From Slave to Demon: Barya in the Ethiopian Prayer Scrolls

In Ethiopia today, nominally Christian prayer scrolls are worn as a form of protection against diseases believed to be the result from negative actions of demons. The scrolls are written in the ancient liturgical language of the Ethiopian Coptic Church, Ge'ez (Ethiopic).

This lecture will focus on one particular type of demon called Barya, which is aid to cause epilepsy. Interestingly and not coincidentally, this term is also a racist slur used for members of a specific ethnic group who call themselves Nara. The Nara reside along the western border of Ethiopia and Eritrea and into eastern Sudan. Their people were heavily raided for slaves by Ethiopia's dominant ethnic group, the Amhara.

Embedded in a 20th century prayer scroll created for a young woman, among the ritual protection meant to safeguard against illness and misfortune, is an "execration text" against several kings, whom I suggest were enemy rulers of the Ethiopian Aksumite empire in the fourth century CE.

Through a close examination of references to state enemies of the Kingdom of Aksum embedded in a modern prayer scroll, this lecture will explore the numerous ethnicities (Nara, Noba, Meroitic- all Northeast Sudanic speakers) that lived in East Africa during the 4th century CE, a period of profound change from traditional religious practices to the early adoption of Christianity.