Naufragio e conservazione di testi cristiani antichi: il contributo della tradizione etiopica

Starting from the Axumite period (4th-7th cent.), the Gǝ‘ǝz literature included many translations of ancient Christian texts. Frequently the original forms of these works disappeared in the Greek tradition, but they survived in full in the Ethiopian literature. Among the aims of the philological study is to discover for what reasons and under which circumstances these texts, following harsh theological debates, were doomed to the oblivion in the Mediterranean setting, but they continued to be read and copied in the Ethiopian churches and monasteries.