ABSTRACT
Ethiopian hagiographical literature can be divided into two great categories: texts concerning foreign saints and martyrs, and texts concerning indigenous saints. The life of saint is recounted by narrating the miracles he performed during his lifetime and those he performed after his death. A characteristic trait of the gadl is the so-called kidan. The gadl may also be divided into two other great categories, according to the characters they refer to. To the first belong characters of the Aksumite era, whereas characters of the Middle Ages and the Solomonic period belong to the second. The gadl that concern characters of the Aksumite era, compiled many centuries after the death of those they celebrate, are naturally the poorest in terms of historical content. The gadl was written in order to be read out to the faithful on the day of the commemoration of the saint's death, when the people hastened to worship the place where the saint had lived and died.
