The Ethiopian Tewahedo Bible Subjects: Religion | Language & Linguistics | Archaeology Contributor: Andrew Kamal The Ethiopian Tewahedo Bible is one of the world's oldest bibles written in Ge'ez and Amharic. It includes 81 books, and the broader cannon also adds 9 more books on top of that. Their language is often rendered as one of the eldest's written languages and a possible candidate for the original language spoken by Adam along with the hieroglyphs and pre-hieratic languages of ancient Egypt. Ethiopia is considered the heart of Africa by many and is a prominent center for Orthodoxy and Christianity. The Holy See of Tekle Haymanot is considered representative of the kingship or restoration of the Solomonic dynasty. The love story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba holds high significance to them, as Sheba could be an ancient Ethiopian city. The Ethiopian Tewahedo Bible is difficult to find an authentic copy of online (especially when not written in Amharic) due to copies including the non-canonical version of Enoch over its canonical version or heterodox Rastafarian copies that are heretical to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. There have been some efforts in modern scholarship and pop culture to promote the usage of the Ethiopian Tewahedo Bible or bibles like the Monastic Coptic Bible (which include the Septuagint or Canonical Greek to Coptic translations). These efforts may include advocating for their usage(s) over the protestant KJV bible. The KJV may have been favored due the Gutenberg Press and the Gutenberg Bible leading to the KJV bible winning in popularity. Outside of the political ramifications, accessibility or largely scaled printing was a race in which these ancient translations didn't win for mass adoption. Keywords: Ethiopia ; Bible ; Egypt ; Amharic ; Coptic History The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Bible has been written in vallum, animal skins, stone tablets, etc. and is perhaps one of the world's oldest bibles. Their bible was written in Ge’ez and the later Amharic . Through the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Bible, the canonical authenticity is broader. The narrower canon includes the traditional Hebrew Protocanon, the catholic Deuterocanon, the prayer of Manasseh, 3rd and 4th Ezra, the Paralipomena of Jeremiah, the Jubilees, Enoch, the books of Meqabyan, Lamentations, Jeremiah, Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah and all of 4 Baruch . The 27 New Testament books that are established are the New Testament canon. The broader canon includes: Josippon, the books of Sinodos, the Books of Covenant, the Ethiopic Clement and the Didascalia. There are also non-canonical or quasi- canonical books that are considered heterodox or an external reference to Ethiopian Christians. This includes perhaps non-canonical variations or fabrications of Enoch or books like the Book of the Cock or Rooster . Likewise, Gnostic books do exist within Christianity and some Bibles in general. This perhaps includes debate on the authenticity of the Gospel of Thomas which is of Alexandrian Origin and not considered canonical by Copts, Ethiopians or Oriental Orthodoxy. Origen condemned the Gospel of Thomas and given the prevalence of popularity among Mani (a heretic within Orthodoxy who parallels Arius), likely the Gospel of Thomas could be an Arian fabrication. Language Ge'ez is one of the oldest written languages inscribed by men and an early semitic language. The pictorial and hieroglyphic language timeline versus the written language timeline discrepancies is very broad. This is where you might include a tree model of Protolanguages . Protolanguage tree mapping is very hereditary in the sense that mapping languages can be reminiscent of a linguist acting like a geneticist. Amharic is a subgroup that follows the Ge'ez script . These languages are probably considered the same languages that may have been spoken by the ancient Cushites or during the reign of King Solomon who fell in love with Sheba, whom he is considered to have seduced . This led to him having a son and the continuation of his dynasty in Ethiopia which ended at the time of Haile Selassie I. Efforts have been made to attempt to reestablish the Solomonic dynasty including by the Stark Global Initiative and the Crown Council of Ethiopia . There also have been efforts to remove the Sigil of Baphomet or Moloch's Seal from the Flag of Ethiopia . The extensive history surrounding the symbolism is mysterious , and the idea of David having a star is questionable. Nonetheless, Moloch was one of the foreign deities that were worshipped by some of Solomon's lust, and this was [ 1] [ 2] [ 3] [ 4] [ 5] [ 6] [ 7] [ 8] [ 9] [ 10] [ 11] [ 12]