Babylonian Captivity The phrase adopted to describe
the period 1305–78 when the papal seat was at Avignon
instead of Rome. The allusion is to the biblical captivity of
the Jews in Babylon that lasted for 70 years. The Babylon-
ian Captivity followed the bankruptcy of the papacy and
comprised seven pontificates before the return to Rome
and the ensuing Great Schism.
See also: AVIGNON, PAPACY AT

Bacchus The Roman god of wine, identified with the
Greek god Dionysus, many of whose attributes he
adopted. In classical mythology Dionysus was the son of
Zeus (Roman Jupiter) and Semele, who was brought up by
nymphs after his mother was destroyed by his father’s
thunderbolts. As the god associated with the intoxicating
power of wine, he is accompanied by a train of creatures
under its influence: the ecstatic women known as baccha-
ntes or maenads, sileni, satyrs, and centaurs. The god
himself often rides upon a panther or leopard. It is a train
like this that comes upon Ariadne (whom, the legend
says, Theseus abandoned on the island of Naxos) in the
painting by TITIAN(National Gallery, London), and other
artists too were drawn to the pictorial qualities of the Bac-
chic entourage. The love of Bacchus and the mortal Ari-
adne, too, was susceptible to allegorical interpretation as
the union of the soul with the divine being.
MICHELANGELO’s statue of the drunken Bacchus with
vine leaves in his hair and accompanied by a young satyr
(Bargello, Florence) epitomizes the Renaissance impulse
to imitate pagan antiquity—in this case so successfully
that many contemporaries looked on it as a genuine clas-
sical piece, as Francisco da Hollanda records in his treatise
on painting.

Bachelier, Nicolas (c. 1500–1556) French architect and

sculptor

Bachelier was a native of Toulouse, the scene of his prin-

cipal works. He was primarily influenced by SERLIO.

Among the buildings ascribed to Bachelier is the elegant

Hôtel d’Assézat (1555) in Toulouse, to which he also con-

tributed the sculptural embellishments.

backstaffs Navigational instruments, also known as

Davis’s quadrants, for measuring the altitude of a celestial

body. The ancestor of the backstaff, the cross-staff or

Jacob’s staff, was reputedly invented by a Jew from the

Languedoc, Levi ben Gerson (1288–1324). It consisted of

no more than a graduated staff and movable cross-piece(s)

or transom(s). If the staff was pointed towards a celestial

object and the transom suitably adjusted, the object’s alti-

tude above the horizon could be read off the staff. The in-

strument was used by surveyors and navigators, but it

suffered from the disadvantage that the operator had to

face the sun’s glare whenever a measurement of solar alti-

tude was required. The obvious solution was introduced

by the English seaman John DAVISin his Seamans Secrets

(1594). His backstaff allowed the observer to stand with

his back towards the sun and gain his reading by noting

the position of the sun’s shadow. The backstaff was the lin-

eal ancestor of the sextant, which appeared in the late

18th century. It was also yet one more discovery described

in the unpublished manuscripts of Thomas HARRIOT.

Bacon, Francis, 1st Baron Verulam, Viscount St.

Albans (1561–1626) English philosopher, lawyer, and

politician

Bacon was born in London, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon

B

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