Illustrated Manuscripts of the Septuagint

Abstract The chapter provides a brief overview of illustrated Greek manuscripts of the Bible, starting from Late Antiquity until the end of the Byzantine Empire. It outlines different, often conflicting, hypotheses on the origins, development, and transmission of the illustrative cycles in Byzantine Bibles. The material is organized according to the diverse biblical textual units preserved in illustrated Byzantine manuscripts. The chapter traces connections between codices, and continuity in the use of pictorial vocabulary. At the same time, it flags diverse approaches to illustrating the biblical text, from literal illustrations through to highly symbolic visual exegesis.