area come together with their tabot and celebrate. Looting of tabots Although Ethiopia was never colonised by the British, many tabots were looted by British soldiers during the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia, also known as the Battle of Magdala, and is a cause of anger among Ethiopians. Repatriation of looted tabots The return in February 2002 of one looted tabot, discovered in the storage of St John's Episcopal Church in Edinburgh, was a cause of public rejoicing in Addis Ababa. Another was returned in 2003 after Ian McLennan recognised the ancient tabot at an auction in London. He bought it and donated it to the government of Ethiopia. See also Thabilitho Altar Stone Antimension References Further reading C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford, "Appendix III, The Tabot" in their translation of Francisco Alvarez, The Prester John of the Indies (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1961), pp. 543–8. External links Pilot Guides' Axum and the Ark Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Christian religious objects Eucharistic objects Oriental Orthodoxy Christian processions