Tana Qirqos (variantly spelled Tana Kirkos; also called Tana Chirqos or Tana Chirkos, etc.;
Ge'ez: ጣና ቂርቆስ ''ṭānā qirqos'', ጣና ጪርቆስ ''ṭānā č̣irqos'') is an island in the eastern part of
Lake Tana in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, near the mouth of the
Gumara River Gumara River is a river of northern-western Ethiopia. It empties into Lake Tana at from the east. Hot springs on the Gumara's banks at Wanzaye, which were popular in medicinal hot baths from the late 18th century till now, were already mentioned by ...
, having a latitude and longitude of . It is considered a holy island, and only monks of the
Ethiopian Church
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...
live there.
The monks believe that the island was once the resting place of the
Ark of the Covenant. According to tradition, the Ark was placed there by Emperor Ezana, the first Ethiopian sovereign to convert to Christianity, and it remained on the island until it was transported to
Mary of Zion church in
Axum.
Graham Hancock
Graham Bruce Hancock (born 2 August 1950) is a British writer who promotes pseudoscientific theories involving ancient civilizations and lost lands. Hancock speculates that an advanced ice age civilization was destroyed in a cataclysm, but t ...
has speculated that the Ark was carried from
Elephantine by the
Jewish garrison on the island, around the 5th century BC. However, there is no legend or tradition that supports this idea and specialists consider it unfounded.
When R.E. Cheesman visited Tana Qirqos in 1933, he found a large stratum of rock at the northern end of the island, which looked "like a huge wall of masonry" 400 or 500 yards long and standing about 100 feet high. He recorded that the formation "has been identified as olivine-bearing basalt," and that "in all probability the island gives its name to the lake."
[R.E. Cheesman]
"Lake Tana and Its Islands", ''Geographical Journal''
85 (1935), p. 498
References
Amhara Region
Islands of Lake Tana
Christian holy places
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
{{Amhara-geo-stub