ e (Halle, 1879) ; id., O'rainnintik der Tigriiin Sprache (1871); Schrieber, Manuct de In longue Tigrai (Vienna, 1887).