Epigrams on Works of Art 191The Bible of Leo Sakkelarios
In the 940s a senior official in the imperial administration, Leo Sakellarios,
donated a two-volume illuminated manuscript of the Bible to a monastery of
St. Nicholas which had been founded by his brother Constantine^95. The second
volume is no longer extant. The first volume contains Genesis through Psalms
(plus the biblical Odes) and is adorned with several full-page miniatures.
Epigrams are written on the frames of these miniatures. On fol. 1 v there is an
interesting editorial note about the purpose of these epigrams: “Please note
that in each history, that is, on the historiated images of each history in the two
volumes, metric iambic verses run around on the four sides of the frame
explaining the meaning of the historiated scenes clearly and concisely”^96. The
text is difficult to translate because the scholiast plays with the ambiguous
meaning of the words Wstor5a and Wstor0. The books of the Old and the New
Testaments form “histories” inasmuch as they recount the story of God’s
providence from the beginning of time to the establishment of early Christian-
ity. The miniatures that serve as frontispiece to these books, form “histories”
as well – “historiated images” encapsulating in well-chosen, significant
vignettes the story of divine providence.
It is worth noticing that the first epigram, on the book of Genesis, focuses
on the concept of time. There God is said to have made heaven and earth
“timelessly” (äcrönzß), but to have created man “within time” (Üpñ crönon)^97.
Thus time starts with the creation of man, and all that follows afterwards in
the Bible bears proof of God’s unrelenting efforts to save mankind. In the
second epigram, a book epigram on the whole Leo Bible, the poet makes much
of the significance of the Incarnation for the salvation of mankind. The entire
Bible, he writes, tells us the story of the Logos who is both God and Man and
who “arranges all things for man’s salvation as He alone knows”^98. Look at the
Old Testament, he says: the stories in it form prefigurations (™n t7pù) of what
was only to become apparent after the Incarnation, and show how God was
(^95) For the identification of the donor and the date of the manuscript, see MANGO 1969. For
a thorough description of the manuscript and its miniatures, see: Die Bibel des Patricius
Leo. Codex Reginensis Graecus I B. Einführung von S. DUFRENNE & P. CANART. Zurich
1988.
(^96) De¦ eœd6nai Ýti kaò kaq\ Šk1sthn Wstor5an Ègoyn eœß t2ß eœkönaß t2ß Wstorhqe5saß ™n to¦ß dysò
b5bloiß ™n Šk1stø Wstor5ô st5coi Çmmetroi œambikoò per5eisin ™n ta¦ß t6ssarsi gzn5aiß t0n
perióer5zn (sic), t0n Wstorhq6ntzn no ̄n ™n ™pitom! saó6stata dhlo ̄nteß (MATHEWS 1977:
99).
(^97) MATHEWS 1977: 124. Read in v. 3 to ̄ton (not pönton) referring back to tñn co ̄n in v. 1
(=Adam).
(^98) MATHEWS 1977: 124, vv. 12–13. Read in v. 12 loipön (not le5pzn). Also edited by PITRA
1864–68: I, 659. See also OLSTER 1994: 437–438.