Ethiopia in Emperor Tewodros’s day was a traditional country, in some ways not so dissimilar from any countries of medieval Europe. People in Ethiopia believed in the supernatural and in the existence of good and evil spirits, who governed the fortunes of man. It was also widely believed that most illnesses resulted from supernatural causes, including the casting of spells, and the effects of the evil eye.

Ethiopian society responded by appealing to the supernatural in various ways: by prayer, by the making of vows, by the using of holy water, and the wearing of magical charms, or amulets.

The production of such amulets in Ethiopia dates back at least to early medieval times. Already in the fifteenth century the great Ethiopian Emperor Zar’a Ya’qob decreed that his subjects should wear amulets round their necks inscribed with the words, “Belonging to the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit”, and on either arm: “I deny the Devil in the name of Christ who is God”, and I deny Dasek (a then much feared evil spirit] , the accursed. I am the servant of Mary, the mother of the Creator of the World”.

Most Ethiopian amulets were written by hand on thin strips of parchment, or very occasionally paper. They were the handwork of dabtras, or lay ecclesiastics, who enjoyed a considerable reputation for learning, not necessarily accompanied by benevolence.

Amulets were often worn with matab, or silk thread placed round the neck of Ethiopian Christians. Texts were in many cases stitched together to equal the height of the person for whom they were produced, and were generally tightly rolled up to fit into a specially prepared leather container, which was hung round the neck of its owner.

Amulets would usually serve for only one lifetime, for they would be buried with the man or woman for whom they were made.

Amulets were produced to ensure the good fortune and prosperity of their owners, and to protect them from the evil eye, as well as all the ills that man is heir to. Some texts might thus be designed to assure access to hard earned – or even ill gotten! – Wealth, while others sought promotion by the monarch, and his granting of prestigious titles and valuable estates. Other amulets were concerned with conflict, and promised the owner victory in war, and the confusion of his enemies. Other texts v supposed to keep husband and wife together, and to prevent adultery, while others again might aim at saving the owner’s crops from damage by locusts or serious storms, or to stop the escape of runway slaves. Many an amulet on the other hand offered supposed protection from diseases, which might be either specified, as for example leprosy or smallpox, or referred to in only the most general of terms.

Amulets in the old days worn throughout the country by people of virtually every age and class; and the production of such charms was recommended in traditional Ethiopian texts embodying the country’s age-old medical lore.

Tewodros, it is just conceivable, may have taken a similar view. Though a man in advance of his time, he was however, a man of his time. As such he most probably believed, like most of his contemporaries, in the value of amulets, such as the one he was wearing on the day of his dramatic suicide on 13, April 1868 at the time of British expedition to Magdala. The amulet, which is of great cultural and historical significances returned to its homeland Ethiopia after 135 years in the month of November 2003 as sourced from Institute of Ethiopian Studies- Addis Ababa University.