Philological and Historical Analysis of Ṭana Qirqos Dəggwa

Oral tradition tells us that the ana Qirqos Dggwa (QD) was written by saint Yared who composed the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church melody in the first half of the sixth century. However, the works of two church scholars, 'ume Lissan (1981:34) and Lissane Werk (1989:226) indicated that the QD was not written by Saint Yared rather it was written by a person called Yohanns kma. By employing historical and philological methods of analysis this book sheds light on controversies between oral tradition and written materials on the dating of the QD. The book also endeavors to compare the contents of QD with the present day books of melody and come up with interesting empirical findings.