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Psalter
Not on view
Ethiopian psalters usually contain the Psalms of David, with the Canticles (praise hymns), the Song of Songs, and the Magnificat of Mary. According to the Ethiopian Church, King David was the sole author of the Psalms. Here, his full-page portrait shows him playing the begena, a type of box-lyre. Until the twentieth century, the instrument was an Ethiopian status symbol, played only by elite and royal men and signifying their high social and economic standing.
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