Hatata of Zera Yacob (Ethiopian philosophical treatise)
Hatata de Zera Yacob (tratado filosófico etíope)
- Date
- c. 1668 · confidence medium
- Place
- Enfraz, Amhara, Ethiopia
- Credited to
- Zera Yacob (Zära Ya'əqob)
- People
- 👤 Zera Yacob1600–1693
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
A Ge'ez treatise by an Ethiopian teacher who, having sheltered in a cave, argues without appeal to revelation about God's existence, religious freedom and human equality. It is the best-known rationalist philosophical work of early modern Ethiopia.
Its authenticity is disputed: Claude Sumner defended it as the work of Zera Yacob (1599-1692); Anaïs Wion and Giuseppe Sertoli argue it was composed by the Italian missionary Giusto d'Urbino around 1850. The surviving manuscript is from 1852. The place of composition is approximate.
What it led to
- debate on modern African philosophy and its canon
- arguments on religious tolerance and the equal treatment of women
- re-evaluation of Ethiopia's written tradition