Tabot, sometimes tabout, is an Amharic word commonly referring to a replica of the Tablets of Law, onto which the Biblical Ten Commandments were inscribed, used in the practices of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The meaning is sometimes ambiguous as "tabot" can refer to either a replica of the Tablets of Law or a replica of the Ark of the Covenant. The word "sellat" refers only to a replica of the Tablets, but is less often used. The tabot is normally six inches (15 cm) square and may be made from alabaster, marble, or wood (see acacia). It is always kept in ornate coverings to hide it from public view. In an elaborate procession, the tabot is carried around the church courtyard on the feast day of that particular church's namesake, and also on the great Feast of T'imk'et (known as Epiphany or Theophany in Europe).
Many tabots were looted by European powers during the colonial period and their absence remains a cause of anger among Ethiopians. During the looting of the Ethiopian capital of Magdala in 1868, British soldiers took hundreds of tabots. The return in February 2002 of one of these, which was discovered in the storage of St. John's Episcopal Church in Edinburgh, was a cause of public rejoicing in Addis Ababa.
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