---
title: "A Gǝʿǝz Inscription from Ashkelon — paper by Mulugetta (2012)"
description: "This short philological note publishes and interprets a small Ethiopic magical text written in black ink on the sides of a… 4 references."
authors: ["Meley Mulugetta"]
year: 2012
venue: "Aethiopica 7"
source: "https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/aethiopica/article/view/287"
doi: "10.15460/aethiopica.7.1.287"
licence: "CC BY-SA (journal licence per DOAJ; Aethiopica)"
licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License"
canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/mulugetta-2012-gz-inscription-ashkelon/"
---
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# A Gǝʿǝz Inscription from Ashkelon

**Authors:** [Meley Mulugetta](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/meley-mulugetta/) · **Year:** 2012 · **Venue:** [Aethiopica 7](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/aethiopica/) ([Aethiopica 2012](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/aethiopica/2012/)) · **Publisher:** [Hamburg University Press](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/publishers/hamburg-university-press/) · **Licence:** [CC BY-SA (journal licence per DOAJ; Aethiopica)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**Links:** [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.15460/aethiopica.7.1.287) · [PDF](https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/aethiopica/article/download/287/409) · [DOI 10.15460/aethiopica.7.1.287](https://doi.org/10.15460/aethiopica.7.1.287) · [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W1527480819)

**Citations:** 0 citations (OpenAlex, 2026-10-14)

## Summary
This short philological note publishes and interprets a small Ethiopic magical text written in black ink on the sides of a factory-cut marble piece measuring 12.5 x 9.5 cm. Discovered in 1998 within Ashkelon's National Park, the stone came to light near an absorption center for Ethiopian Jewish (Betä Israʾel) immigrants. The author gives a line-by-line Gǝʿǝz transcription with an English translation for both sides, plus notes on biblical allusions, non-standard spellings and likely scribal corruptions. The prayer is protective: a woman calling herself the deity's servant, named Aʿade, asks to be hidden from and rescued from her enemies. She recalls past divine acts involving Enoch, Elijah and Daniel, and she also asks for love and peace. Rhythmic nonsense words run through the text. Two clues point to a Betä Israʾel origin rather than a Christian one: the woman's secular personal name and the absence of the Trinitarian opening. The Elijah–Enoch pairing, however, shows Christian or apocryphal influence. The find documents a syncretic practice that the author expects to vanish as the community aligns with normative Judaism.

## Key points
- The object was found in 1998 at Ashkelon National Park. It is marble, 12.5 x 9.5 cm, inked on its lateral faces, and appears complete. It was published in Aethiopica 7 (2004), pp. 173–181.
- Side 1 has 12 lines asking the deity to hide and rescue the supplicant. It cites Genesis 5:24, 2 Kings 2:11 and Daniel 6:23. Side 2 has 14 lines asking the deity to seal the mouths of her enemies, as it once sealed the hearts of a king and the devil.
- The incantation is built on a "you did X, likewise do X for me" pattern, with imperatives addressed to an unnamed deity.
- Reduplicated nonsense words such as Kikimanos and Pipimanos, along with closing words like Kolba, Unaʾeb and lil, supply rhythm.
- The notes compare the attested spellings with the historical spellings given by Leslau. They also reconstruct how one imperative was corrupted, through a sibilant swap followed by guttural substitution errors.

## Interesting ideas
- The edition aligns each original line number with its translated line, and every comment is keyed to those numbers, so any claim can be traced to its exact source span.
- Instead of silently fixing a malformed verb form, the author reconstructs a chain of plausible scribal errors, each step being a named substitution, that links the attested form to the expected one.
- The author separates meaningful words from rhythmic filler, such as the reduplicated "-manos" words, and does not force a translation onto the filler.
- A missing expected element, here the absent Trinitarian opening, is used as positive evidence about authorship, alongside the naming convention.
- The prayer argues by precedent: a past act of the agent is cited as the template for the requested act, linked by "in the same manner".

## For Mova

How these ideas could serve Mova, our small open language model — its files, stages and tests:

- **I1** (back): Translation through the meta-world could keep similar span-level anchors, so each output phrase points back to the source tokens and notes that justify it.
- **I2** (tokens): A spelling normalizer for noisy English could record the sequence of edit operations from surface form to lemma, which keeps normalization explainable.
- **I3** (tree): The parser could tag such material (chants, nonce words, reduplicated filler) with an explicit non-lexical label, instead of guessing heads and relations that would pollute the tree.
- **I4** (frames): Implicature reasoning could treat a conventional element that is expected but absent (a missing greeting, signature or formula) as a signal and record it as an explainable inference.
- **I5** (world): The world model could represent "as you did X to A, do X to B" as an analogy link between two events with the same predicate and different participants, which helps answer questions about requests and promises.

*Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.*

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## Cite

Cite as: Meley Mulugetta. 2012. A Gǝʿǝz Inscription from Ashkelon. Aethiopica 7.

The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```bibtex
@inproceedings{mulugetta2012inscription,
  title = {{A Gǝʿǝz Inscription from Ashkelon}},
  author = {Meley Mulugetta},
  booktitle = {Aethiopica 7},
  year = {2012},
  doi = {10.15460/aethiopica.7.1.287},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.15460/aethiopica.7.1.287}
}
```

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## References

4 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

1. A NTEBY , L., Voies de l߈intÈgration, voix de la tradition: itinÈraires socioculturels et pratiques de communication parmi les Juifs Èthiopiens en IsraÊl, Ph.D. dissertation, Paris, 1996, pp. 66߃88. B ETZ , D.H., ߋMagic in Greco-Roman Antiquityߌ, in M IRCEA E LIADE (ed), Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 9, New York, 1987, pp. 93߃97. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=A+NTEBY+%2C+L%2E%2C+Voies+de+l%DF%88int%C3%88gration%2C+voix+de+la+tradition%3A+itin%C3%88raires+socioculturels+et+pratiques+de+communication+parmi+les+Juifs+%C3%88thiopiens+en+Isra%C3%8Al%2C+Ph%2ED%2E+dissertation%2C+Paris%2C+1996%2C+pp%2E+66%DF%8388%2E+B)
2. A GƼʞƼz Inscription from Ashkelon B ONNER , C., Studies in Magical Amulets Chiefly Greaco-Egyptian, Ann Arbor, 1950. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=A+G%C6%BC%CA%9E%C6%BCz+Inscription+from+Ashkelon+B+ONNER+%2C+C%2E%2C+Studies+in+Magical+Amulets+Chiefly+Greaco%2DEgyptian%2C+Ann+Arbor%2C+1950%2E)
3. E LLIOTT , J.K., The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford, 1993, pp. 186߃ 189, 600߃603. H AL¨VY , J., Teʝezaza Sanbat, Paris, 1902. K APLAN , S., The Falasha (Betà Israʝel) in Ethiopia, New York, 1992, pp. 70߃85. L ESLAU , W OLF ., Falasha Anthology, New Haven, 1951, pp. 55߃72. ߃߃߃߃߃߃, Comparative Dictionary of Geʞez, Wiesbaden, 1987. L IFCHITZ , D., Textes Èthiopiens magico-religieux, in Travaux et MÈmoires de l߈Institut d߈ethnologie, XXXVIII, Paris, 1940. L IFSZYC , D., ߋAmulettes Èthiopiensߌ, in Minotaure 2 (1933), pp. 71߃74. L UDWIG , T.M., ߋIncantationߌ, in M IRCEA E LIADE (ed), Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 7, New York, 1987, pp. 147߃152. M ERCIER , J., ߋLes dÃbtÃra et le vocabulaire de la magie et de la mÈdecineߌ, in: Documents pour servir ¿ l߈histoire de la civilisation Èthiopienne pour dÈlier les charmes, Rocznick Orientalistyczny, XVIII, 1955, pp. 2߃15. ߃߃߃߃߃߃, Ethiopian Magic scrolls, tr. from the French by Richard Pevear, New York, 1979. ߃߃߃߃߃߃, Rouleaux magiques Èthiopiens, New York, 1979, pp. 7߃33. N AVEH , J. and S. S HAKED (eds.), Amulets and Magic Bowls: Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity, Jerusalem, 1985. ߃߃߃߃߃߃, Magical Spells and Formulae: Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity, Jerusalem, 1993, pp. 17߃39. R ODINSON , M., Magie, MÈdecine et Possession ¿ Gondar, Paris, 1967, pp. 17߃39. S TRELCYN , S., ߋLa magie Èthiopienneߌ, in: Atti dell Convegno internazio߃ nali di studi Ètiopici 1959, Rome, 1960, pp. 147߃166. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=E+LLIOTT+%2C+J%2EK%2E%2C+The+Apocryphal+New+Testament%2C+Oxford%2C+1993%2C+pp%2E+186%DF%83+189%2C+600%DF%83603%2E+H+AL%C2%A8VY+%2C+J%2E%2C+Te%CA%9Dezaza+Sanbat%2C+Paris%2C+1902%2E+K+APLAN+%2C+S%2E%2C+The+Falasha+%28Bet%C3%83+Isra%CA%9Del%29+in+Ethiopia%2C+New+York%2C+1992%2C+pp)
4. Summary An apotropaic Ethiopic inscription was found in the National Park of Ashkelon in 1998, near an absorbtion center for Ethiopian Jewish immigrants (also known as Betà Israʝel). Although the piece is clearly of Betà Israʝel origin, it incorporates symbolisms from Christian or pre-Christian sources, thus demonstrating the syncretic elements in Betà Israʝel religion. The reproduction of Ethiopic prayers of this sort is undoubtedly the last of its kind with the fastly changing religious practices of Betà Israʝel in Israel. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Summary+An+apotropaic+Ethiopic+inscription+was+found+in+the+National+Park+of+Ashkelon+in+1998%2C+near+an+absorbtion+center+for+Ethiopian+Jewish+immigrants+%28also+known+as+Bet%C3%83+Isra%CA%9Del%29%2E+Although+the+piec)

*Updated 24 October 2026*