The image you see here conjures up the Biblical Satan, but it originates from a 19th-century Christian socialist and has everything to do with a niche occultic revival rather than Biblical ideas about the devil and dark forces. In fact, the illustrator, Eliphas Levi, believed that all religions came from an ancient primitive source, and
Baphomet and 19th century Ideologies Read More »
This object, now in a musuem in Harare, Zumabwe, dates from 1300. Purely indigenous drum? Replica of the Ark of the Covenant? The ways we attach meaning to ancient objects tells us far more about the present than about the past.
Ark of the Covenant Read More »
This is a geek-post for Medievalist nerds like me! In 735, one of the most important writers of the Early Middle Ages died in the northern hinterlands of England at a monastery called Jarrow. He had spent most of his life as a monk, coming from the aristocracy of the area and sent by his
New Discoveries of Early Medieval Author Bede’s Handwriting Read More »
This simple black-on-gold mosaic cross is generally thought to be among the most significant artistic remains of the Byzantine Civilization. The reason why it’s so famous has everything to do with an ancient religious battle that lasted across two centuries and whose victors deliberately destroyed most sources that challenged their perspectives. I’m talking about the
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s writeup of this 12th-c painting of a camel found on the walls of the monastery Church of San Baudelio de Berlanga in Spain somewhat charitably declares that the painter “could have been inspired by an actual camel”. After all, there is the single hump of the dromedary camel, and this
Camels in the Bible Read More »
Here’s a cool Medieval miniature of two women playing chess: one is Muslim, the other Christian. It relates to a topic of much debate about Spain in the Middle Ages, which is: “what was the relationship among Christians, Muslims, and Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula between the 8th c CE (when Muslims from the
The Knights Templar built the magnificent Castle and Convent of Christ in Tomar, Portugal, in the 12th century. But when the military religious order was dissolved and its members routed and killed after 1319, the kings of Portugal made Tomar a refuge for the monastic knights, changing their name to the Order of Christ and
Tomar, the Castle and Convent Where the Knights Templar Survived Read More »
This 13th-century fresco illustrates the most influential forgery in history: _The Donation of Constantine_. See the dude in the gold dress with the red beard handing over what looks like a puffy triangle to the larger but thin Santa Claus-guy? That’s supposed to be the Emperor Constantine (4th century) giving Pope Sylvester the right to
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This scene of Jesus’ condemnation by the Roman governor of Judea, painted by Antonio Ciseri, is one that millions of Christians contemplate each Easter. In it, Pilate asks his audience whether they want to have Jesus released, and that he had “found no case against him.” In reply, they shouted that they wanted Jesus dead.
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The 13th-century Morgan Bible has some of the best Medieval illustrations for trebuchets, the missile-launchers that shot artillery using a beam that would cast stones or other things (such as human heads during the First Crusade at Nicaea) from an attached sling. There were two sorts of trebuchets — the ones that used hand-pulling to
The Morgan Bible Trebuchets Read More »
Fans of Indiana Jones may remember the film about the Holy Grail, and the part where Indy needs to figure out which of the many ancient cups in front of him was the one Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. Of course, the answer was a drab and utterly innocuous vessel — to match
Nanteos Cup: Contender for the Holy Grail Read More »
Exhibit from the NYC Met, where you can see a teensy dragon (if you squint) on the robes of this eastern medieval bishop, showing cultural influences from east Asia.
Eastern Medieval Bishop Read More »
It’s really difficult for me, dear readers, not to love the Whore of Babylon, the metaphor and shibboleth from the New Testament Book of Revelations. As a reminder, here are some lines from that apocalyptic book: “‘Come, I will show you the judgement of the great whore who is seated on many waters, with whom
This is one of the most important books in existence — the Codex Vaticanus. Dating to the fourth century, it is one of the earliest and most complete manuscripts of the Bible. But whereas its fame resides mostly in the history of Christianity (many scholars translating the New Testament rely on it), it has a
Codex Vaticanus and the Septuagint Read More »
