Greek Gods and Christian Martyrs: Text-Critical Remarks on the Ethiopic Passio of Anicetus and Photius (12 taḫśaś)

Among Carlo Conti Rossini’s many merits it should be recalled that he was the first to recognize traces of an early layer in the textual history of the Gädlä Sämaʿtat (or “Acts of the martyrs”), a well-known collection of Vitae of foreign saintly martyrs mostly translated from Arabic, and to connect this layer to the Greek-based translational phase that characterized the Askumite age (4th–7th cent.). In the wake of Conti Rossini’s contribution, this study intends to carry out a text-critical survey of the Ethiopic Passio of Anicetus and Photius, com-memorated in Ethiopia on 12 Taḫśaś. A large amount of textual evidence, including faithful transcriptions of Hellenistic god names and numerous instances of misinterpretation and preservation of the Greek word order, make a strong case for a direct Greek Vorlage at the root of the Ethiopic version. In accord-ance with the thesis advocated in this paper, the Ethiopic Passio of Anicetus and Photius is added to the increasing number of hagiographic sources reasonably datable to the Aksumite age.