Dorothea Reule and Denis Nosnitsin. The Ethiopic Manuscripts of the Egyptian Monastery of Dayr as-Suryān: A Catalogue. Aethiopica. Supplements 10. Harrassowitz Publishers, 2021.

From Harrassowitz

Located in the area of Wādī an-Naṭrūn, southwest of the Nile Delta, Dayr as-Suryān (Arabic for ‘Monastery of the Syrians’) is rightly considered one of the most important Egyptian monasteries. A site of intensive cultural production and accumulation of a huge patrimony, it has been well known for its large holdings of Syriac, Coptic, and Arabic manuscripts. The Ethiopic collection of Dayr as-Suryān can be considered a good example of Ethiopian-Eritrean manuscript culture ‘migrated’ abroad, a phenomenon that has thus far not received due attention. The present volume offers for the first time a scientific catalogue of this collection, which includes today twenty-four manuscripts dating between the seventeenth and the twentieth century. The innovative catalogue has emerged within the framework of a project in Digital Humanities, and can be seen as a companion to the Beta maṣāḥəft online research environment. The English language catalogue is completed by an inventory in Arabic, a set of indexes, and colour plates.