A Manuscript History of Ethiopic Enoch

Abstract

While many scholars of the Bible and Second Temple Judaism have an at least passing acquaintance with 1 (Ethiopic) Enoch, few recognize the developments that led to and undergird the editions and translations upon which they rely. This article attempts to rectify this in part via a brief historical survey of the growth of the Ethiopian manuscript tradition of the book as it has become available to Western scholars. The first half focuses on manuscripts previously studied in the context of Enochic scholarship, primarily with respect to the acquisition of these exemplars and the various means by which they made their way into libraries and collections in the West since the eighteenth century. The second part offers descriptions of more than twenty further copies of Ethiopic Enoch, most of which are located in Ethiopia today and which represent the rich living heritage of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥәdo Church. Given the large number of manuscript holdings in Ethiopia's monasteries and churches yet to be examined, this discussion underscores the need for further efforts towards the digitization of additional important witnesses of Ethiopic Enoch for the study of the text.