A recent study by researchers Dr. Dorota Dzierzbicka and Dr. Daria Elagina re-examined and translated a rare first-hand account of a 16th-century Ethiopian monk visiting old Dongola, Sudan.
The work is published in the journal Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa.
The colophon was first transcribed and translated into Latin in the 1930s after being housed in the Vatican Library for centuries.
However, it did not come to the public’s attention until the 1990s when Ceccarelli-Morolli brought it to the attention of scholars of Nubian studies, showing that Dongola had already become a Muslim-dominated community by the 16th century.
The true extent of the information the colophon contained, however, was far greater, but it was not realized until recently.
This was likely due to the difficulty in accessing and understanding the document, explained Dr. Dzierzbicka and Dr. Elagina. “It is no surprise that the colophon’s significance for economic and social history has largely gone unnoticed until now. The 1930s edition and Latin translation of the colophon were difficult to access, and the commentary was very limited.
“What is more, since the text is in Ethiopic, it was easily overlooked by researchers in Nubian studies, who typically work with sources in Greek, Coptic, Old Nubian, and Arabic.
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