THE CONSTELLATIONS OF CASSIOPEIA AND THE THRONE WERE DRAWN AS CHRIST SITTING ON HIS THRONE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
The Apocalypse says: “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven… and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian” (AP 4:1–3). The person sitting on the throne can be seen on almost every mediaeval star chart – in the Zodiaque expliqué ([544], Volume 1, page 81, ill. 36), for instance, or on the star charts of A. Dürer ([544], Volume 4, page 204), on the map of Al-Sufi ([544],Volume 4, page 250, ill. 49), and so forth. Figures 3.7 and 3.8 provide one such image.
All of these maps depict Cassiopeia enthroned. The enthroned figure can be seen on many star charts of the XVI century, usually in the centre of the Milky Way. The Apocalypse indicates that there is a rainbow that encircles the throne: “A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne” (AP 4:3). The rainbow is a sufficiently precise image for the luminous Milky Way that spans the night sky like an arch.
A straightforward comparison of the description of the “enthroned person” with a gemstone (we are told that it “had the appearance of jasper and carnelian”) strengthens the impression that the images of the Apocalypse are taken from the celestial sphere. Indeed, the comparison of stars with luminous gems is perfectly understandable and natural. The association of the constellation of Cassiopeia with Christ, which the Apocalypse actually refers to, was sometimes explicitly depicted on mediaeval maps. For example, the book of Radinus ([1361]) contains a picture of a throne with the crucified Cassiopeia upon it. The back of the throne serves as a cross, and the hands of the figure are pinioned to it. This is obviously a version of the Christian crucifix. (See fig. 3.9.) The figure of a king on a throne can also be seen on the Egyptian star charts ([1162] and [1077]). In figs. 3.10 and 3.11 one sees a number of Egyptian maps, which make it evident that the Egyptian astronomical symbolism is amazingly close to the European, which implies the two astronomical schools are related.
Therefore, the Apocalypses contains references to the constellation of Cassiopeia, which was actually perceived as the “stellar image” of Christ (the King) enthroned in the Middle Ages. 6. THE MILKY WAY According to the Book of Revelations,“a rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.”(AP 4:3) Emerald is a bluish-green gemstone. One sees a “rainbow” encircling the constellation of the Throne on every mediaeval and contemporary star chart. The constellation of the Throne, with “a person enthroned” is always surrounded by the luminous strip of the Milky Way ([1162], [1077] and [1361]).
TWENTY-FOUR SIDEREAL HOURS AND THE CONSTELLATION OF THE NORTHERN CROWN The Apocalypse says: “Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads” (AP 4:4). Any complete astronomy textbook points out that in the days of yore the sky was divided into twentyfour wing-shaped segments, that is, into twenty-four meridional sectors which converge at the poles of the celestial sphere. (See [542], page 44, or 544, Volume 1, page 7, ill. 6, for instance). These sectors are also called sidereal hours, or direct stellar ascension hours. The twenty-four hours define the celestial coordinate system, which can clearly be seen in the mediaeval image of the celestial globe in Zacharias Bornman’s book (fig. 3.12). Thus, each “elder”of the Apocalypse is apparently a star hour in the equatorial system of coordinates, which is the division standard for the celestial sphere in astronomy. The white clothing of the “elders” simply reflects the white colour of the stars in the sky. The golden crowns apparently refer to the constellation of the Northern Crown, situated close to the zenith, that is, exactly above the heads of all twenty-four “elders”, or hours, or sectors (fig. 3.13).
8. LEO, TAURUS, SAGITTARIUS, PEGASUS The Apocalypse says: “Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the centre, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in the back”(AP 4:6–7). This is a description of the celestial sphere which surrounds the constellation of the Throne and is strewn with stars (or “eyes”). The initially obscure reference to a place “around the throne” becomes intelligible: the actual constellation of the Throne is being referred to, as well as the smaller stars scattered all across the background. But what does “… were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes…” mean? This becomes clear from a casual glance at the star chart.Moreover, in the following passage of the Apocalypse it is clearly said that: “the first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle” (AP 4:7). Lion (Leo) is a zodiacal constellation visited by the sun before the beginning of autumn. (See, for example, the mediaeval maps by Dürer and Grienberger ([1162]). See also figs. 3.4, 3.3 and 3.14)
