Jews and Christians in the East

Bar Kribus

Contact

Dr. Bar Kribus
Ruhr-Universität Bochum CERES
Universitätsstr. 90a
D-44789 Bochum
Germany

Room 2.14

bar_kribus@yahoo.com

Subproject Horn of Africa

Bar Kribus is an archaeologist specializing in Late Antique and medieval Ethiopian archaeology and the history and material culture of the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews). He was an area manager at the Naples University l'Orientale excavations in Seglamien, Ethiopia, directed by Prof. Rodolfo Fattovich (2010-2013), and served as the ceramics specialist for the Hebrew University excavations in Tiberias, directed by Dr. Katia Cytryn-Silverman (2011-2016) and for the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology excavations in Jerusalem, directed by Prof. Dieter Vieweger (2014). His MA thesis, under the guidance of Prof. Joseph Patrich and Prof. Steven Kaplan, deals with the impact of pre-Christian cult and culture on Christianity in the Kingdom of Aksum (Late Antique Ethiopia). His PhD dissertation, also under the guidance of Prof. Steven Kaplan and Prof. Joseph Patrich, deals with the monastic movement of the Beta Israel, with an emphasis on the material culture, dwelling places and monastic practices of Beta Israel monks. A central component of this research is an archaeological survey of Beta Israel monastic sites in Ethiopia. He was awarded a PhD in archaeology by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2020.

Bar currently holds a postdoctoral fellowship of the Minerva Stiftung, at the Center for Religious Studies of the Ruhr University, Bochum (2020-2022). His current research deals with Beta Israel political autonomy in the Semien Mountains of northern Ethiopia and its wars with the Christian Solomonic kingdom (15th-17th century), with a focus on the material culture and geographical aspects of these wars.

CV and Publications

Vita

Positions

• 2020-2022 - Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Minerva Stiftung, Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr University, Bochum

• 2018-2020 – Research Fellow, JewsEast ERC project, Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr University, Bochum

Education and Degrees

• 2014-2020 - PhD in Archaeology at the Hebrew University; Dissertation topic: The monasteries of the Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jews). Supervisors: Prof. Steven Kaplan and Prof. Joseph Patrich

• 2012 - semester at the Naples University l’Orientale, under the supervision of Prof. Rodolfo Fattovich

• 2010-2013 - M.A. in Archaeology at the Hebrew University; Thesis topic: The impact of pre-Christian Aksumite cult and culture on Aksumite Christianity. Supervisors: Prof. Joseph Patrich and Prof. Steven Kaplan

• 2008 - 2009 - B.A. cum laude in Archaeology and History at the Hebrew University

• 2007 - B.A. studies in Archaeology and History at the Tel Aviv University

Publications

Books

• Ethiopian Jewish Ascetic Religious Communities: Built Environment and Way of Life of the Betä Ǝsraʾel. (Leeds: ARC Humanities Press).

Edited books

• Material Encounters between Jews and Christians: From the Silk and Spice Routes to the Highlands of Ethiopia, ed. Bar Kribus, Zara Pogossian, Alexandra Cuffel (York: ARC Humanities Press, forthcoming).

Articles / book chapters

• With Sophia Dege-Müller, “St. Yared in the Sǝmen Mountains of Northern Ethiopia: The Ethiopian Orthodox and Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jewish) Religious Sites,” Afriques, (forthcoming)

• Dege-Müller, Sophia and Bar Kribus. “Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jewish) – Ethiopian Orthodox Interaction in the Səmen Mountains of Northern Ethiopia: A View from the Betä Ǝsraʾel Religious Center of Səmen Mənaṭa,” forthcoming in: Material Encounters between Jews and Christians: From the Silk and Spice Routes to the Highlands of Ethiopia. Ed. Bar Kribus, Zara Pogossian and Alexandra Cuffel. (York: ARC Humanities Press)

• Roggema, Barbara and Bar Kribus. “The Historical and Archaeological Context of the ‘History of the Likeness of Christ’, a Christian Polemic Against the Jews of Tiberias,” forthcoming in: Material Encounters between Jews and Christians: From the Silk and Spice Routes to the Highlands of Ethiopia. Ed. Bar Kribus, Zara Pogossian and Alexandra Cuffel. (York: ARC Humanities Press)

• Dege-Müller, Sophia and Bar Kribus. “The Veneration of St. Yared – A Multireligious Landscape Shared by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians and the Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jews),” in press in: Geographies of Encounter: The Rise and Fall of Multi-Religious Spaces. Ed. Marian Burchardt and Maria Chiara Giorda. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan)

• With Sophia Dege-Müller, “Investigating the Material Culture of Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jewish) Monasticism: The Case of the Betä Ǝsraʾel Monastery of Qolqwaločč (Šowada) in the Səmen Mountains,” in press in: Volume in Memory of Rodolfo Fattovich. Ed. Kathryn A. Bard, Andrea Manzo, Luisa Sernicola, Federica Sulas and Chiara Zazzaro. (Oxford: Archaeopress)

• “The Layout and Architecture of the Monasteries of the Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jews) – Preliminary Observations,” Ityop̣is, (in press)

• With Katia Cytryn. “The Ceramic Evidence: The Islamic Period,” in press in: Horvat Yattir: The 1995 – 1999 Seasons. Ed. Yossi Bordowicz.

• “Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jewish) Monasticism and Ethiopian Orthodox Monasticism in Ethiopia: A Comparison,” in: Between Sea and Desert: On Kings, Nomads, Cities and Monks. Essays in Honor of Joseph Patrich. Ed. Orit Peleg-Barkat, Jacob Ashkenazi, Uzi Leibner, Mordechai Aviam and Rina Talgam. (Tzemach: Kinneret Academic College, Institute for Galilean Archaeology, 2019) 253-263

• With Verena Krebs, “Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jewish) Monastic Sites North of Lake Ṭana: Preliminary Results of an Exploratory Field Trip to Ethiopia in December 2015,” Entangled Religions, 6 (2018) 309-344

• Habtamu Makonnen, Laurel Phillipson and Luisa Sernicola, with contributions by Marco Barbarino, Alfredo Carannante, Michela Gaudiello and Bar Kribus, (2013) “Archaeological Expedition at Aksum (Ethiopia) of the Università degli Studi di Napoli ‘L'Orientale’ 2011 Field Season: Seglamen,” Newsletter di Archeologia CISA, 4 (2013) 343-439

Conference proceedings

• “The Battlefields of the ‘Ten Lost Tribes’ in Ethiopia. Tracing the Geographical and Material Culture Aspects of the Wars Between the Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jews) and the Christian Solomonic Kingdom,” forthcoming in: Proceeding of the Workshop “The Ten Lost Tribes: Cross-Cultural Perspective”, Bochum, March 2017. Ed. Adam Knobler, Alexandra Cuffel and Daniel Stein Kokin.

• “The Creation of an African Sheba? The Impact of Pre-Christian Cult and Culture on Aksumite Christianity,” in press in: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies.

• “Shedding light on Medieval Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jewish) Monasticism: An Examination of Sources and Suggestions for Future Study,” Africana, 15/02/2018, http://africana.hypotheses.org/619