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Although the reign of Dawit I (r. 1382߃1413) has been overlooked in impor-tance by modern scholars, his reign marked a period of increasing interna-tional diplomacy and contact with the larger Christian world. Dawit also played a critical role in the restructuring of Ethiopia߈s internal affairs by en-couraging the worship of the Cross and the Virgin Mary, thus uniting the competing local religious factions through ߋpan-Christian symbolsߌ.1 His patronage to the Arts and the cultural sector also sparked the golden age of Ethiopic literature in the late middle ages, with the great translating activity initiated during his time by the Egyptian bishop Abba SÃlama II (1348߃1388). Amongst the notable highlights of Dawit߈s reign was the Ethiopian dele-gation sent by him which arrives at Venice in the year 1402. Not a few pri-mary and secondary sources have discussed at length Dawit߈s embassy to the Republic of Venice, each with varying degree of elaboration.2 The pur-pose of this Ethiopian delegation was to procure sacred objects of worship in exchange for which the Ethiopians sent a series of articles catalogued i