The Book of Enoch (also 1 Enoch; Ge'ez: መጽሐፈ ሄኖክ mäts'hafä henok) is an ancient Jewish religious work, ascribed by tradition to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah, although modern scholars estimate the older sections (mainly in the Book of the Watchers) to date from about 300 BC, and the latest part (Book of Parables) probably to the first century BC.

It is wholly extant only in the Ge'ez language, with Aramaic fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls and a few Greek and Latinfragments. For this and other reasons, the traditional Ethiopian belief is that the original language of the work was Ge'ez, whereas non-Ethiopian scholars tend to assert that it was first written in either Aramaic or Hebrew; Ephraim Isaac suggests that the Book of Enoch, like the Book of Daniel, was composed partially in Aramaic and partially in Hebrew:6 No Hebrew version is known to have survived. It is asserted in the book itself that its author was Enoch, before the Biblical Flood.

 

 

The Kebra Nagast (var. Kebra Negast, Ge'ez ክብረ ነገሥት, kəbrä nägäśt), or The Glory of the Kings, is a 14th-century account written in Ge'ez of the origins of the Solomonic line of the Emperors of Ethiopia. The text, in its existing form, is at least 700 years old and is considered by manyEthiopian Christians and Rastafari to be an inspired and a reliable work. It contains an account of how the Queen of Sheba/ Queen Makeda of Ethiopia met King Solomon and about how the Ark of the Covenant came to Ethiopia with Menelik I (Menyelek). It also discusses the conversion of the Ethiopians from the worship of the Sun, Moon and stars to that of the "Lord God of Israel”. The first English translation was prepared by E. A. Wallis Budge, which was published in two editions in 1922 and 1932.

 

 

Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin    (born August 17, 1936, Boda, near Ambo, Ethiopia—died February 25, 2006, New York, New York, U.S.) was an Ethiopian playwright and poet, who wrote in Amharic and English.  He wrote more than 30 plays, most of them in Amharic, and translated a number of plays of William Shakespeare and Molière into that language as well. His Amharic plays deal primarily with contemporary Ethiopia, especially with the plight of youth in urban settings and the need to respect traditional morality, as in Crown of Thorns(1959). Oda Oak Oracle (1965) is his best-known verse play written in English. Like his other English plays, it is based on Ethiopian history and focuses on religious conflict. Collision of Altars (1977) is an experimental play that includes mime, incantation, dance, and the use of masks.

Tsegaye Gabre-Madhin was considered Ethiopia’s leading poet. His English poetry appeared in Ethiopian journals and was included in several anthologies of African poetry, including New Sum of Poetry from the Negro World (1966). A prolific poet, he wrote about a wide variety of subjects, including Ethiopian history. He was also a noted human rights activist, and he traveled widely to promote Ethiopian culture.