The Christian Topography

by Kirill Orlov

Description

Vat. gr. 699 is one of three major Greek manuscripts that preserve the text of “The Christian Topography” by the early Byzantine author Cosmas Indicopleustes. It dates from the late 9th century and is written in uncial script on large, almost square parchment. The manuscript is accompanied by a vivid series of illustrations: about 60 pictures and diagrams representing maps, images of biblical characters, symbolic representations of the universe, scenes from the Old Testament, etc. Interestingly, the other two later copies (in Florence and on Mount Sinai) contain the same illustrations.

Historical context

The Christian Topography was compiled by Cosmas between 535 and 547, but it was at the end of the 9th century, during the so-called Macedonian Renaissance, that this illustrated codex was created, marking the revival of book art. During this period, book illustrations became a means of expressing not only text, but also a worldview, cosmography, and theological ideas.

The creation of the manuscript should be understood against the backdrop of iconoclastic controversy, a cultural and political confrontation in which questions about the legitimacy of images became a central theological issue.

After the victory of icon veneration, the visual programs of manuscripts served as a “justification” for it: images of the tabernacle and the ark, scenes from the Old Testament, and portraits of prophets were used as direct arguments by icon worshippers, demonstrating that God Himself had sanctioned “sacred images” (the production of objects of worship) in ancient times.

The Vatican manuscript is a quite peculiar example of such a “visual apologist”: the miniatures here not only illustrate Cosmas’ text, but also serve to reinforce the icon-worshipping arguments of the 9th century.

Iconography of Daniel’s vision

One of the scenes in the manuscript is of particular interest: it depicts the prophet Daniel and his vision of four beasts, a motif that was given eschatological and symbolic significance in late Byzantine and early medieval tradition. An image depicting Daniel and the beasts belongs stylistically to the general features of the manuscript: smooth modeling of figures, balanced composition, characteristic Byzantine style for the end of the 9th century.

According to the oldest interpretation, that of Hippolytus, the winged lion corresponds to the Babylonian kingdom, the bear to the Persian kingdom, the four-headed leopard (or beast with four wings) to the Hellenistic kingdom of Alexander the Great, which fell into four parts, and the fourth, terrible and horned beast to the Roman kingdom. Moreover, according to patristic understanding, the horns of this beast foreshadowed the uprising of the “little horn” — the Antichrist — and the end of the world before the Second Coming of Christ.

In another version, by Ephrem the Syrian, the fourth beast may refer to the Antichrist’s empire, and the sequence of empires is adjusted: for example, Persia and Media can be interpreted separately and differently.

The illustrations of the vision of the four beasts in the Vatican manuscript belong to the second version — with the kingdoms of Babylon, Media, Persia, and Macedonia. The Roman state and the theme of the Antichrist are absent in this version, which makes it possible to see the beasts as ancient (pre-Roman) powers, rather than a future threat.

This choice reflects the concept of the author, Cosmas Indicopleustes, who perceived history as a chain of earthly kingdoms that preceded Christ. Therefore, the beasts are depicted here as four allegorical creatures — archetypes of kingdoms, without grotesqueness or sinister demonization. This depiction emphasizes not the monstrosity of eschatological images, but the historical-typological nature of prophecy: the beasts are symbols of past eras, not the horrors of the Antichrist.

This logic later became the basis for Russian iconography of the “Last Judgment” and Daniel’s visions. Over time, as eschatological expectations intensified (especially in the 15th century), motif of the Antichrist was added to the beasts. Nevertheless, the Vatican manuscript remains one of the rare and valuable testimonies to the early stage of iconography development: here, the beasts are not demons or monsters of the future, but images of ancient human powers.

Bibliography

• Brubaker, L. (2006). The Christian Topography (Vat. gr. 699) revisited: image, text, conflict in ninth-century Byzantium. In E. Jeffreys (Ed.), Byzantine Style, Religion and Civilization: In Honour of Sir Steven Runciman (pp. 3-24). Cambridge University Press.
• Nersesyan L.V. Videnie proroka Daniila v russkov isskustve XV-XVI vekov (“The Vision of the Prophet Daniel in Russian art of 15th-16th centuries”) in Mir istorii (“The world of history”), №3, 2000. (in Russian)

Image sources

• Vatican Library Digital: https://digi.vatlib.it/