Work dossier · summary and historical context
The Image of Julitta is an anonymous Geʿez malkeʿ, a poetic encomium in five-verse stanzas praising the female martyr Julitta. Each stanza salutes a different bodily part or virtue, following the standard structure of the genre. The sole known witness is the manuscript used for the betmas edition; no other Geʿez manuscript is recorded in standard catalogues, indicating a narrow transmission. The work lacks a colophon and is undated, but the genre flourished between the 14th and 17th centuries. The edition provides no critical apparatus, so scribal errors or unique readings cannot be verified against other witnesses.
The Image of Julitta is significant as a rare witness to the malkeʿ genre dedicated to a female martyr, expanding the corpus of Ethiopian hagiographic poetry. Its narrow transmission highlights the precarious survival of such texts, while its local allusions (e.g., to Samuel) offer insights into regional cults and theological imagery, such as the messianic 'star of Jacob' applied to a female saint.
The malkeʿ genre developed in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, primarily between the 14th and 17th centuries, as a form of hymnography that praised saints by extolling their body parts and virtues. This work, dedicated to the female martyr Julitta, likely originated within a monastic or liturgical community that venerated her. The sole manuscript witness, used for the betmas edition, suggests a limited circulation, possibly within a single scriptorium or local cult. The absence of a colophon and the anonymous authorship make precise dating impossible, but paleographic features of the manuscript point to the later part of the genre's floruit. The text's references to local saints, such as Samuel, indicate a regional hagiographic tradition. The work's transmission is fragile, as no other Geʿez copies are known, and the edition lacks critical apparatus to assess textual stability.
Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded
| Coptic | Rendering | Count | First |
|---|---|---|---|
| no glossary terms recorded | |||