17th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest People
Reading the Writing on the Wall
An Ethiopian Orthodox priest unlocks the wooden door to one of the rock-hewn churches carved out of a mountainside towering above Tigray. He conducts church services in Ge’ez, a liturgical language similar in use to Latin within the Catholic church. Above and to his left are carvings of the Ge’ez script, but the phrases may actually be in Tigrinya or even Amharic, both of which are different languages but written using Ge’ez characters, just as English and German use Latin characters.
Photo Detail
Date Taken: | 05.2018 |
Date Uploaded: | 11.2019 |
Photo Location: | Hawzen, Ethiopia |
Camera: | ILCE-7M2 |
Copyright: | © John Dwyer |