The Joshua Roll, an illuminated manuscript of…
949 CE
The Joshua Roll, an illuminated manuscript of highly unusual format, probably of the tenth century-Macedonian Renaissance, is believed to have been created by artists of the Imperial workshops in Constantinople; it is now in the Vatican Library.
The Roll is in the form of a continuous horizontal scroll or rotulus, common in Chinese art, but all but unique in surviving examples of medieval Christian art.
It is made of several joined pieces of sheep vellum, is thirty-one centimeters high and about ten meters long, and may be incomplete, as it starts with Chapter II and ends with Chapter X.
The Roll covers the early part of the Old Testament Book of Joshua using a reduced version of the Septuagint text; it includes Joshua's main military successes, ending with conquered kings paying him homage.
At roughly this time, the Empire is enjoying military success in its campaigns in the Holy Land.
It is originally painted in grisaille, by several artists, with partial coloring added later in a separate stage.
The lettering is in majuscule and minuscule forms.
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Southeast Europe
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