Courses and Degree Programmes in Ethiopian/Eritrean Studies

• meeting place of peoples, cultures, and languages since the first millennium BCE
• a continuously documented history, from Antiquity to the age of the Global South
• the oldest Christian and Islamic civilizations in sub-Saharan Africa
• repository of ancient history and legends, from the Ark of the Covenant and the Queen of Sheba to Prester John
• an essential component of the ancient and modern Semitic and Afro-Asiatic world

    _{Pages from a Book of the Rite of the Holy Week, Addiqaharsi, Northern Ethiopia}

• major area in the Horn of Africa
• trade routes linking the Mediterranean Sea through the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean
• a bridge between Asia and Africa, connecting the Near East to the African inlands

  _{Market scene in Debarwa, Eritrea}

• Ethiopia hosts the headquarters of the African Union
• Ethiopia is considered the only African state that did not experience colonization
• Ethiopia is a symbol of Pan-Africanist Movements (including Ethiopianism and Rastafari)
• Eritrea and Ethiopia are decisive actors in the Red Sea politics
• Sizeable Eritrean and Ethiopian diasporas in Europe and North America

    _{Street in Asmara, Eritrea}

• a unique syllabic script, in use for two millenia, with c.200 syllabic signs (it is easy to learn: try writing your name in Amharic!)
• a still largely unexplored world of literary and artistic creativity
• a living manuscript culture
• home to one of the earliest Christian writing cultures in the world
• the Abba Garima Gospels are among the earliest extant illuminated manuscripts
• 1600-year-old literary heritage (from Late Antiquity and Middle Ages to modern times)
• treasury of Jewish and Christian apocrypha
• rich translational literature (from Greek, Arabic and beyond)
• flourishing modern literatures in an array of local languages
• archival records documenting many centuries of Ethiopian, Eritrean, and African history
• an extraordinary wealth of oral traditions

    _{Ethiopian scribe, Gwahterat, Northern Ethiopia}

UHH is the only university outside Africa where several Ethiopian and Eritrean languages are regularly taught:

• Amharic (lingua franca of present-day Ethiopia)
• Geez (Classical Ethiopic, still used in Church)
• Tigrinya (lingua franca of present-day Eritrea)

_{A lecture in manuscript cataloguing}

The Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies is the leading institution in the field,

• carrying out long-term and fundamental investigation on the Horn of Africa
• pursuing research into Ethiopian and Eritrean languages and manuscript cultures
• documenting and analyzing textual and literary traditions
• functioning as a hub to an international community of scholars
• editing international journals and monograph series

_{Field digitization}

• introduction to methods of manuscript studies and history of manuscript cultures
• integration of Geez and Amharic studies into broader philological and linguistic contexts
• methods of textual and literary analysis and history of Geez and Amharic literatures
• introduction to Semitic and religious studies, and ancient, medieval, and modern history
• check here for a list of courses from the recent semesters

_{During the 2019 Summer School in Addis Ababa}

• Addis Ababa University
• Bahir Dar University
• Debre Markos University
• Mekele University
• Research and Documentation Centre, Asmara
• University of Gondar

_{Prof. A. Bausi (UHH) greeting Dr Hirut Kassaw (Minister of Tourism and Culture, FDRE)} 

• guest professors (supported by the DeutschÄthiopischeStiftung) lecture on contemporary issues concerning the Horn of Africa
• regular international Summer Schools in Ethiopian and Eritrean Manuscript Studies
• involvement in the activities offered by the Cluster of Excellence Understanding Written Artefacts 

_{Rock-cut church Beta Giyorgis, Lalibala, Ethiopia} 

• teachers and researchers are leading specialists in their respective fields
• prominent international scholars as guests 

_{Ethiopian highlands (Qaqama)}

• well-furnished specialized libraries providing access to most relevant publications in the field (the library of the HLCEES, the library of the Asien-Afrika-Institut, the CSMC Reference Library, all in walking distance to one another)
• reading rooms with computer access
• smart screen and/or projector-equipped meeting rooms can be used on request

_{The library at HLCEES}

• possibility of funded MA and PhD studies
• student job and practical experience opportunities in research projects
• a vibrant multilingual human and cultural environment
• skills in digital humanities
• wide professional perspectives in an array of fields, from education to development work to heritage preservation to scholarly editing
• Erasmus and international partnerships
• rewarding field work experience, discovering new texts and manuscripts

Scholars of the Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies offer additional support to interested students at all stages.

 _{Manuscript fieldwork in Ethiopia}