The Ethiopian prayer scroll

Made to its owner’s height

The Wellcome Collection in London holds MS Ethiopian 16, a 19th-century parchment scroll written in Ge’ez. It holds prayers, and it was cut to the height of the person it was made for, so that it would guard the whole body against evil spirits. Our files do not say who wrote it or who owned it.

To verify: The Wellcome record’s own words on the scroll’s length and purpose; That scrolls like this were written in black and red ink on strips of parchment sewn together, as our drawing shows

For someone who was ill

Sickness in Ethiopia was often blamed on evil spirits, and scrolls like this one are said to have been written for people who were ill. Because this one was cut to its owner’s height, it was made for one person alone.

To verify: A source for scrolls being written for people who were ill; our files say only that the scroll guarded the body against evil spirits; Who wrote these scrolls, and how their owners kept them

History only

These scrolls hold prayers, and the only ones we found for sale were antiques. We tell the scroll as history: we do not sell copies of it, and we make no claim about health.