Introducing Mengistu Hailé Maryam, our thirty-second character in the Abyssinian Syllabary ፦ ፈ

The Abyssinian Syllabary spells out the history of Ethiopia through a series of  33  biographical vignettes of emblematic Ethiopian lives – with each life corresponding to one of the main 33 symbols of the Abyssinian Syllabary – or Abugida. ፨

The Abyssinian Syllabary was compiled by Yves-Marie Stranger, the editor of Ethiopia through writers' eyes (Eland Books).

The story begins with the author receiving a mysterious outline containing a list of Ethiopian historical characters, associated to numerological annotations from a forgotten work of the French anthropologist Marcel Griaule, L’Arithnomancie Ethiopienne. Ensues a romp through the pages of Ethiopian history, that will ultimatedly lead to an excursion to the summit of Mount Kaka, a 4 000 high peak located in the Rift Valley. ፨

Part historical fiction and part magic scroll, The Abyssinian Syllabary compounds tentative fact and patent fiction to  breathe a new life into the characters of the Ethiopian palimpsest. ፦  Spelling out the many lives of  Victor Lazlo [ገ], Rimbaud [ዐ], King Théodore [ከ], the Monk Théodore [የ], Munziger Pasha [ወ], Alessandro Zorzi [ሰ],  Arab Faquih [ሸ], Leonard Cohen [ፀ], Umm Delombera [ተ], Menfus Kiddus [ሠ] and  more… ፨  And with a prologue by the distinguished scholar Manuel de Guèz. For more Aethiopica and for a poster of the full Abyssinian Syllabary or of the character Cosmas ፦ ለ ፣

Visit Uthiopia.com. Music (Atribution CC BY): NOW ETHIOPIA •††• THE HARP OF KING DAVID •††• a portrait of ALEMU AGA by V. Moon and & J. Kirkegaard