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Raider of the Lost Ark subscriber-only content

Richard Pankhurst

  • The Pale Abyssinian: A Life of James Bruce, African Explorer and Adventurer by Miles Bredin

Ethiopia was by the Middle Ages the only Christian country outside Europe and thus of great interest to medieval Christendom. Since the early 12th century, the Ethiopians had been in possession of a chapel in Jerusalem and a station in the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Both were visited every year or so by Ethiopian pilgrims, whose coming, and obvious devotion, gave rise to the idea in Europe that they might serve as useful allies in the Crusades.

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Richard Pankhurst was the founder of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies in Addis Ababa, where he has lived for many years.
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