A Fifth-Century Book Cover and the Origin of the Four Evangelist Symbols Page in the Book

of Durrow
Author(s): Lawrence Nees
Source: Gesta, Vol. 17, No. 1 (1978), pp. 3-8
Published by: University of Chicago Press on behalf of the International Center of Medieval Art

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A Fifth-Century Book Cover
Four Evangelist Symbols Page
NEES
LAWRENCE
University of Delaware
FIGURE 1. Four Evangelist Symbols Page in the Book of Durrow,
DublinXTrinity College Library Ms. 572 fol. 2r
In 1969 MartinWernerpublishedin this journalhis
discussion
provocativeproposal,supportedby a wide-ranging
of a varietyof worksfromEastandWestalike,thatthe Four
EvangelistSymbolspagein the Bookof Durrow(Fig. 1) was
derivedfrom a "venerablesymbolicMaiestas Domini com-
position with zooanthropomorphic Evangelistsymbols,"a
"rareand unusualcompositioncreatedin Egyptandperhaps
employedas an introductoryminiaturein an early Coptic
manuscript.''lAn importantarchaeologicaldiscoverymade
GESTA XVII/1 (o)The InternationalCenter of Medieval Art 1978
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and the Origin of the
in the Book of Durrow*
after the appearanceof Werner'sarticle has uneartheda work
which provides a better and more convincing prototype for
the Book of Durrow Four Evangelist Symbols page than
Werner'shypothetical reconstructedCoptic source. However,
before turning to the analysis of that work, Werner'stheory
will be reviewed on its own terms, since it accordswith and
lends support to other assertionsof the importanceof Coptic
art for the development of Insular and early medievalart in
general.2
Werner'scase for a connection of the Durrowminiature
with Coptic art restsheavilyon his assertionthat the "Hiberno-
Saxon artist was attempting to imbue his animal symbols
with anthropomorphicqualities," as most noticeably con-
veyed by the "upright"positions of the lion and ox.3 Even
leaving aside the question of whether or not an"upright"
posture may be taken as an indication of an anthropomor-
phizing intent in the depiction of an animal, it is far from
self-evident that the Durrow animals are "upright" at all.
Wernerdoes suggest that the lion "is apparentlystandingon
its hind legs," but offers no specific observationto support
this statement, which is, in fact, utterly contradictedby the
image as it appearsto my eyes and as describedby Meyer in
the facsimilepublicationof the Book of Durrow.4If the lion
were standing on its hind legs, one would expect to see the
two hind legs below and at least some indication of the fore-
paws around the area of tlie shoulders. Instead one sees a
frontal head and a bilaterallysymmetricaltorso coveredwith
a chevron pattern, ending at the bottom in two paws with
strongly marked claws. The simplest and most naturalinter-
pretation of this pose is that the lion is standingon all fours
and is seen directly from the front, with the hindquarters
hidden from view. One of the most famous medieval lions,
the neither upright nor anthropomorphic beast explicitly
drawn "al vif" by Villard de Honnecourt, is displayed in
preciselythis position.5
Thus the very basis of Werner'sargument,that the Dur-
row Evangelist symbols exhibit clearly anthropomorphic
qualities, is not persuasive as presented. Also unconvincing
are his assertion of the particularly"oriental" characterof
such motifs as animal ornament or pearled borders, which
3
 ^> f * ^ }
FIGURE 2. Mosaic of a bishop in The Catacomb of S. Gennaro, Naples.
in fact occur widely throughout the Mediterraneanby the
sixth century,6 and his central but dubious argument that
a composition similar to the Four EvangelistSymbols page
of the Book of Durrow was likely to have been created in
Coptic Egypt by the sixth or seventh century. The earliest
Coptic image Werner can cite, the tenth-century miniature
from MorganLibrary cod. 600,7 does resemble the Durrow
miniaturein certain respects. Yet as is invariablytrue for all
of his Coptic parallels,this miniature groups around a cross
not Evangelist symbols, zooanthropormorphicor otherwise,
but the Evangeliststhemselves. The eleventh-centuryNubian
fresco from Faras to which Wernerattached much impor-
tance8 does indeed present the four "livingcreatures"around
a cross in a composition which, but for the presenceof the
medallion with Christ at the center, forms a strikingparallel
to the Durrow miniature. However, Werner's implication
that these figures may be interpreted as the symbols of the
Evangelists and thereby associated with his earlier Coptic
material and with Western compositions such as the Book
of Durrowminiatureis demonstrablyerroneous.In the fresco
from Faras the four Beasts are clearly inscribed with their
names, which are not Matthew, Mark, Luke and John but
rather Meliton, Agrammatap,Paramyra and Peourouthion,
strange angelic names from the magic lore of charms and
incantations.9
On several grounds Werner'stheory of a Coptic source
for the Four Evangelist Symbols miniature of the Book of
Durrowmust therefore be rejected. Yet the contrary case
for a purely western and most probably Italian origin of the
imagecould be argued only with some difficulty and on the
basisonly of individual features such as the type of symbols
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+
FIGURE3. Bootcover with cross and symbols oJ Evangelists; detatl oJ
FIG. 2
employed, since it has heretofore been impossibleto cite any
early Western work in which the Evangelist symbols were
arrangedin the quadrantsarounda cross.1° Such an argument
could not be wholly satisfactory,since Werneris surely correct
in his basic premise that the Durrowminiaturewas not con-
structedby the Insularartist from wholly disparateelements,
but that some prototype must have existed for the funda-
mental conception of the image. Hence the importanceof the
recent excavationin Naples of a fifth-centurymosaic (Fig. 2)
which not only provides precisely the sort of early Italian
prototype hitherto lacking,but also seemsto offer new insight
into the significanceof the imageand the reasonfor its appear-
ance in so prominent a position at the very opening of the
volume.l 1
Excavationswere undertakenbeginning in June 1971 in
the catacombs adjacent to the church of S. Gennaro,in the
area thought to be the apse of a large undergroundbasilica
found in 1888.12 These excavations revealed a large crypt
area, 5.5m long, 2.5m wide and 6.0m high, raised four steps
above the floor level of the "basilica," and containing eight
arcosolia and ten loculi 13 Each arcosolium contained a bust
portrait,usually in a clipeus, four executed in mosaic and four
in fresco; the former are relativelywell-preserved14whereas
the latter have been almost totally destroyed. On the basis of
a thorough analysis of the topography of this area of the
catacomb, the excavator, Umberto Fasola, concluded that
this crypt must be dated after the first decades of the fifth
century and before the early sixth, and he furthersuggested
that the different arcosolia were decorated in different cam-
paignsduringthis spanof nearlya century.15
The arcosolium of primaryinterest here was uncovered
 on 27 September1971, and is locatedon the northwall of
the cryptimmediatelyadjacentto the centralmosaicin the
"apse,7'which Fasolavery plausiblyclaimedfor the oldest
of the works.16 The northwall arcosolium (Fig. 2) presents
undera narrowarchwith greenandyellow rinceauxagainsta
blue ground,a mosaicclipeus portraitof a darkskinnedec-
clesiasticgarbedin a white tunica with darkclavi, holdinga
largebook before him with both hands.t7The book is of
compellinginteresthere,for its coveris decoratedwitha large
jeweledgoldenLatincross,with the fourgoldenbeastsin the
surrounding quadrants(Fig. 3). At the upperleft is the man,
at the upperrightthe eagle,at the lowerleft the lion andat
the lower right the ox. Unfortunatelythe utilizationof
standardlargetesseraein so smalla detailof the mosaic(the
entireclipeus measuresonly 80cm in diameter)madethe pre-
cise rendering of detailsextremelydifE1cult, but the following
observations seemto providean accuratedescriptionof these
beasts.None of the creatureshavehaloes,nor areany carry-
ing books, while all fourareprovidedwith wings.Eachwing
appearsto be tripartite,as is most evidentin the eagleand
oXl 8; that is, each creaturehas six wings.As in nearlyall
such imagesthe eagleis presentedat full length,whereasthe
otherthreeareapparentlyseenas half-lengthf1gures. The ox
veryclearlyhashorns,but otherdetailsof the filgures cannot
be discerned withconfidence.
This fifth-centuryNeapolitanmosaicpresentsan image
almost entirelyanalogousto the Four EvangelistSymbols
page of the Book of Durrow.Both show the four beastsl9 FIGURE 4. Five-part ivory bookoover in the CathedralTreasury,
arranged in a rectangular field arounda largeLatincross,and Milan.
the correspondence extendseven so far as to the orderin
whichthe beastsareportrayedLION oGx *Moreover, the sideandjust insideof bookscouldalsoservea moreprofound
fur.ction,being designedto protectthe sacredbook against
evidenceofferedby the mosaicfrom the S Gennarocata- demonicpenetration.
comb in Naples indicatesnot only that an arrangement In a recentarticleKitzinger hasarguedthatimagesoutside
of the four Evangelistsymbolsaroundthe crosswas already andinsidebooks might be closely relatedin the periodunder
knownin Italy from as earlyas the fWlfth century,but also discussion, and raised the issue of a possibleapotropaicfunc-
that it was used to decoratethe eminentlyportablecoverof tion.2 4 The imagery of the Four Evangelist Symbolsminiature
a book. Indeedbook coverswerecommonlyadornedwiththe in the Book of Durrow readily lends itself to this interpreta-
cross, as is abundantlyclear from many examples in all tion. Such important and closely related works as the carved
media,2 ° and the groupingof the fourEvangelistsymbols in coffin of St. Cuthbert from Lindisfarne suggest that some
the surrounding quadrants is not surprisinggiven theirdeeply- apotropaic role could be exercised by images of the Evangelists
rooted associationwith cosmographic notions of the four and/ortheirsymbols,the majorfiguresof the Durrowminia-
directions.2 l Suchan arrangement occursin the fifth-century ture,25andthat a magicalpotencywas creditedto the Evan-
vault of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidiain Ravenna;2 2 gelistsin GreatBritainat least as earlyas the tenth century
the five-part ivory book covers in Milan (Fig. 4) present a is quite evidentfrom severalsources.Mostextraordinary of
clearlyrelatedarrangement the clarityof whichis, however, these, in which the power of the Evangelists is dramatically
dilutedby its distributionover two panels.23The similarity linkedwith thatof the cross,is anelaborateritualprescription
of this compositionto that of the Naplesmosaicsupportsthe for the fertilizationof bewitchedfieldsfroma tenth-century
connectionof the Book of Durrowminiaturewith an early medicinal book, in which four crosses,each inscribedwith
Italianbook cover,but it remainsstill to addressthe question the names of the Evangelists at the endsof the fourarms,were
of the relationship between a book coverand a miniature just to be buried in the corners of the barrenfieldamidprayers,
inside the cover. Both likely share to some degree the utili- libations and other ceremonies.26 The apotropaicpowerof
tarianpurposeof conveyingan impressionof the contentsof the cross still alive today in magicand (if only semi-con-
the volume,yet considerableevidenceindicatesthat in the sciously)in popularreligiouspractice,is repeatedlyattested
late antiqueand earlymedievalperiodthe imagesboth out- throughoutthe Christianworld from the earliestperiod.27
5

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 Withinthe realmof book illuminationLeroyhas underlined
the existenceof miniaturesof the crossmost likelyservinga
talismanicfunctionat the beginningandend of Syriacmanu-
scriptsdatingfromas earlyas the middleof the sixth cen-
tury.28 Even the interlacedecorationof the cross in the
Bookof Durrowminiaturemayhaveservedsucha purpose,2 9
and the combinationof Evangelistsymbols,crossand inter-
lace in a singleimageadds up to a sourceof considerable
apotropaicpotency. Indeeda direct testimonyto the pos-
sibilityof an apotropaicinterpretationof such a miniature
is providedby a late-eighthor earlyninthcenturyminiature
now preservedat Heidelberg, probablynorthItalianin origin
accordingto Bischoff.This miniaturepresentsan interlaced
crosspage,strikinglyrecallingthe Durrowpage,in whichthe
quadrantsaroundthe crosscontainnot the symbolsof the
Evangelistsbut an inscriptionwhose apotropaicintentis be-
yond question(Fig.5).3 ° Finally,the placementof the potent
imageat the "entrance" to the book)whetheron the cover,as
in the mosaicfromNaples,or just insideas in the Book of
Durrow,immediatelyassociatesit with other prophylactic
imageslocatedat the thresholdof a dwellingor holy place.31
In conclusion,the fortunatepreservationand recent
excavationof the fifth-centurymosaicfrom the S. Gennaro
catacombin Naplespermitsus to statewith confidencethat
the originof the imageof the crosssurrounded by the four
beasts,as it appearsin the frontispieceminiatureof the Book
of Durrow,shouldbe seen not in CopticEgyptbut in Italy.
Moreover, the depictionof animageof the fourbeastsaround
a crossin sucha contextshedsrevealing lighton the probable
functionof this imagein the Insularworldas an apotropaic
FIGURE 5. Miniature inside front cover of tnanuscript in Heidelberg,
signas well as a pictorialassertionof the harmonyof the four Universitatsbibliothek, cod. Salem X. 12a.
Gospels.32That an Insularbook shouldhavebeen regarded
as the sourceof suchpowerfullyaccordswithourknowledge
of the Insularfascinationwith the Word.Weknowthat one tween Coptic Egypt and the Insularworld, althoughshe cautions
of the earliestsurvivingInsularmanuscripts,known as the that such contactmusthaveceasedduringthe seventhcentury.The
generalvalidityof this oft-repeatedtheory is not at issue here,but
"Cathach"of St. Columba,was "in ancientdays. . . carried in my opinion it is necessaryto underscorethe generalmethod-
into battleas a charmor mascot."3 3 Indeed,it seemsthatthe
ological point that in examiningthe parallelsbetweenInsularand
attributionof a similarmagicpotencyto the Bookof Durrow certainEasternMediterranean works of art one must also be ex-
itself becametraditional,as one of the filrstnoticesof the tremelyscrupulousin noting the existence of the sameformsand
Bookrelatesthat the farmerresponsiblefor its keepingin the motifs where they occur in other and less remote areasas well.
Thus Nordenfalkhas rightlycautionedagainstthe too hasty sup-
seventeenthcenturywas seento immersethe codexin water position of "oriental"models for such featuresas interlaceorna-
so asto producea curativepotionforhis sickcattle.34 ment, which also appearscommonly in the West from an early
period;cf. C. Nordenfalk,Celticand Anglo-SaxonPainting,New
NOTES York, 1977, 14.
*The substanceof this articlewas presentedat the informalsessionon 3. Werner,"Durrow,"4-8.
InsularArt at the College Art Associationmeeting in New York in 4. Cf. A.A. Luce, G.O. Simms,P. Meyerand L. Bieler,Evangeliorum
January1978. Quattuor Codex Durmachensis,Olten/Lausanne/Freiburg i B.,
1. M. Werner,"The Four EvangelistSymbols Page in the Book of 1960, II, 103-104. On the supposedanthropomorphic qualitiesof
Durrow,"Gesta VIII (1969), 3ff., these quotations from p. 13. the animals it is Meyer'sopinion that ". . . only the Vitulus of
f. 2r, drawnin frontalview,whichis uniquealso on accountof its
2. Cf. particularlyH. Bober, "On the Illuminationof the Glazier
geometricalstyle, might possiblybe taken for a clothed (human)
Codex," Homage to a Bookman,Essays on Manuscripts,Books
and Printing Writtenfor Hans P. Karus,Berlin,1967, 3149. To figure; the other symbols, except the Man, are unmistakably
the list of studiestreatingthis relationshipgivenby Werner,"Dur- animals."
row", note 31, may be added C. Thomas,"ImportedPottery in 5. Sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt,Paris, BibliothequeNa-
Dark-AgeWesternBritain,"MedievalArchaeology3 (1959), 89ff. tionale, cod. fr. 19093, fol. 24V;cf. Album de Villardde Honne-
This article is also cited by F. Henry, The Book of Kells, New court, Architecte du XIIIe Siecle, Paris,BibliothequeNationale,
York, 1974, 213ff., who also sees strongevidenceof contactsbe- n.d., pl. XLVIII.

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 6. For decorativeanimalsmany examples could be cited from the
realmof floor mosaicsalone. Fromnorth Africathere is the grand
mosaic of AsinusNica at Djemila(M. Blanchard-Lemee, Maisonsa
Mosaiquesdu QuartierCentralde Djemila [CuiculJ, Aix-en-Pro-
vence, n.d. [1974], pl. XVI), and from northItaly the outstanding
exampleis the fourth-centurypavementat Aquileia;cf. G.C.Menis,
I mosaicicristianidi Aquileia, Udine, n.d. [ 1966], fig 4 and pls.
1-11, 25-26 and 40-48. Werner'simplicationthat the use of such
animalmotifs is purelyEasternis so far from beingself-evidentthat
at least for the employmentof such animalsas partof an all-over
field pattern, a strong case has been made that Western,north
Africanexamplessuchas the just-citedAsinusNica pavementmay
actuallybe priorto any of the similarfloors from the East;cf. E.
Kitzinger,"Mosaicsin the Greek East from Constantineto Jus-
tinian,"in La Mosaique Greco-Romaine (Colloques Internationaux
du CentreNationalde la RechercheScientiElque, Paris,1963; Paris,
1965), 348 and note 37.
Pearledbordersalreadyappearin sixth-centuryivoriesfrom Con-
stantinopleand from Italy (W.F.Volbach,Elfenbeinarbeitender
Spatantikeund des fruhenMittelalters,2nd ed.; Mainz,1952, nos.
15, 28 and 31), and by the seventh century had demonstrably
penetratedas far as Germany,as evincedby the reliquarycasket
from Ennabeuren(J. Hubert,J. Porcher,andW.F.Volbach,Europe
of the Invasions,trans.S. Gilbertand J. Emmons;New York, 1969,
pl. 297).
7. Werner, "Durrow," 9 and Fig. 14.
8. Ibid., 10 and Fig. 15.
9. Cf. K. Michalowski,Faras.Die Kathedraleaus dem Wustensand,
Einsiedeln/Zurich/Cologne, 1967, 161-162 and pls. 87-89. Indeed
the basic fact is that almost no evidencefrom Coptic, Byzantine,
or any other easternMediterranean art suggestthat the apocalyptic
Beastswere in that region identifiedas the Symbolsof the Evan-
gelists before the eleventh century;cf. K. Wessel,"Evangelisten,"
Reallexikon zur byzantinischenKunst II, cols. 469-471, and E.
Kitzinger,"The Coffin-Reliquary,"in The Relics of St. Cuthbert,
ed. C.F. Battiscombe,Oxford/London,1956, 230.
10. Meyer, EQCD, 105, does cite for comparisonan altar-stonein
S. Mariadel Prioratoin Aventino in Rome, from the eighth or
ninth century;cf. A. Haseloff,Pre-Romanesque Sclllpturein Italy,
New York, n.d. [19301, pl. 59. This workis not cited by Werner,
althoughit is in fact no laterin date than the earliestof his Coptic
examples.
11. Becausethe leaves of the Durrowbook were all cut in the late
eighteenthor early nineteenth centurythe presentlocation could
be different from the original,althoughPowell'sstudy indicated
the location on fol. 2r as most likely;cf. R. Powell,"TheOriginal
'Make-up.'The Repair,and the Re-bindingof 1954," in EQCD,
80-81.
12. Cf. U.M. Fasola, Le catacombe di S Gennaroa Capodimonte,
Rome, 1975, 133ff. and fig. 87.
13. Ibid., 134 and figs. 90-91.
14. Ibid., pls. XIa, XIb, XII, and fig. 92.
15. Ibid., 146 and plan III.
16. Ibid., 135 and pl. XIa.
17. Ibid., 153ff. and pls. XII, XIII and 98. Fasola sought to identify
this ecclesiasticas the exiled Bishop Quodvultdeusof Carthage,
residentin Naplesafter expulsionfromhis own see by the Vandal
conquerorGenseric, and subsequentlyveneratedin Naples as a
saint. Fasola makesa plausiblecase for this theory and may well
be correct,althoughthe identificationas an Africansolely on the
basis of his dark skin does not inspireconfidence.In any event,
in the present connection the precise identificationof the per-
sonnageis not important,nor is a precisedating essential;Fasola
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suggests the middle of the fifth century on the basis of rather
general comparisonsto other mid-fifth-centurymosaics,but on
relatively firm archaeologicalgrounds a date somewherein the
fifth century seems certain.Prof. Kitzingerhas recentlyinformed
me that this dating has been accepted by B. Brenk,Spatantike
und fruhes Christentum,Propylaen Kunstgeschichte,Supp. I;
Frankfurt,1977, 130 and pl. 25.
18. As noted by Fasola, Catacombe,155. This is, of course, a very
common characteristicin early Italian mosaics, as for example
in the fifth-centuryBaptisteryat Naplesitself andin the S. Matrona
Chapel from nearby Capua;cf. M. van Berchemand E. Clouzot,
Mosaiqueschretiennesdu IVme au xme siecle, Geneva, 1924,
pls. 120-121 and 95-96 respectively.
19. Althoughthey are not so inscribedand do not even carrybooks,
the presumption that these representedsymbols of the Evan-
gelists seems well founded. First, they stem from a country and
a century, fifth-centuryItaly, in which such an identificationof
the beasts was clearlyalreadycommonplacein literature,boasting
no less a championthan St. Jerome'sown prefacePluresfuisse
to his translationof the Gospels, and in which the symbols of
the Evangelistsfigurein a numberof works of art Furthermore,
they are portrayedhere on the coverof a largebook which,held
by a bishop and decoratedby a cross, can only be idehtifiedas a
Gospelbook.
20. For ivories cf. the sixth-centuryworks reproducedby Volbach,
Elfenbeinarbeiten,nos. 142, 145, 150, 153, and 154. For mosaics,
cf. G. Matthiae,MosaiciMedioevalidelle Chiesedi Roma, Rome,
1967, pl. 131 and F.W. Deichmann,FruhchristlicheBauten und
Mosaiken von Ravenna, Baden-Baden,1958, pls. 151, 394 and
400.
21. For the currencyof this symbolismeven in Asia, cf. J. Przyluski,
"Le symbolisme du pilier de Sarnath,"Etudes d'Orientalisme
publiees par le Musee Guimeta la Memoirede RaymondeLinos-
sier, Paris, 1932, II, 481ff., and B. Rowland,"The Four Beasts:
Directional Symbolism in Ceylon," Art Quarterly 16 (1953),
llff.
22. Deichmann,FruhchristlicheBauten,pl. 19.
23. It may also be noteworthythat an initial in a sixth-centurynorth
Italian Orosiusmanuscript,Florence, BibliotecaMedicea-Lauren-
ziana, cod. Plut. LXXV, 1, fol. 102r, shows a smallwreathcon-
taining a Latin cross surroundednot by the four symbolsof the
Evangelistsbut by four books; cf. C. Nordenfalk,Die spatantiken
Zierbuchstaben,Die Bucherornamentik der Spatantike,II; Stock-
holm, 1970, 100 passimand pl. 64d.
24. Cf. E. Kitzinger,"A Pairof SilverBook Coversin the Sion Trea-
sure," Gatheringsfor Dorothy E. Miner, ed. U.E. McCracken,
L.M.C.Randalland R.H. Randall,Jr., Baltimore,1974, 3ff., with
the importantbibliographyon the subject.
25. Cf. Kitzinger,"Coffin-Reliquary, 219ff., passim.
26. Cf. J.H.G.Grattanand Ch. Singer,Anglo-SaxonMagicand Medi-
cine, London, 1952, 62-63. One may also note from this rich
collection an eleventh-centuryverse for spiritual protection
which invokes the cross and "Matthewas helmet, Marka byrnie
(a leather cuirass or lorica), Luke my sword, John my shield"
(ibid., 67ff).
27. A. Grabar,Martyrium,Paris,1946, II, 277ff.
28. J. Leroy, Les manuscritssyriaquesa peinturesconservesdans les
bibliotheques d'Europe et d'Orient, Institut Francais d'Arch-
eologie de Beyrouth, BibliothequeArcheologiqueet Historique,
LXXVII,Paris,1964, 113ff. To the examplesprovidedby Leroy
may be addeda twelfth-centurymanuscriptin the HarvardCollege
Library,MS. Syr. 4, which I have discussedalong with a more
 detailed analysisof apotropaiccross miniaturesin early medieval
manuscripts,in "Two Illuminated Syriac Manuscriptsin the
HarvardCollege Library,"to appear in Cahiersarcheologiques.
29. That is particularlytrue if one can associateinterlacewith knots,
whose extremely common magicaland especiallyapotropaicsig-
nificance (as well as practicaland mnemonicfunction) has been
discussed by C.L. Day, Quipusand Witches'sKnots, Lawrence,
Kansas,1967, 51ff. This study was cited along with other litera-
ture by E. Kitzinger,"TheThresholdof the Holy Shrine.Observa- 32. Cf. in support of this latter interpretation the inscription on the
tions on Floo.r Mosaics at Antioch and Bethlehem,"Kyriakon.
Festschrift Johannes Quasten, Berlin, 1970, 639ff., especially
p. 642 and note 21, with an assessmentof the relevanceof apo-
tropaic knots to some Early Christianmonuments.For evidence
of both the knowledgeof this variety of meaningin the Insular
world and of the close associationthere of knots with interlace
one can cite the eleventh-century Anglo-Saxon penitential
books which prescribepenancesfor the sin of makingknots and
interlaceas apotropaicamulets;cf. K.H.Clasen,"DieUberwindung
des Bosen," Neue BeitrageDeutscherForschung,ed. E. Figger: 34. Conall MacEochagain's translation of the Annals of Clonmac-
. .
284ff. and pl. VII, with a full discussion of this miniature along
with a fundamental treatment of the larger question.
31. Cf. F.J. Dolger, IX(S)YCI, Rome, 1910, 243ff., cited by Grabar,
Martyrium,II, 277ff., and the more recent article by Kitzinger,
"Threshold of the Holy Shrine." It is worth noting that the
Bethlehem floor mosaic combines interlaced knots with crossess
as does the Book of Durrow Four Evangelist Symbols miniature.
frontispiece miniature of the Rossano Gospels, which explicitly
refers to the bu,u¢ovia of the Evangelists, as discussed in the
fundamental article by P. Underwood, "The Fountain of Life in
Manuscripts of the Gospels," DumbartonOaksPapers5 (1950),
107ff.
33. Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS. 24.Q.23; cf. Luce, "Editor's
Introduction," EQCD,64. For the Cathach cf. also C. Nordenfalk,
"Before the Book of Durrow," Acta Archaeologica(1947), 141ff.

FestschriftW.Worringer; Konigsberg,1943, 13ff.
30. Heidelberg,Universitatsbibliothek, cod. SalemX. 12a, leaf inside
front cover.Cf. B. Bischoff, "Kreuzund Buchim Fruhmittelalter
und in den ersten Jahrhundertender spanischenReconquista,"
Bibliothecadocet. Festgabefur CarlWehmer,Amsterdam,1963,
19-34, reprintedin hisMittelalterlicheStudienII, Stuttgart,1967,
noise, completed in 1627, as noted by Luce, EQCD, 66. The
notion of concocting a curative from the mere physical contact
of a sacred image with water may be traced back in Christian
literature to the sixth century; cf. E. Kitzinger, "The Cult of
Images in the Age before Iconoclasm," DumbartonOaksPapers
8 (1954), 83ff., especially 107, note 89 and 147ff.

Photographcredits. FIG. 1 (TrinityCollegeLibrary);FIGS. 2-3 (cour-

tesy of UmbertoFasola, PontificiaCommissionedi ArcheologiaSacra);
FIG. 4 (HirmerFotoarchiv);FIG. 5 (courtesy Universitatsbibliothek
Heidelberg).

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