The Prince and the Plunder

A book on how Britain took one boy and piles of treasures from Ethiopia

The prayer against colic scroll (MS 14)

Published / by Andrew Heavens / Leave a Comment

What: A healing scroll that was very likely taken from Maqdala. Part of a wider collection.

Where: The Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Rd, London NW1 2BE

The online catalogue calls it MS Ethiopian 14 and says it was taken at Maqdala.

The 1972 print Catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts of the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine in London says:

“As far as one can tell from the notes preserved in the registers of the Library, the provenance of these scrolls is heterogeneous. As one might expect, some of them certainly come from Magdala, brought back by members of Lord Napier’s expedition in 1867-8 (Nos. I, VII, VIII, XII, XIV). This is probably also true for No. XIII and perhaps for a few others as well. All these MSS were acquired by the Library between 1913 and 1930.”

Catalogue entry:
XIV
Vellum. Scroll. 575 mm. X 65 mm. Poor handwriting.
Black and red ink. No. 14622.

  1. Prayer against barya and legewon.
  2. Prayer against colic.

Two coloured magical pictures.
The owner’s name is Yomam.
Taken at Magdala in 1868. Bought in 1913.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *