medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
It might be noted that the number of the beasts (4) was also seen to be
significant for Jewish, early Christian and medieval interpreters. Modern
pop commentators have also attempted to link the four beasts and their
medieval association with the four evangelists with various astrological
equivalents: Lion (Leo), Eagle (supposedly an alternate for Scopio),
Aquarius (Man) and Ox (Taurus). eg Warren Kenton, Astrology: The Celestial
Mirror, plate 18.
This is not completely ridiculous given the joint histories of Jewish
eschatology and astrology, but seems unlikely on numerological grounds.
There is a splendid account of the various sources for interpretation and
creation of the numbers, symbols, emblems and elements of Revelation by
Adela Yarbro Collins, Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian
Apocalypticism (Leiden, Brill, 2000). Collins stresses the density,
complexity and variety of interpretation open to writers and readers of
apocalyptic - which exists in Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, Greek, Latin and
Persian literatures.
On the number four, Collins (76-78) notes that it was often assocatied with
four kingdoms or ages, as borrowed from Daniel 2 where the image includes
reference to four metallic ages: gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay. She
also notes that the four kingdoms "are always actual, historical regimes,"
though not always the same ones and these are often represented by beasts,
as in Rev. 4:7 with the eagle for Rome, the lion for Israel, etc. The number
four recalled the four winds, the four corners of the earth - and had a
cosmic resonance. Collins gives references to the four kingdom schema in
Roman chronicles, Sibylline oracles, Persian texts and related images in the
Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch), 4 Ezra, 2 Abaruch, Daniel 7 and the Apocalypse
of Abraham.
So the worship of the beasts before the lamb invoked the adoration of the
kingdoms of the earth before the paschal sacrifice - though later medieval
commentators seem to have drifted a long way from this meaning.
Hilary Carey
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