Cyber Ethiopia

Egypt and Ethiopia, intimately connected by the Nile, have been in contact since ancient times. Aspects from ancient Egyptian life such as the Papyrus boats are still found on Lake Tana, where the Weyto people make them and transport people to and from the monasteries on the islands. Items from the life of the ancient Egyptians portrayed in paintings and found in the pyramids such as head-rests are still produced in identical form in the Omo Valley. Indeed, in a lecture at Addis Ababa University Sociology Department, Professor Ivo Strecker, who has studied Hamar society for three decades, suggested that the environment and way of life in the early period of ancient Egyptian civilisation was

close to that of the agro-pastoralism still practised in Southern Ethiopia. He showed slides of remarkable similarities between current day utensils and decorations and the early ancient Egyptian ones, most notably the woko, a distinctive herding stick with a fork at one end and a hook at the other, which is so useful for the herder travelling through the savanna, and which also features in rituals. It was therefore with some curiosity that I heard from John Graham, the prolific and entertaining Addis Tribune columnist of Travels in Ethiopia, that he had been told by a Peace Corps volunteer that there was a carved "sphinx" lurking somewhere south of Kombolcha, in South Wello. During a recent research trip with colleagues, we decided to ask whether anyone knew of a carved animal. To our surprise a farmer by the road-side answered that of course, he knew the lions. We looked at each other in surprise and began to wonder, could there be several such carvings? The farmer told us they were at Geta, the famous Muslim shrine. But when we asked him how old they were, he was the one who sounded surprised: "The Sheikh had them made out of cement a few years back!". We were perplexed. This could not have been what the Peace Corps volunteer was referring to since he had seen the "sphinx" in the 1960s. We were disappointed, but decided on our way back to visit the shrine with the lions all the same. Geta is a famous Muslim pilgrimage site, attracting thousands of people for Muslim holidays. The current spiritual leader, Haji Said Bushra, has indeed built a large mosque on the hillside to the south-east of Kombolcha. He is a charismatic person, whose oratory we were able to hear on a videotaping of a ceremony held on Mount Yegof, organised by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture shortly after the defeat of the Derg, in order to try to prevent cutting down of the forests. The Sheik has had a passable road built up to the Geta Shrine with a sign at the main road indicating that the distance was four and a half kilometres. And sure enough at either side of the entrance to the shrine were two golden lions. Somewhat disappointed we were about to leave when, on the off-chance, I asked one of the boys who gathered around us, if he knew of a carved lion nearby. "Yes, of course, it was about half an hour’s walk away, turning off the road up to Geta about half way up to the left near the red earth". We asked how big the carving was. "About the size of the landcruiser" was the reply. We hardly had the time to go there, but in the end curiosity goT the better of us. So we took a little boy as a guide. After a ten minute drive just past a small swamp and near a hamlet surrounded by flowering Euphorbias, our guide pointed to the carving half way up a hill. At first we could not see it, but then, sure enough, the rough features carved at the end of a rock became apparent. The carving was clearly not recent and was covered in patches of mould. The carved portion was certainly not the size of a landcruiser, being not more than a square metre and a half, although the carving was at the end of a large rock protruding from the hill-side. The "lion" as the local people correctly referred to it, had ears set back, strangely bulging eyes, lines representing its mane and a ferocious look with teeth bared. The frontal view shows the lion’s nostrils with two holes above a V shape and a row of five sharp teeth. The bottom part of the carving represents the lion’s feet stretched forwards. In the front on the base portion is an intriguing cruciform carving. Was the "patte"cross added later? Who carved the lion with its oriental-looking eyes? We spoke to some elderly passers by, but no one could enlighten us or provide us with any additional information about the carving. It had been there as long as they knew. So the mystery of the carved lion, if not the riddle of the sphinx, remains unresolved!