Work dossier · summary and historical context
The Treatise on moonrise and moonset is an anonymous Geʿez computational work on lunar visibility, used for calendar reckoning. Its sole witness is the manuscript underlying the betmas edition, with no other copies known. The text lacks colophon, internal dating, and authorial attribution, preventing secure dating. It consists of tabular lists of moonrise and moonset times for Ethiopian months, using star-hours and day counts. The genre aligns with Ethiopic astronomical handbooks, serving a narrow scholarly audience concerned with calendrical computation rather than liturgy or homiletics. The edition provides no critical apparatus, limiting study of textual fluidity.
The treatise is a rare witness to indigenous Ethiopian astronomical computation, distinct from imported Arabic or European traditions. It provides insight into pre-modern African calendar science and the adaptation of Hellenistic star-hour systems. Its tabular format and non-monotonic sequences may reflect observational or scribal practices, offering material for studying the transmission of astronomical knowledge in Christian Ethiopia.
The treatise belongs to the Ethiopic astronomical tradition, which developed in the Christian kingdom of Aksum and its successor states (e.g., Zagwe, Solomonic) from roughly the 4th century onward. Geʿez, the classical language of Ethiopian liturgy and learning, was used for such handbooks. The work's anonymous, undated character reflects a common pattern in Ethiopian scientific manuscripts, where scribes often omitted colophons. The Ethiopian calendar, based on the Coptic calendar with a 13th month (Pagume), is evident in the months mentioned (Miyāzyā, Gǝnbot, Sane, Ḥamle, Naḥāse, Meskerem, Ṭeqemt). The use of star-hours suggests influence from Hellenistic or Arabic astronomy, transmitted via Coptic or Syriac intermediaries. The treatise likely circulated in monastic or courtly scriptoria, where computational texts were copied for practical use in determining feast days and agricultural cycles. Its survival in a single witness indicates limited circulation, possibly due to replacement by later, more comprehensive works.
Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded
| Coptic | Rendering | Count | First |
|---|---|---|---|
| no glossary terms recorded | |||