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Commentaries of Gregory of Nazianzus, Byzantine, 879-883AD
f.347v. (upper register) Story of Samson


A larger image of the Story of Samson, f.347v, 'Commentaries of Gregory of Nazianzus', Byzantine, BnF Grec 510

Titre : Grégoire de Nazianze, manuscrit dédié à l'empereur Basile Ier le Macédonien.
Date d'édition : 0879-0883
Type : manuscrit
Langue : Grec
Format : Parchemin. - 465 fol. - Onciale. - Peint. - 435 x 300 mm
Description : Grégoire de Nazianze, Homélies.
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Grec 510

Miniature au folio 347v représentant des scènes de la vie de Samson : cette miniature n’est probablement pas à sa place et a peut-être figuré avant le folio 319 comme illustration de l’éloge d’Athanase d’Alexandrie (Brubaker, p. 94-95). Registre supérieur : Samson tue les Philistins avec une mâchoire d’âne (Juges 15, 15-16 ; Samson tient la mâchoire pour boire l’eau qui en jaillit (Juges 15, 18-19). Cf. Brubaker, Vision and Meaning, pp. 179-184, 260-261, 349-352. 43 (ff. 355v-359v) In Aegyptiorum adventum (CPG 3010.34)
Miniature on folio 347v depicting scenes from Samson's life: this miniature is probably out of place and may have figured before folio 319 as an illustration of Athanasius' praise of Alexandria (Brubaker, p. 94-95). Upper register: Samson kills the Philistines with a jawbone (Judges 15, 15-16) Samson holds the jawbone to drink the water that springs from it (Judges 15, 18-19) see Brubaker, Vision and Meaning, pp. 179-184, 260-261, 349-352, 43. (355v-359v) In Aegyptiorum adventum (CPG 3010.34)

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Folio 347v contains five scenes from the life of Samson in the top and middle registers; Gideon praying joins the martyrdom of Isaiah in the bottom tier.¹⁵⁵ The Samson sequence begins with the slaying of the thousand Philistines (Judges 15:15-16): Samson (CΑΜΨΩΝ) - a nimbless, beardless youth with long dark hair - wears a short blue tunic enlivened with a gold band under a red sash, which flutters behind him as he raises high the jawbone in his left hand while grasping the hair of a fallen Philistine he is about to despatch. Another Philistine has already fallen in the foreground, and a group flees coward the right.¹⁵⁶ Although the fleeing Philistines overlap it a bit, a tail and rocky mountain visually contains the action to the left side of the register. On the other side of the mountain, Samson recurs, framed by a second outcrop on the far right. Here he stands calmly, drinking the water that God caused to flow from the jawbone as a sign of divine favour; in response, he raises his right hand toward heaven (Judges 15:18-19).The legend reads 'Samson drinks from the jawbone' (CΑΜΨΩΝ ΠΙΝΟΝ ΕΚ ΤΗC ΙΑΓΟΝΟC).
Source: p.179, Vision and Meaning in Ninth-Century Byzantium by Leslie Brubaker