Zera Yacob (philosopher)

Zera Yacob (/ˈzɛrə ˈjækoʊb/; Ge'ez: ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ; 28 August 1600 – 1693) was an Ethiopian philosopher best known for his treatise, Hatata ("The Inquiry"), which explores themes of reason, morality, and religious tolerance.

Yacob was educated in the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian tradition but developed a distinct philosophical approach that emphasized rational inquiry over religious dogma.

Although his father was poor, he supported Yacob's attendance of traditional schools, where he became acquainted with the Psalms of David and educated in the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian faith.

On the road to Shewa in the south, he found a cave at the foot of the Tekezé River and lived in it as a hermit for two years, praying and developing his philosophy.

"[2] After the death of the Emperor, Susenyos's son Fasilides (r. 1632–1667), a firm adherent of the Ethiopian Oriental Orthodox Church, took power, expelling the Jesuits, and extirpated the Catholic faith in his kingdom in 1633.

The authorship of the Hatata was challenged by Carlo Conti Rossini in 1920, who claimed it was forged by father Giusto da Urbino [it], an Italian scholar who worked in Ethiopia.

Amsalu Aklilu and Ato Alemayyehu Moges argued for the authenticity of the work, based on its nonreligious contents, sentence structure, and the particularity of the Ge'ez used.

Claude Sumner wrote in favor of the Inquiry's authenticity in 1976 with statistical evidence showing the duality of authors in their differing Biblical quotations, using five newly found letters of Urbino in Rome.

Sumner also argued that Urbino had worse knowledge of Ge'ez than originally presented, and that he did not share the ideas of the Hatata at the time he was supposed to have written it.