Christian topography

Author

Unlike the Greek, almost all Russian lists of Christian topography are opened with a portrait of the author ^[3] . A miniature from a manuscript of the 15th century from the collection of Count A. S. Uvarov

Little is known about the author of the work, even his name, most likely, is not known. The author himself calls in the text of the manuscript just a Christian . Sources from the 11th century are considered the author of Topography Kozma Indikoplevsta ( dr. Greek Κοσμᾶς Ἰνδικοπλεύστης , Kozma, who sailed to India ). Only one of the three well-known manuscripts stored in the Florentine library of Laurenzian mentions the name of the author - Kozma, which is very common in Egypt . However, numerous researchers believe that this is most likely either a nickname or an invention of a copyist who linked the author’s name to the subject of his consideration ( dr. Greek κόσμος ). To other researchers, this point of view does not seem sufficiently substantiated, since in this case the author’s name would be, rather, Cosmicus ^[4] .

Despite the fact that the text contains explicit indications of the Egyptian or, more specifically, the Alexandrian origin of the author, this point is also in doubt. The religious views of Kozma and the methods of his exegetics are closer to the Antioch or East Syrian . This theory is confirmed by a brief mention in the Armenian geographical treatise of the 7th century, calling the author of the Christian topography of a certain Konstantin of Antioch. However, unlike Alexandria, Antioch is almost not mentioned in the book, and references to Syrian theology may be related to the author’s perception of the ideas of the Nestorian patriarch Mar Aba I ^[5] .

According to the opinion that became dominant after the works of de Monfocon and de Lacroz ^[6] , Kozma was a Nestorian . In support of this, the own words of Kozma are cited, calling himself a student of the famous followers of Nestorius - Mar Aba (who adopted the Greek name Patricius), Diodorus of Tarsia and Theodore of Mopsuestia and another Nestorian theologian Thomas of Edes ^[1] . Speaking about Christ and incarnation , Kozma uses Nestorian formulations. Indirect confirmation is also his approval of the spread of Christianity in the East and the non-attribution of Nestorianism to heresies . The Polish scholar believes that Kozma’s views are very far from the earlier Persian Nestorianism of and are slightly distinguishable from the Constantinople version of Orthodoxy ^[7] .

Time and Place of Creation

Preparing the first edition of Topography in 1706, de Monfocon believed that the work was written by Kozma in Egypt. A. Gallan (1646-1715), I. A. Fabrizius (1668-1736) adhered to the same point of view, and all the researchers followed them until the end of the 19th century, until proposed an alternative point of view in 1883 ^[8] . According to his theory, at the end of his life, Kozma settled in the Rafa monastery on the Sinai Peninsula , where he devoted himself to literary works, of which only the Christian topography has been preserved. The proof of this statement, according to Geltzer that “Kozma visited this area many times and fell in love” ^[9] , seemed sufficient to K. Krumbacher (1897) and J. Strzhigovsky (1899). The theory that Topography was created in Alexandria was first put forward by the author of the first English translation, J.W. McKrindl, without however providing any evidence. Nevertheless, this theory also has its supporters ^[8] .

The dating of the work between 547 and 549 is generally recognized. The reason for this is the indication from the Book of Topography II that the writing of the book took place about 25 years after the author witnessed the preparations of King Axum Elesboa for the campaign against himyarites , which took place, according to various sources, either in 522 or in 525. At the beginning of Book VI, Kozma mentions two eclipses identified with the events of February 6, 547 and August 17, 547. Thus, in general, the book was written in the middle of the VI century ^[10] .

Greek

Three Greek manuscripts containing relatively complete lists of "Christian topography" - the Vatican (Vat. Gr. 699, V ), Florentine ( Laurentian ) (Laur. Plut. IX. 28, L ) and Sinai (Sinai gr. 1186, S ), - are considered basic. A significant number of other manuscripts are also known, which are either copies of the main ones or containing minor fragments ^[11] .

The manuscript stored in the Vatican Apostolic Library is considered the oldest and best in quality. It includes only the first 10 (compared to 12 in L and S ) books of the work. As the table of contents, which also lists 10 books, was preserved in the manuscript, this manuscript was not complete. It does not contain the opening prayers and two prologues available in other manuscripts. There are other minor differences in the text of the manuscripts ^[12] .

The manuscript is beautifully illustrated , and it is traditionally believed that the miniatures are close copies of the antique original, made either personally by Kozma or under his leadership, since the themes and objects depicted could hardly be familiar to the monastery artist. Such, for example, the antelope standing between two banana trees depicted in the first illustration and two inscriptions in Adulis ( Ptolemy III Everget and ).

There are various points of view regarding manuscript dating. The earliest (VII – VIII century) was proposed by N. P. Kondakov ^[13] , F. V. Unger - X century. VN Lazarev , recognizing Kondakov’s argument as unconvincing, took the manuscript to the end of the 9th century, placing it on a par with Grigory Nazianzin’s list of “ Homilies ” (Paris. BNF. Gr. 510) and other manuscripts of the Macedonian dynasty stored in the Paris National Library ^{[14] [15]} . The style of images, of which there are 54, also corresponds to that adopted in the last two decades of the 9th century in the workshops of Constantinople . In 1974, put forward new arguments for the theory of the earlier origin of the manuscript, pointing out the close-to-square shape of the manuscript sheets, which is more typical of earlier periods, but these arguments are also not very convincing ^[16] .

The Florentine manuscript was laid by Monfocon as the basis for the first printed publication of “Christian Topography” in 1706. The first publisher dated the manuscript to the X century, now it is believed that the manuscript was created in the XI century. The manuscripts L and S are the same size and written by the .

This manuscript was also known to Bishop Porfiry , who visited the Sinai Monastery in the 1850s. A detailed description of the Sinai manuscript was left by N. P. Kondakov , who examined it during his expedition to the Sinai Peninsula in 1881 ^{[approx. 1]} .

Unlike other manuscripts, the miniaturist omitted the images of the Small Prophets , David with choirs, Daniel in the moat, the icon of Christ with John the Baptist, the Last Judgment and others, however, he developed and added scenes of scholastic content. A map of the route from Adulis to Axum , an image of the city of Raif in South Sinai was added to the description of Alexandria. At the end of the manuscript, numerous images of animals and cultivated plants were added ^[17] .

Slavic

A fundamental study of the Slavic manuscripts of “Christian Topography” was undertaken by E. K. Redin . Analyzing mainly from the position of iconographic traditions of ancient Russian art ^[18] , he divided all 29 lists known to him into 7 editions:

• Uvarovskaya , named according to the oldest list from the collection of Count A.S. Uvarov , precisely dated to 1495. This manuscript is the best in this edition, including 9 more lists. Noting not only the dependence on Byzantine samples of the 11th-12th centuries, but also the independence of the visual compositions, Redin was inclined to believe that in this case there was an independent processing, and not a copy of an unknown South Slavic sample.
• Synodal and Archival . Also dependent on Byzantine designs; occurrence dates back to the 17th century. Based on an analysis of the composition of the miniatures, Redin suggested that the editorial data was created in Novgorod . Redin assigned 7 lists to the Synodal edition, and Redin considered the list from the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs No. 159 “a masterpiece of ancient Russian art of the 16th century”.
• Complex , represented by a single list from the collection of Pogodin , is distinguished by the use of compositions of different editions.
• Independent , also represented by a single list from the collection of Pogodin (No. 1091, XVI century), which is outside the influence of well-known samples.
• Full or Widespread edition, characterized by some naturalism in the image of the landscape , explained, according to Redin, the influence of Western models, in particular .
• A brief one also bears traces of Western influence, but a shorter one.

Researchers noted the extraordinary popularity of "Christian topography" in Russia in the XVI-XVII centuries; V.V. Malinin pointed to the borrowing of some ideas from the monk Philotheus . Later, with translations of the more progressive cosmographies of Ortelius ( Theatrum Orbis Terrarum ) and Blau , the work of Kozma was still widespread ^[18] . Fragments included in other works also testify to the popularity of the work ^[2] .

Structure

The most comprehensive lists of Christian Topography include 12 books ^[19] :

1. Against those who want to be Christians, but believe and affirm, like the Gentiles , that the heavens are spherical .
2. Christian theories about the shape and arrangement of parts of the universe , proved on the basis of divine scriptures .
3. The fact that the Divine Scripture is reliable and trustworthy, that it describes things that are consistent with each other and in general, is equal in the Old and New Testaments , which indicates the usefulness of such a view of the shape of the Universe.
4. A brief repetition, with illustrations, about the shape of the universe according to the Divine scriptures, and a refutation of the sphere.
5. About where the description of the tabernacle is located, and the consent of the prophets and apostles in this matter.
6. About the size of the sun.
7. Dedicated to Anastasia and proving the indestructibility of heaven.
8. About the song of Hezekiah and the return of the Sun.
9. On the trajectory of celestial bodies.
10. Excerpts from the Church Fathers .
11. Drawings and descriptions of Indian animals and trees, as well as on the island of Taprobana .
12. Another book is that many old pagan authors confirm the antiquity of the divine writings compiled by Moses and the prophets, and that the Greeks learned to write later than anyone because of their incorrigible skepticism.

Cosmogonic ideas and geographic information

It is believed that in matters of cosmology Kozma adhered to the traditions of the Antioch school and developed the ideas of Severian Gabalsky ^[2] . Kozma depicts the Universe in the form of an oblong vaulted structure, standing on a flat surface and divided in half by the heavenly arch into two parts located one above the other. These parts correspond to two states of being: the state of mortality below, where people live, and the state of immortality and perfection above. The upper part will open only at the end of time. The world described in this way is similar to the tabernacle built in the wilderness by Moses and described in the biblical book of Exodus . The “sanctuary” of the tabernacle corresponded to the lower part, and the “ holy of holies ” corresponded to the upper part.

According to Kozma, the Earth is flat. The inhabited part of the land is located in the center of the Ocean , it, in turn, is surrounded by another land, in the eastern part of which Paradise is located. Four seas, which, according to the theory of Kozma, are bays of the Ocean, wedge into a land mass. The rivers starting in Paradise flow through the Ocean and reappear on the inhabited part of the land. The flat earth in this interpretation corresponds to the table of the loaves of offer in the tabernacle. Both of them, both the Table and the Earth, are twice as long as wide. Although basically the description of the shape of the Earth follows that given in the book of Exodus, there are some differences. So, the outermost golden crown surrounding the table is omitted, and the reasons for this deviation are difficult to explain. However, this deviation is not the only one. In another place, the Table appears as an allegory of the calendar year, and 12 leaves located on it, grouped in 3, symbolize the months and seasons. At the same time in Leo. 24: 5-6 leaves are arranged in two rows of 6 pieces. Similar ideas about the structure of the world are given by Ephraim the Syrian (d. 373) and Narsai (d. 502), which suggests the acquaintance of Kozma with the East Syrian sources. However, Sirin chose the square altar from the tabernacle as a model for the Earth. The concept of oikumen as a firmament surrounded by seas, and that the seas (including the Caspian ) are bays of the Ocean, was widespread among ancient Greek geographers . In general, the ideas presented by Kozma about the world correspond to modern knowledge. In particular, he correctly places the source of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia , and although he sometimes confuses Indus and the Ganges , ideas about the paradise sources of rivers ^{[approx. 2]} do not affect the accuracy of the information provided ^[20] . It is not entirely clear whether Kozma really visited India in the modern sense of the word. However, taking into account the fact that in his time the concept of “India” also included the Arabian Peninsula and Ethiopia , he deservedly wore his nickname ^[5] . Unlike many Christian authors, he does not have a clash of religious and scientific knowledge, instead they harmoniously merge. The idea of ​​Kozma about oikumen and the sources of paradise rivers do not turn the Far East into a fantastic country. Its text describes not only Sri Lanka and the Indian subcontinent, but also, very briefly, China ^[21] .

Even during his appearance, his cosmogonic ideas were obsolete and were the object of ridicule. In the 9th century, Patriarch Photius in his “ Library ” gave a very low rating for “Christian Topography,” noting the poor style and syntax errors ^[22] .

The existence of a “Christian topography” was not known in the West until the second half of the 17th century, when, during his trip to Italy, the French accountant Emeric Bigot discovered and copied part of the Florentine manuscript. Before the editio princeps , prepared by Bernard de Monfocon , came out in 1706, only a few small passages were published. So, for example, M. Theveno in the first volume of his collection of geographical memoirs “Relations de divers voyages curieux” in 1663 published a small passage devoted to the description of plants and animals ^[23] based on Bigot's notes ^[24] . After that, "Christian Topography" was regularly published in Greek, there are translations into English and French .

In the ancient Russian written tradition, there are over ninety lists (full text and excerpts) of “Topographies” dating from the 15th-19th centuries. Some of them are illuminated. The question of the time of translation of the work of Kozma Indikoplov to the Old Slavic language is currently open, but the fact that the work became known to the Old Slavic scribes in the early era of their development of Byzantine Christian writing was noted by many researchers. According to A. I. Sobolevsky , it was transferred to Russia in the pre-Mongol period ^[25] . The study of “Topography” among Russian scientists began by I. I. Sreznevsky in 1867 ^[18] , and the first fundamental study, which remained incomplete, was carried out by E. K. Redin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He allocated 7 main editions of the Slavic translation, and this division has survived to this day ^[26] .

• " About the whole creature "

• Cosmas Indicopleustes. The Christian Topography of Cosmas Indicopleustes / Ed. EO Winstedt. - Cambridge: Cambridge Univercity Press, 1909. - 408 p.
• Cosmas Indicopleustes. The Christian Topography of Cosmas, an Egyptian Monk / Translated from the Greek, and Edited with Notes and Introduction by JW McCrindle. - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010 .-- 392 p. - ISBN 978-1-108-01295-9 . ^{[approx. 3]}
• Cosmas Indicopleustes. Topographie chrétienne / introduction, texte critique, illustration, traduction et notes par Wanda Wolska-Conus. - Paris, 1968, 1970, 1973.
• Kozma Indikoplov. The book is narrated by Kozma Indikoplov / Ed. preparation. V.S. Golyshenko, V.F.Dubrovina. - M .: Indrik, 1997 .-- 824 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 5-85759-060-4 . ^{[approx. four]}

Comments

Footnotes

• Κοσμᾶς Ἰνδικοπλεύστης - Χριστιανικὴ Τοπογραφία (neopr.) . - The Greek text of "Christian Topography." Date of treatment July 7, 2013. Archived on August 20, 2013.