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Chapter Three

Creation in Christian Works

Constantine of ’s “System of the World”

According to McCrindle, who translated the Christian Topography from Greek to English, “The author was a believing Christian, who was well acquainted with the philosophical and scientific speculations of the Greeks, but chose not to disclose his name and signed his writings sim- ply ‘A Christian.’ ” From the eleventh century on until he was identified as Constantine of Antioch,1 he was known by the pseudonym Cosmas Indicopleustes.2 His unique hypothesis was virtually ignored by medi- eval commentators, and apparently it was only Photius of Constantinople (ca. 820–ca. 891) who related to it, noting that: “Its style is poor and the arrangement hardly up to the accepted standard.” Photius went on to comment that Cosmas Indicopleustes “may fairly be regarded as a fabulist rather than a trustworthy authority.”3 In view of the fact that the thrust of the Christian Topography was to counter the prevailing Greek and Roman pre-Christian theories,4 as well as some Christian opinions concerning the spherical shape of the world,5

1 Wolska-Conus 1989, 28–30; Kessler 1995, 365, n. 1. 2 McCrindle 1897, IV–X, wrote in the introduction to the translation of the Christian Topography that the little that is known of the life of the author can be found in the single volume that survived from what he wrote. Apparently he was a spice dealer whose busi- ness took him to various ports on the , the , and the Persian Gulf, and exposed him to many ideas in the course of his travels. Cosmas-Constantine was self-taught, apparently influenced by Mar-Abas, whose theological orientation was Nestorian, who in turn was influenced by Theodore of Mopsuestia. 3 Woodward 1985, 517. 4 As McCrindle cites in the Preface, XIV, to the English translation of the Christian Topography, the book’s: “professed design being to refute, from Scripture and common sense, the impious Pagan cosmography, according to which the earth is a sphere; and the centre around which the heaven, which is also a sphere, revolves with all its luminaries.” 5 Pognon 1984, 33, cites Augustine (354–430), who had extensive knowledge of Greek science and accepted the theory of the Earth and the Heavens being in the shape of a sphere, but rejected the concept of the antipodes (people standing upside down because of the spherical shape of the world). Augustine wrote in his notebook to the : “Thus, when we are asked our religious beliefs, it is not necessary to examine the nature of things, as did those whom the Greeks called physici. . . . It is enough for the Christian to believe that the only cause of all created things, terrestrial or celestial, visible or invisible, 48 chapter three the book’s cosmology is based on biblical verses that allude to the pattern of the Tabernacle being the pattern of Creation. According to Constan- tine, owing to divine Revelation, , the great cosmographer, was the source of all existing historic and scientific knowledge, as all of the secrets of Creation were revealed through ’s instructions for the building of the Tabernacle. In order to present his ideas with maximum clarity Constantine embel- lished the written text with illustrative miniatures, creating a combination of words and images that illuminated his theology.6 The arrangement of illustrations juxtaposed to the text and the text relating to and explain- ing the illustrations provides an extraordinary tool for understanding the Christian Topography’s iconographic meaning. It also answers such ques- tions as: “Why were the images drawn the way they were?” “What is their special emblematic meaning?” “How was their unique pattern formed?” The original sixth-century manuscript of the Christian Topography has been lost but extant copies of the work can be found in the Vatican library (Vatican 699),7 in the Saint Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula (Sinai 1186),8 and in the Laurentiana Library in Florence (Laurentiana­ 28).9

lies in the goodness of the Creator, the only true God; and that nothing exists, except for Him, which does not draw its existence from Him.” 6 Wolska-Conus 1968–1973, I, 124–127. 7 Vaticana Biblioteca Apostolica, 2nd half 9th century. Wolska-Conus 1968–1973; Stornajolo 1908; Kondakoff 1886–1891; Rjedin 1916, I, 136ff; Lazarev 1967 41, 137, n. 39, 172; Devreesse, 1950, 176ff. Vatican 699, the oldest extant copy of the Christian Topography, consists of the first ten books and has 321 pages and fifty-seven miniatures. The impression is that there must have been more illustrations, and it is possible that folio pages were removed at a later date. From a paleographic and stylistic examination it was determined that the date of the manuscript was the first half of the ninth century. The manuscript of Gregory’s Homilies of the BN-Paris. Gr. 510, which was written and illustrated in Con- stantinople for Basil I between 880 and 886, helped to determine the date of Vatican 699. This conclusion was arrived at from the stylistic similarity between the two texts, which was especially reinforced by the text descriptions of the people and the illustrations that showed the folds in their cloaks. 8 , Monastery of St. Catherine, 11th century. Sinai 1186 includes twelve books, 211 folio pages, and fifty-six illustrations. The style of the miniatures in this copy has been identified through a paleographic examination as a work from the eleventh century. This copy is similar in style to that period’s artistic language, as is evident from many other illustrated manuscripts. The figures of people in the manuscript are flattened to minimize their physical size. The round faces are unnatural in size and create an impression of shadows and movement. All these signs are suggestive of the styles of certain Eastern centers. Many of the illustrations from this copy were reprinted by Wolska-Conus and Weitzmann. 9 Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana IX, 28, late 11th century, consists of twelve books with 279 folios. The original copy of the text was partially destroyed and several pages are missing. From a paleographic and stylistic study this copy was also dated to the