Zur magischen Literatur im christlichen Äthiopien

This contribution presents an overview of the most important works on magic in Ethiopian Christian literature. After some remarks on the general use and the terminological difficulties of defining the term magic (“Magie”), the introductory chapter presents a long but not exhaustive list of terms used for “Magie” in Ethiopian literature. The following chapter deals with the transmission of the best known magic motives and stories of Late Antiquity such as of Solomon, Alexander or St. Sisinios and, further, with the polemic Christian works against magic practices. The third chapter tries to classify the magic literature according to different criteria, such as the religious affiliation of the practitioners, the function of the texts and the content of the texts. The last chapter presents a classification of magic objects and shows two illustrations of them