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Robert Garrett Collection of Ethiopic Magic Scrolls

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The collection consists of 162 Ethiopic magic scrolls collected by Robert Garrett
(1875-1961), Princeton Class of 1897.Ethiopic magic scrolls are textual amulets containing brief protective and healing
texts in Ge’ez and occasionally Amharic. Ethiopian Christians wore these scrolls on
the body in the belief that they prevented disease, death in childbirth, demonic
possession, malevolent spirits, the Evil Eye, and other sources of personal
misfortune. They were generally prepared by unordained clerics (debtera), who wrote
on narrow strips of parchment arranged in scroll format. The magical efficacy of
these scrolls is based in large measure on a selection of amuletic texts, apotropaic
prayers, charms, incantations, prayers, Scriptural quotations, miracle tales,
formulas, invocations of divine names and helpful saints, and images. Most magic
scrolls were activated for the use of a particular person, whose name is given.
Contributing to their protective power are painted images of guardian angels with
drawn swords, St. Susenyos slaying Werzelya for the protection of mothers and
infants, magic squares and eight-pointed stars, the net of Solomon for capturing
demons, and other figurative illustrations and designs. The magic scrolls were
generally rolled up in small leather capsules, enabling them to be worn on the body.
Some fairly modern magic scrolls are sewn into the capsules so that they cannot be
read, but most could be opened and even hung on walls for prayer and protection. Most
extant examples in the Princeton University Library date from the 18th to 20th
centuries. For more information, see Jacques Mercier’s Ethiopic Magic
Scrolls (1979) and Art that Heals: The Image as Medicine in
Ethiopia (1997).