{"collection":"earth","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/earth/ct/ct16.htm","path":"earth/ct/ct16.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/ct16.htm","text":"Cosmas Indicopleustes, Christian Topography (1897) pp. 389-392. Explanation of the plates\nPlate I.----The picture on the left represents the City of Adul\u00ea----that on the right an Ethiopian travelling from Adul\u00ea to Ax\u00f4m\u00ea. The lower picture on the left is the tablet with the Greek inscription copied by Cosmas. It is surmounted by the figure of Ptolemy Euerget\u00eas, standing in a warlike attitude. The throne represented on the right is ascribed to the same Ptolemy by Cosmas, but erroneously. It was placed at Adul\u00ea by an Axumite conqueror. The writing on the right of it is\nPlate 2.----The figure of the earth and the heaven, as Cosmas and the ancient Fathers conceived it. The cross-bar represents the firmament.\nPlate 3.----A picture of the waters above the firmament.\nPlate 4.----A representation of the conical mountain, and also of the sun and the moon under the firmament. The inscription along the pillars is: of\nPlate 5.----A tracing of the inhabited world (\u03b3\u03b7\u0303 \u03bf\u1f30\u03ba\u03bf\u03c5\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7).\nPlate 6.----A representation of the oblong rectangular figure of the earth which we inhabit, with its surrounding ocean, which is itself surrounded by the other earth which was the seat of Paradise and the abode of man before the Flood. The four gulfs which penetrate into our earth from the ocean, and the rivers which flow into it from Paradise, are also depicted. Above the ocean in the outer earth is this inscription\u00b7 \u03a6\u03b7\u0303 \u03c0\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5\u0303 \u1f60\u03ba\u03b5\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5\u0303 \u1f14\u03bd\u03b8\u03b1 \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5\u0303 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03ba\u03bb\u03c5\u03c3\u03bc\u03bf\u03c5\u0303 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03ce\u03ba\u03bf\u03c5\u03bd \u03bf\u1f31 \u1f04\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03c9\u03c0\u03bf\u03b9 , the earth beyond the ocean where men dwelt before the Flood. The lateral inscription is\u00b7 \u03a6\u03b7\u0303 \u03c0\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5\u0303 \u1f60\u03ba\u03b5\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5\u0303, the earth beyond the ocean. The inscription in the figure of the great gulf coming from the west isie., the Mediterranean. The gulf coming from the north Cosmas calls|390\nPlate 7.----A representation of the earth with the walls which come down to it from heaven. The four gulfs are shown, and the conical mountain in the north-west whence the earth slopes downward to the south.\nPlate 8.----A picture of the conical mountain with three circling lines to show the paths of the sun as he moves round it at different altitudes, thus making the nights shorter or longer. The words written here are \u03bc\u03b9\u03ba\u03c1\u1f70 \u03bd\u1f7a\u03be, \u03bc\u03ad\u03c3\u03b7 \u03bd\u1f7a\u03be, \u03bc\u03b5\u03b3\u03ac\u03bb\u03b7 \u03bd\u1f7a\u03be, short night, night of medium length, long night.\nPlate 9.----The figure of the world according to the Ptolemaic system. The twelve signs of the Zodiac are shown, and the names are given of the Roman and Egyptian months. The earth, in the form which Cosmas so much abhorred, is in the centre, encircled by the orbits in succession of the Moon, \u03a3\u03b5\u03bb\u03ae\u03bd\u03b7\u03c2? of Mercury, \u1f19\u03c1\u03bc\u03bf\u03c5\u0303? of Venus (u = v\nPlate 10.----Antipodes drawn to deride the idea of their possibility.\nPlate 11.----A delineation of the figure and dress of the pagan inhabitants of Attica, \u03bf\u1f31 \u1f14\u03be\u03c9\u03b8\u03b5\u03bd \u0315\u0391\u03c4\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03af, as seen in the time of Cosmas. These figures are meant for those of Hyperides and Menander, mentioned in p. 147.\nPlate 12.----A representation of the outward form of the Tabernacle, \u1f21 \u03a3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03ae. The words written outside indicate the directions\nPlate 14.----A delineation of the coverings of the Tabernacle|391\nPlate 15. ---- A picture of the table of the Tabernacle turned by the lathe, \u03c4\u03c1\u03ac\u03c0\u03b5\u03b6\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u03c5\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2, and another of the candlestick with its seven lamp-wicks, \u03bb\u03c5\u03c7\u03bd\u03af\u03b1 \u1f11\u03c0\u03c4\u03ac\u03bc\u03c5\u03c7\u03bf\u03c2? its shaft, \u03ba\u03b1\u03c5\u03bb\u03cc\u03c2? its ball\nPlate 1 6. ---- The Ark of the Testimony\nPlate 17. ---- A delineation of the Court of the Tabernacle\nPlate 18. ---- The upper figures represent the celestials; the middle, the terrestrials; and those below, the subterraneans or the buried. See pp. 300-303.\nPlate 19. ---- A delineation of the order in which the contents of the outer Tabernacle were arranged. On the left is the table (\u03c4\u03c1\u03ac\u03c0\u03b5\u03b6\u03b1) of shew-bread, with three loaves at each of its four corners, to represent the fruits of each of the four seasons (see p. 152); then follow the candlestick\nPlate 20. ---- Melchisedek arrayed in his royal robes. See p. 175.\nPlate 21. ---- A front and back view of Aaron wearing his priestly robes\nPlate 22. ---- A delineation of the circle of the twelve months and the fruits produced in each month. Outside the circle are written the names of the Egyptian months|392 word to be a mistake for\nThe remaining plates are pictures of the animals and plants which Cosmas has described in the earlier portion of the eleventh book.","title":"Christian Topography: Explanation of the plates","type":"page"}