Standard abbreviation: Bk. Rooster
Other titles: Book of the Cock
Clavis numbers: ECCA 761
Category: Passion Narratives
Related literature:
Status: in progress by Adam Carter McCollum.
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style):
1. SUMMARY
The Book of the Rooster, though believed to have been composed in Greek in or around Jerusalem in the fifth or sixth century, is now available only in Ethiopic. The main story features Jesus and the disciples at the house of a Pharisee named Simon. Simon’s wife prepares a rooster for their meal. But Jesus brings the rooster to life and gives it the ability to speak so that it will spy on Judas. The rooster follows Judas home and watches as Judas conspires with his wife to betray Jesus. Judas then works with Paul, arranging between them a signal so that Paul can arrest Jesus. The rooster then flies back to Jesus with his report. As a reward Jesus sends him to heaven for a thousand years. Paul is portrayed here also as the one who places the crown of thorns on Jesus’ head.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Ethiopic
Addis Ababa, Patriarchate Library, EMML 680, fols. 139r–143r (ca. 1959–1970)
Addis Ababa, Church of the Nativity, EMML 411, fols. 141r–144v (20th cent.)
Addis Ababa, Trinity Church, EMML 857, fols. 145r–158r (1958)
3.1.2 Middle Irish
O Máille, Tomás. “Críst rocrochad.” Ériu 3 (1907): 194–99.
3.1.3 Latin
Napier, Arthur S. History of the Holy Rood-tree. EETS, o.s. 103. London: Oxford University Press, 1894 (pp. 68–70).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 French
Piovanelli, Pierluigi. “Livre du Coq.” Pages 137–203 in volume 2 of Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Edited by Pierre Geoltrain and Jean-Daniel Kaestli. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 516. Paris: Gallimard, 2005.
3.3 General Works
R. W. Cowley, “The So-called “Ethiopic Book of the Cock”—Part of an Apocryphal passion Gospel, The Homily and Teaching of our Fathers the Holy Apostles,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1985), 16-22
Leydon, Christopher. “Judas, his Sister, and the Miraculous Cock in the Middle Irish Poem Críst ro crochadh.” Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 28 (2008): 152–68.
P. Piovanelli, “Exploring the Ethiopic Book of the Cock, An Apocryphal Passion Gospel from late Antiquity,” HTR 96 (2003): 427-454.