Joshua Roll

The Joshua Roll is a scroll from Constantinople Opel, believed to have originated in the 10th century under the reign of Emperor Constantine VII. It represents in a horizontal, ten -meter-long frieze-like painting cycle in grisaille painting 27 scenes from the book of Joshua is, along with brief accompanying texts from this book. The presentation focuses on Joshua as a military leader, beginning with Chapter 2 of this Old Testament text.

The manuscript is now in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana with the signature Codex Vaticanus Palatinus Graecus 431 ( Cod Vat Palat. 431 gr ).

The Grisaillien the Joshua role created by several hands in several phases. The unnamed artists will be assigned to the Imperial Byzantine court school. In a final phase, the Grisallien contained on 15 parchment leaves glued together and created in the prevailing Greco-Roman style of painting were partially colored. The form of the work, a throwback to the ancient form of the book in the form of the scroll is very unusual for Byzantine art.