The Testing of Moses: A Comparative Study in Christian,

Muslim and Jewish Art*

JOSEPH GUTMANN

Otto Demus describes an unusual mosaic depic tion in the late thirteenth-century church of San Marco in Venice as follows: . . Pharaoh attended

by two guards and two councillors, turning toward the child Moses; in front of the latter kneel or

stoop two youths, one showing to Moses a lump of gold (or a precious stone), the other a burning coal: the child reaches for the latter, thereby prov ing his childish innocence . . ." (fig. 1). The in

scription in golden letters accompanying the scene reads: "Hie probavit Moyses scienciam

( = scientiam) vel puericiam ( = pueritiam)" ("Here Moses [is subjected to a test to determine whether his actions] demonstrated discernment or childishness"). Demus further states that "Al

though no representation of the Ordeal has come to light so far in Byzantine art, the way in which the scene is rendered in the cupola mosaic cer

tainly presupposes a Byzantine model, more spe cifically an Early Palaeologan miniature: the architectural background, grouping of figures, cos

tumes, and armor all quite clearly support this as

sumption."1 Demus' conjecture is most percep

tive, and a Byzantine model does indeed exist. In a Byzantine icon from the St. Catherine Monas

tery at Mount Sinai dating from the late twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth century we find the earliest depiction of this scene. In the upper painted band surrounding the icon we see Moses

being brought to Pharaoh by the princess (fig. 2) a scene also found in the eleventh- to thirteenth

century Octateuchs.2 Then we see Moses seated

on Pharaoh's lap and pulling his beard (fig. 3).3 The

accompanying depiction of this story cannot be made out as the icon is in a bad state of preser vation. Probably the next scene, fortunately pre served for us in an illustrated rhymed Greek par

aphrase of the biblical books of Genesis and Exodus by the fifteenth-century author Georgios Chumnos (London, The British Library, MS Add.

40724, fols. 99v and 100), reveals the test (or or

deal) of Moses found in the San Marco mosaic.4 We see the crowned Pharaoh seated upon his throne in his palace; the princess has handed the child Moses to him. While the Pharaoh is holding

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Fig. 1. The Ordeal of Moses. Venice, San Marco, atrium cupola

mosaic, late 13th c. After O. Demus, The Mosaics of San

Marco in Venice, fig. 314.

107

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Fig. 2. Moses Being Brought to Pharaoh by the Princess. Mount

Sinai, Saint Catherine Monastery, Byzantine icon, late 12th or , , , , . , , , , , ,

early 13th c. Photo: Reproduced by courtesy of the Mtchigan- The by

S^et(C;hed,out hlS hands' and lo! the

Princeton-Alexandria Expedition to Mount Sinai. monarch S beard he tore!

The king was seized with anger fierce, and bade his thralls remove

him, Moses pulls his beardjust as in the Byz- The infant Moses6 out of sight, lest he a

antine icon (fig. 4). In the next scene we observe danger prove,

Pharaoh pointing to a servant who is displaying And take from him the breath of life: "For

two pans. Moses, held now by the princess, wide Egypts realm

is about to touch the pan filled with live coals l^ from such conduct I presage) he s

jg 5) destined to o'erwhelm."

Demus, however, assumed that the San Marco ^ay sa*d b's daughter unto him, this

mosaic reflects an account of the story found in passion to display

Josephus' Antiquities which relates only that Against a child is all unjust, tis but an

Pharaoh placed his crown on Moses' head, but infant s way

Moses flung it to the groundan assumption that Eut tbat Thou mayest see by trial he knew

Weitzmann also makes for the Mount Sinai icon. not wbat he did,

Yet the crown is still on the head of the bearded ^ testing for his infant mind I thee to frame

Pharaoh in the San Marco mosaic and the Sinai would bid.

icon clearly reveals Moses seated on the crowned two twin bowls bright coins and fire I d

Pharaoh's lap and pulling his beard.5 The Greek have thee set to view:

text in the Georgios Chumnos manuscript re- h the child hankers for the coins then will

cords the event as follows: charge be true.

So forthwith Pharaoh gave command, and

She [the princess] carried him within the fire and coins they set, hall that he her lord might greet, Straightway the babe did lift the fire till it

fust as king Pharaoh sat him down at table and his lips met [as depicted in the

to take meat, Chumnos miniature]. Full kindly Pharaoh welcomed him and in The flames that flicker on his tongue his

his arms upbore; utterance impair;

108

Fig. 2. Moses Being Brought to Pharaoh by the Princess. Mount

Sinai, Saint Catherine Monastery, Byzantine icon, late 12th or

early 13th c. Photo: Reproduced by courtesy of the Michigan Princeton-Alexandria Expedition to Mount Sinai.

gutmann: The Testing of Moses

Fig. 3. Moses Pulls Pharaoh's Beard. Mount Sinai, Saint Cath

erine Monastery, Byzantine icon, late 12th or early 13th c. Photo: Reproduced by courtesy of the Michigan-Princeton- This tale is also featured in Islamic literature, Alexandria Expedition to Mount Sinai. such as Tabari's (838-923) Tnkh, the tenth

century Persian version of it by Bahami9 and the

eleventh-century Qisas al-Anbiya1 of Ishaq ibn

The bitterness of pain was such that he did Ibrahim ihn Mansur ihn Khalaf al-Nishpri. Nis tear his hair. hpr retells the story as follows:

So Pharaoh comfort had about the plucking ,,,,,,, r i i j Then he Pharoah took Moses in his arms and caressed

or iiis heard , , ,

' . . , , him, but Moses seized and pulled Pharaoh's beard with Moses had done it without spite and was not his hand and pharaoh said; This is my enemy and l

to be teared. wqj ^im before some calamity overtakes me at his

A i ^ . r j , l . hands." siya [Pharaoh's wife] responded: "I am sur A similar story is found in Armenian traditions. . . . , .. -

' , , . , prised that you attribute such discernment to a child. The child Moses, we are told, with Test him go that you may ascertam ^ [his actions|

his ten little fingers, took hold of Pharaoh's beard, at are not hat you imagine." Then she ordered that they

which the king became angry and commanded that the hli^ ,a baf[n u l f

fir,c and another fla11 f )ugubes

child should be put to death. But the wise men who and Placed both before him. Moses reached toward the

were there, would not let the king do evil to the child, but Gabriel appeared immediately and guided

saying that he did it in ignorance, unknowingly, "and if hls hand

tHwa,rd thf,fire- Moses took a live coal, placed

it please thee," they said, "we will try him." And they 11 m h's mouth and burned his tongue, so that a speech

brought before the child a charger with burning coals, impediment ensued, but Pharaoh excused him [his be

and a charger with gold red like fire, saying: "If he aviorj.

catches at the gold, it is evident that he took hold of the It is this latter textual version that is illustrated kings beard purposely, but if he catches at the fire. , . , ^ 7 iji- i -i. . ,/ajtv^ in a late sixteenth-century Nishapun Qisas al he did it innocently in his ignorance. And Moses . 7 . _ V */Tt stretched out his hand unto the fire, and a spark stuck manuscript

m the Qazvin style (Ham,

on the child's finger, and he cried out, and carried his Richmond, Surrey, Keir private collection, MS

finger quickly to his mouth, and held it to his tongue, fl- 104v). It clearly reveals the enthroned and

and his tongue was burned; wherefore Moses, the Sav- crowned Pharaoh with the child Moses seated in

ior of Israel, came to be of slow tongue and stammering his lap, pulling his beard. Asiya (Pharaoh's wife), in the house of Pharaoh.8 mentioned in the text, is not visible. However, the

109

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Fig. 3. Moses Pulls Pharaoh's Beard. Mount Sinai, Saint Cath

erine Monastery, Byzantine icon, late 12th or early 13th c. Photo: Reproduced by courtesy of the Michigan-Princeton Alexandria Expedition to Mount Sinai.

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Fig. 5. Moses' Ordeal. Georgios Chumnos Greek poem on

Genesis and Exodus. London, The British Library, MS Add.

40724, fol. 100. Byzantine, 16th c. Photo: Reproduced by per la mission of the British Library.

Fig. 4. Moses Pulls Pharaoh's Beard. Georgios Chumnos Greek

poem on Genesis and Exodus. London, The British Library, MS . , ,c , T , , .1C Add. 40724, fol. 99v. Byzantine, 16th c. Photo: Reproduced by

a'so Lorci Sh aib I = Jethro), Bll am

permission of the British Library. ( = Balaam) and Ayyub ( = Job).15

They were sitting [in the miniature they are

standing] before his throne with girded two filled basins are depicted just below the two loins, ready for service. . . . seated courtiers (fig. 6).12 Bilcam said to Pharaoh: "He should be

Another miniature of this theme is found in a killed. . . . late seventeenth-century manuscript of the Ayyb said nothing. . . .

Judeo-Persian Ms Nma (Moses' Book), an epic Shucaib said: . . .

poem written around 1327, during the Ilkhanid "Order that two large basins be brought period, by the Jewish poet Mauln Shhin (Jeru- before me so that I may demonstrate my salem, Israel Museum, MS no. 180/54, fol. 18). opinion" . . .

Again a crowned Pharaoh, seated on his throne, is On one [basin] they placed an ass-load of

having his beard pulled by the child Moses with a gold and on the other a store-room of fire flame-halo around his head. Moses is held in his [only the basin with fire is shown], . . .

lap and one of three standing figures, on the left, He [Moses] was seated quickly between the is bringing a basin with fire (fig. 7).13 two basins. . . . his hand reached playfully

The Shhin text reads: for the gold. . . . At that very moment Gabriel came from the

He [Moses] sat in the arms of that accursed [Divine] Presence infidel while Pharaoh kissed him many He tQok his hands by force [and moyed times.

them] towards the fire. His beard was studded with jewels . The hand bumt by thg fire is Uke glass and The Prophet was vexed by his beard he be pUt tbe woun(jecj finger in his mouth

suddenly seized Pharaoh s beard and From the finger his tongue was burned at tightly gripped the beard of that lost 16 infidel.

He caused him [Pharaoh] to jump until it Demus further assumed that "In spite of . . . dif

(the beard] was uprooted. ferences it is certain that the ultimate source of The head of that evil thinking one was the scene as represented in San Marco must

bleeding. be sought in the Jewish commentaries on the The color of that accursed one changed Bible."17 This assumption is not borne out by the When he felt [Moses'] firm blow he became evidence. No extant Jewish sources have the beard

afraid. pulling episode and no surviving Jewish source of In the presence of the blemished infidel were this legend antedates the tenth century. Such

110

Fig. 4. Moses Pulls Pharaoh's Beard. Georgios Chumnos Greek

poem on Genesis and Exodus. London, The British Library, MS

Add. 40724, fol. 99v. Byzantine, 16th c. Photo: Reproduced by

permission of the British Library.

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Fig. 5. Moses' Ordeal. Georgios Chumnos Greek poem on

Genesis and Exodus. London, The British Library, MS Add.

40724, fol. 100. Byzantine, 16th c. Photo: Reproduced by per mission of the British Library.

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Fig. 8. Moses Removes Pharaoh's Crown and His Ordeal. Hag gadah. Budapest, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, MS A 422, p. 9. Spain, late 14th c. Photo: Courtesy of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Moses' left hand (perhaps to guide it towards the live coals). An enthroned, crowned Pharaoh points with his left hand toward Moses, while gripping a sword with his right hand. The Egyp tian councillors are on the left. These episodes ap pear to follow such accounts as Exodus Rabbah. The three councillors are described in Exodus Rabbah 1:9, and 1:26 mentions Moses removing Pharaoh's crown in the presence of his daughter. The Egyptian magicians, according to this ac count, recommended death, but Jethro proposed the test of a live coal and a gold vessel.22

In two related Haggadah manuscripts from Southern Germany, dating from the second half of the fifteenth century, we have only Moses stand ing on a table while removing Pharaoh's crown. Moses, the king, the princess and Balaam are din ing at the table (fig. 9). The accompanying Hebrew inscription reads: "The boy Moses, before the (Egyptian] magicians and councillors, the crown from Pharaoh's head removes. Balaam, the sor cerer and the diviners said: 'The boy will put the kingdom on his head.'" These illustrations appear

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Hellenistic story; it should not be forgotten that ' kotc geanun&B lift Tsntor^Wo attar* (jib tin ift

the first witness for the story is Josephus who tilftn$cMnrfiatrfynaaf9>ton wuTnam

either knew an older form of the story or abbre viated it."25

Josephus' first-century a.D. version of the Moses legend is not illustrated in Christian art until the mid-twelfth century a.D.26 However, from the fourteenth century on, Christian art pro vides many illustrations which display fascinat

ing variations on the Josephus story. Most of these accounts are based on Petrus Comestor's twelfth

century Historia Scholastica (P.L. 198, cols.

1143D-1144B):27 One day [Princess] Terimith ( = Thermutis) brought [Moses] to Pharaoh for the king to adopt him. And the king was en chanted by the boy's beauty, so he took the crown from his head and set it on the child's head.28 And on the crown was fashioned the image of [the J

, Egyptian god] Amon.29 The boy, however, [grasped % tyicBErae tceg?paacaOnmrc (tnrfir the crown] and threw it on the ground and broke aqur ^irtiamtraSTqjuo tfh>

it. Then the priest of Heliopolis30 . . . wanted the 3r iqW'gm'Mfrnirjrtio child killed immediately, but with the king's in- * Ctbmmfc catgir tervention and a certain wise man's persuasion he was rescued, for they said that the child acted in '2 innocence.' And, in order to prove this, they of- pjg jq Moses Shatters Pharaoh's Crown and the Ordeal of fered the child live coals and he placed them in Fire. Speculum Humanae Salvationis. Kremsmnster, Bene

his mouth and burned his tongue. And thereby diktinerstiftsbibliothek, MS Cremifanensis 243, fol. 17. Ger

the Hebrews claim he had a speech impediment.32 many, c. 1330. Photo: Courtesy of the Benediktinerstiftsbib

Unlike the Jewish versions which stress Moses' iothek.

predestined leadership, the Christian sources in troduce a novel elementthe destruction of Pharaoh's crown because it had a pagan idol fash- fol. 17). The iconography depicted here becomes ioned on it. Moses in the role of an iconoclast be- standard for the many Speculum manuscripts of comes a Christian antitypehe is likened to Je- the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The min sus who condemns and destroys idolatry.33 iature (fig. 10) reveals Pharaoh enthroned, his

The Comestor story, as related in the Historia shattered crown lying in the foreground. Moses is Scholastica, becomes popular and exerts a pro- reaching for the hot coals in a container, which a found influence on the literature and art of four- courtier holds out to him. Another courtier is be teenth-fifteenth century Europe.34 Its influence hind Moses swinging his sword. The inscription can be seen in the many fourteenth-fifteenth cen- reads: "The child Moses breaks Pharaoh's crown tury miniatures of Moses' ordeal in the Specu- with [the image of the Egyptian god] Amon, [the lum Humanae Salvationis,35 in fifteenth-century idol] is his [Pharaoh's] god."39 Dutch illustrations of Jacob van Maerlant's The episode related by Comestor is most clearly Rijmbijbela thirteenth-century Dutch para- illustrated in the 1362 Planisio Bible from Naples, phrase of the Historia Scholastica36and in such Italy (Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica, MS lat. chronicles as those of Rudolf von Ems37 and Jan- 3550, fol. 32). Two scenes in the lower margin of sen Enikel.38 the page are devoted to the ordeal of Moses (fig.

A superb miniature of Moses' ordeal is illus- 11). On the left, we see Princess Thermutis, wear trated in a German copy of the Speculum Hu- ing her crown, and her entourage: she is holding manae Salvationis dating from the second quarter the child Moses in her arms as the enthroned of the fourteenth century (Kremsmnster, Bene- Pharaoh places the crown on Moses' head. Next

diktinerstiftsbibliothek, MS Cremifanensis 243, we see the crown, with its Amon idol clearly vis

113

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Fig. 10. Moses Shatters Pharaoh's Crown and the Ordeal of Fire. Speculum Humanae Salvationis. Kremsmnster, Bene

diktinerstiftsbibliothek, MS Cremifanensis 243, fol. 17. Ger

many, c. 1330. Photo: Courtesy of the Benediktinerstiftsbib liothek.

gutmann: The Testing of Moses

Fig. 11. Moses Shatters Pharaoh's Crown and the Ordeal of

Fire. Planisio Bible. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica, MS

lat. 3550, fol. 32. Naples, Italy, 1362. Photo: Courtesy of the

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

ible, falling to the ground, and the test of Moses. A bearded old sage is kneeling, as in the San Marco mosaic, and is holding a container of live

coals, as a haloed Moses brings the coal to his mouth. Behind Moses is a kneeling woman and the princess' entourage.40

The well-known Queen Mary's Psalter of the first quarter of the fourteenth century also fea tures this story (London, The British Library, MS

Royal 2 B. VII, fol. 23v). The enthroned king places the crown on Moses' head with his right hand (fig. 12). Moses is depicted casting the crown into the

fire, while the king points with his left hand to the scene on the far right. Here, Moses is taking the live coal from the bowl, held by a sage, and

bringing it to his mouth. The accompanying in

scription reads: "And Moses (sicbut it is Phar

aoh) puts his crown on Moses' head, and he takes it and throws it in the fire; and he [Pharaoh] com mands to put him to death. 'Ah, sire, sire, he would just as gladly eat a burning coal'."41

The story of Pharaoh's beard or crown and Moses' ordeal, first recorded in Josephus' Antiqui ties, has spawned many literary and artistic vari ations on the basic theme. In the literary realm, these are found from the ninth century on in Byz antine, Islamic, Armenian and medieval Jewish and Christian sources. The ultimate source of both Josephus' account and the later versions of it

may stem from a now lost Hellenistic Jewish lit

erary source. The story is illustrated in Byzantine,

SaagiiiSiSsmSw w -

Fig. 11. Moses Shatters Pharaoh's Crown and the Ordeal of

Fire. Planisio Bible. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica, MS

lat. 3550, fol. 32. Naples, Italy, 1362. Photo: Courtesy of the

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

mofifts mer sa aum mc (lir la rtfe oioffis-c tl (epicure jsnc >jf amuumttmetro amoa awliK autrcCuiolmmail maunguarvn|

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Fig. 12. Moses Shatters Pharaoh's Crown and the Ordeal of Fire. Queen Mary's Psalter. London, The British Library, MS

Royal 2 B. VII, fol. 23v. England, first quarter of the 14th c. Photo: Reproduced by permission of the British Library.

Islamic, Western Christian and Jewish art from the twelfth century on. Byzantine and Islamic il lustrations and texts favor the story of Moses pull ing Pharaoh's beard and thus being subjected to a test. Medieval Christian art generally prefers Pe ter Comestor's rendering of the story which has Moses breaking Pharaoh's crown because it was decorated with an idol. The ordeal of fire ensues.

Jewish sources and Jewish art prefer having Moses remove Pharaoh's crown and place it on his own head. The test of live coals and gold/precious stone follows.

Where the original stories arose and precisely when and where the different variations on the ba sic theme were invented and then disseminated, remains an open question. There are too many

gaps in the surviving literary traditions. Just as there is no simple answer for the literary sources, so no single model or archetype can be found for the many artistic renditions in Byzantine, Is

lamic, Jewish, and medieval Western Christian art.

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Fig. 12. Moses Shatters Pharaoh's Crown and the Ordeal of Fire. Queen Mary's Psalter. London, The British Library, MS

Royal 2 B. VII, fol. 23v. England, first quarter of the 14th c. Photo: Reproduced by permission of the British Library.

Notes

'I am indebted to my good friend, Prof. Stanley F.

Chyet, for reading this paper and making suggestions for its improvement.

1. O. Demus, The Mosaics of San Marco in Venice

(Chicago, 1984), vol. 1, pp. 90, 172-73; vol. 2, pis. 75, 314, 316.

2. Vatican City, Apostolic Library, cod. gr. 746, fol.

153; Istanbul, Topkapi Saray Library, cod. gr. 8, fol.

114

gutmann: The Testing of Moses

157v and Smyrna, Evangelical School, cod. A. I, fol. 64v

(destroyed). Cf. K. Weitzmann, "The Question of the

Influence of Jewish Pictorial Sources on Old Testament

Illustration," in J. Gutmann, ed., No Graven Images: Studies in Art and the Hebrew Bible (New York, 1971), 316.

3. Cf. K. Weitzmann, "The Study of Byzantine Book

Illumination: Past, Present and Future," in J. R. Martin,

ed., The Place of Book Illumination in Byzantine Art

(Princeton, 1975), 24-28. 4. Another Georgios Chumnos manuscript is in the

St. Catherine Monastery at Mount Sinai, cod. 1187, fols. 147v-148. It depicts only the child Moses being

brought to the crowned Pharaoh and pulling his beard.

I am deeply indebted to Prof. Kurt Weitzmann for send

ing me photos of the manuscript and of the Byzantine icon.

5. Demus, Mosaics of San Marco, 173, and J. Gut

mann, "Josephus' Jewish Antiquities in Twelfth Century Art: Renovatio or Creatio?" Zeitschrift fr

Kunstgeschichte 48 (1985), 434-35. Cf. G. L. Hamil ton, "La source d'un episode de Baudouin de Sebourc,"

Zeitschrift fr Romanische Philologie 36 (1912), 129 30. Cf. also H. Schwarzbaum, Biblical and Extra

Biblical Legends in Islamic Folk-Literature (Walldorf Hessen, 1982), 47-48, 144, and Hamilton, "La source,"

137, on the pulling of a man's beard as a gross insult.

6. The age of Moses in most accounts is three, but in

F. H. Marshall, ed., Old Testament Legends from a

Greek Poem on Genesis and Exodus by Georgios Chumnos (Cambridge, 1925), 104, Moses is four and in M. H. Zotenberg, trans., Chronique de Tabari (Paris,

1958), vol. 1, p. 300, he is five. Josephus is the earliest source that mentions that at age three Moses' under

standing, beauty and stature far surpassed that of other

children his age, Jewish Antiquities 2.9.6. 7. Marshall, Old Testament Legends, XX, XXV, 104

7.

8. P. J. Issaverdens, The Uncanonical Writings of the

Old Testament (Venice, 1901), 167-68. 9. Zotenberg, Chronique, vol. 1, pp. 300-301. Cf.

also M. Grnbaum, Neue Beitrge zur semitischen Sa

genkunde (Leiden, 1893), 156-60, and Hamilton, "La

source," 133-38 for other Islamic versions of this story. Cf. also The Tales of the Prophets of al-Kisd'i, trans.

W. M. Thackston, Jr., (Boston, 1978), 218. 10. Most Islamic versions have precious stones and

burning coal, cf. Hamilton, "La source," 136, 147-48,

151, for apples and dates.

11.1 am indebted to Prof. Vera Moreen for this trans

lation.

12. B. W. Robinson, ed., Islamic Painting and the Arts of the Book, The Keir Collection (London, 1976), 185-86. The Keir manuscript deserves careful scrutiny. Its extensive cycle of Old Testament images exceeds

that of some fifteen known illustrated Nshpr, Qisas al-Anbiy3 manuscripts, and, to the best of my knowl

edge, it is the only Nshpr manuscript that depicts

the ordeal of Moses. Cf. J. Gutmann, "Cain's Burial of

Abel: A Jewish Legendary Motif in Christian and Is

lamic Art," Eretz-Israel 16 (1982), p. 98, n. 24; R. Mil stein, "The Iconography of Moses in Islamic Art," Jew ish Ait 12/13 (1986/1987), 210. Milstein points out that Pharaoh, along with Satan (Eblis), symbolizes to Mus lims the accursed, evil infidelthe irredeemable un

believerwho is juxtaposed with such true believers as

Moses, 200-202. On the flame-halo around Moses'

head, cf. R. Milstein, "Light, Fire and the Sun in Is lamic Painting," Studies in Islamic History and Civi lization in Honour of Professor David Ayaion, ed. M. Sharon (Jerusalem, 1986), 536-40, and S. Behrsing, "Der Heiligenschein in Ostasien," Zeitschrift der

deutschen morgenlndischen Gesellschaft 103 (1953), 156-92.

13. V. Moreen, Miniature Paintings in Judaeo Persian Manuscripts (Cincinnati, 1985), 43-44. Cf. also J. Gutmann and V. Moreen, "The Combat between

Moses and Og in Muslim Miniatures," BAI 1 (1987), 117-18.

14. Cf. Hamilton, "La source," 137.

15. These three councillors of Pharaoh are men

tioned in the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhdrin 106a and Sotah lia. Cf. also Exodus Rabbah 1.9 and J. R. Baskin, Pharaoh's Counsellors Job, Jethro and Balaam in Rab

binic and Patristic Tradition (Chico, Calif., 1983), 127. Some Islamic sources name Jethro, Balaam and Lot

as the three councillors of Pharaoh, Hamilton, "La

source," 137.

16.1 am grateful to Prof. Vera Moreen for this trans

lation. Cf. A. Netzer, Poems of the Jews of Persia and Bokhara (Jerusalem, 1971), 23-25 (in Hebrew). The Shhn Moses epic of the 14th c. is influenced by Mus

lim and late Jewish versions of this story. 17. Demus, Mosaics of San Marco, 173.

18. To Hamilton's "La source," 130-33, citations, the bibliographical items in J. Gutmann, "The Hag gadic Motif in Jewish Iconography," Eretz-Israel 6

(1960), 18*-20*, and S. Brock, "Some Syriac Legends concerning Moses," Journal of Jewish Studies 33 (1982), 237-55, should be added.

19. Cf. L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews (Phila delphia, 1947), vol. 5, p. 402, n. 65, and A. Rosmarin, Moses im Lichte der Agada (New York, 1932), p. 55, n.

194. Cf. also J. H. Tigay, '"Heavy of Mouth' and 'Heavy of Tongue': On Moses' Speech Difficulty," BASOR 231

(1978), 57-67. 20. A. Scheiber, The Kaufmann Haggadah (Budapest,

1957), 22-23. The Hebrew inscription above the frame reads: "The king and his daughter were dining at a

table. Moses stretched forth his hand and took the

crown from Pharaoh's head and placed it on his own

head. The three councillors of PharaohJethro, Ba

laam and Job." 21. The Hebrew texts do not mention two vessels

filled with either gold or precious stones and live coals, as depicted in our miniature. A glowing coal and gold

115

gutmann: The Testing of Moses

or a precious stone is usually cited. Cf. Ginzberg and

Rosmarin, supra, n. 19.

22. A. Shinan, Midrash Shemot Rabbah, Chapters I XIV (Jerusalem, 1984), 82-84 (in Hebrew).

23. B. Narkiss and G. Sed-Rajna, Index of Jewish Art (Munich, 1978), II/2, card 44 ("Second Nuremberg Hag gadah" MS 24087, fol. 9v, of the Schocken Institute for

Jewish Studies of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in Jerusalem), and the "Yahuda Haggadah,"

ibid., II/3, card 47, MS 180/50, fol. 8v of the Israel Mu seum in Jerusalem. Cf. Gutmann, "Haggadic Motif," 18*19*.

24. A. Vasiliev, ed., Anecdota Graeco-Byzantina

(Moscow, 1893), 227-28; Hamilton, "La source," 139.

The test consisted of Moses being given a choice of a

golden crown or a naked sword; cf. Flusser," Palaea His

toricaAn Unknown Source of Biblical Legends,"

Scripta Hierosolymitana 22 (1971), 64-65. Brock, "Syr iac Legends," 251, and S. Lieberman, "Neglected

Sources," Tarbiz 42 (1972/1973), 48-50 (in Hebrew). 25. Flusser, "Palaea Historica," 67; J. Gutmann,

"The Illustrated Midrash in the Dura Synagogue Point

ings: A New Dimension for the Study of Judaism," Pro

ceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Re search 50 (1983), p. 95, n. 9; S. Rappaport, Agada und

Exegese bei Flavius Josephus (Vienna, 1930), p. 116, n.

137; Brock, "Syriac Legends," 237-55. 26. Gutmann, "Josephus' Jewish Antiquities," 434

47; Gutmann, "Haggadic Motif," 18 *-20*; Hamilton,

"La source," 156-57; G. N. Deutsch, "Legendes mid

rachiques dans la peinture de Nicholas Poussin," Jour

nal of Jewish Art 9 (1982), 47-50. 27. "Quem dum quadam die Terimith obtulisset

Pharaoni, ut et ipse eum adoptaret, admirans rex pueri

venustatem, coronam quam tunc forte gestabat, capiti

illius imposuit. Erat autem in ea Ammonis imago fa

brefacta. Puer autem coronam projecit in terram, et fre

git. Sacerdos autem Heliopoleos a latere regis surgens, exclamavit: 'Hic est puer, quem nobis occidendum

Deus monstravit, ut de caetero timor careamus,' et

voluit irruere in eum, sed auxilio regis liberatus est, et

peruasione cujusdam sapientis qui per ignorantiam hoc

factum esse a puero asseruit. In cujus rei argumentum cum prunas allatas puero obtulisset, puer eas ori suo

opposuit, et linguae suae summitatem igne corrupit.

Unde et Hebraei impeditioris linguae eum fuisse autu

mant." It is difficult to determine what earlier Chris

tian sources Comestor used. Cf. Hamilton, "La

source," 139-46; D. A. Wells, The Vorau Moses and

Balaam: A Study of their Relationship to Exegetical Tradition (Cambridge, 1970), 123-24; T. S. Lachs, "Notes and Observations: The Source of Hebrew Tra

ditions in the Historia Scholastica," Harvard Theolog ical Review 66 (1973), 385, correctly observes: "The thesis of direct influence by Jews on the writings of Pe

ter Comestor is untenable."

28. Most late medieval Christian sources follow the

Historia Scholastica, which in turn relies on Josephus. In these stories Pharaoh places the crown on Moses'

head. In the 13th-century [ansen Enikel version (P.

Strauch, Jansen Enikel's Werke [Hannover, 1900], X, 130-32) Moses has removed Pharaoh's crown and

placed it on his own head, as in the Jewish accounts.

29. Early 12th-century writings speak of a simula

crum ( = image) on the crown, cf. the Glossa Ordi

naria, P.L. 113, col. 189D; German poems call the im

age an apgot ( = Abgott, idol), J. Diemer, Deutsche

Gedichte des XI. und XII. Jahrhunderts (Vienna, 1849), 37. Later 13th-c. sources, such as the Ems chronicle, which are dependent on the Historia Scholastica, call

the god on the crown Hamon (G. Ehrismann, ed., Ru

dolf von Ems Weltchronik [Berlin, 1915), 122-23). He is also called Hamon in Middle English accounts (R. Morris, ed., The Story of Genesis and Exodus, An Early

English Song [New York, 1969], X), and in the Dutch Jacob van Maerlant's Riimbijbel (S. Hindman, "Fif teenth-Century Bible Illustration and the Historia

Scholastica," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld

Institutes 37 [1974], 131, 139, pi. 32-b, c). Aman and Jovis ( = Jupiter) also appear in German versions of this

story, cf. Hamilton, "La source," 139-41.

30. The Middle English version has the Bishop of He

liopolis demanding the death of Moses (Morris, Story

of Genesis and Exodus, X). Heliopolis is already men tioned in the 2d c. b.c. writings of the Hellenistic Jew ish historian Artapanus, cf. Brock, "Syriac Legends,"

238; Hamilton, "La source," 140; and D. Korol, Die

frhchristlichen Wandmalereien aus den Grabbauten

in Cimitile/Nola (Mnster, 1987), p. 106, n. 390. 31. The medieval sources differ as to who counseled

death and who advised testing Moses. Many sources

have a wise man or sages urging death (Enikel has Phar

aoh condemning Moses to death, as in the Palaea, Ar

menian and Islamic versions). In addition, many medieval accounts have wise men advising a test for

Moses (the Vor au Moses has Pharaoh, and Enikel has a

knight suggesting the ordeal of fire). 32. In the Palaea (Vasiliev, Anecdota, 247-48) Moses

is given a choice of gold or fire (there are two versions

of the story given in the Palaeain one, Moses pulls Pharaoh's beard; in the other, he tramples on Pharaoh's

crown). Also in the late Jewish sources Moses is given

a choice between gold/precious stone and a burning

coal. Cf. Hamilton, "La source," 138, and Flusser,

Palaea, 66. In Comestor's Historia Scholastica and

sources dependent on him, the story makes little sense,

as Moses is given no choice. He can only reach for the

burning coals set before him. The angel Gabriel, who

plays such a dominant role in Islamic and Jewish ac

counts, is not mentioned here. It is interesting to note

that in a German Picture Bible from the second half of

the 15th c., Stadtbibliothek Nrnberg, MS Cent. V, App. 34a, fols. 17v-18, Moses is shown shattering Phar

aoh's crown on fol. 18, and fol. 17v has the ordeal of

116

gutmann: The Testing of Moses

Moses (cf. T. Ehrenstein, Das Alte Testament im Bilde

[Vienna, 192.3], p. 316, fig. 9, and K. Schneider, Die Handschriften der Stadtbibliothek Nrnberg: Die deutschen mittelalterlichen Handschriften [Wiesba

den, 1965), vol. 1, p. 440). The German inscription above the frame of the illustration makes clear that the

artist is departing from the Historia Scholastica ac

count. Moses is here given a choice between money

(Pfenig) and live coals (cf. the similar choice between a golden dinar and a burning coal in Midrash Wa-Yosha, 41 [A. Jellinek, ed., Bet ha-Midrash, vol. 1 (Leipzig, 1853)] and "bright coins and fire" in the Georgios Chumnos manuscript [Marshall, Old Testament Leg

ends, 106]). The above inscription ends with an anti Semitic remark: "Jews still lisp today since they are de

scended from Moses' race." Cf. also the 15th-c. rhymed German Speculum Humanae Salvationis of Andreas

Kurzmann: "Jews still love to lisp since Moses they honor therewith," Hamilton, "La source," 145.

33. Cf. J. P. Berjeau, Speculum Humanae Salvationis

(London, 1861), p. 15, fig. 43. 34. The influence of Comestor's Historia Scholas

tica on the art of 14th- and 15th-c. Europe has still to

be researched. Cf. S. M. Arensberg, "The Padua Bible

and the Late Medieval Biblical Picture Book" (Ph.D. diss., Johns Hopkins University, 1986), 60-114, 271 73, 323-84; Gutmann, "Josephus' Antiquities," 439; D. C. Fowler, The Bible in Early English Literature

(Seattle, 1976), 129-30. 35. Cf. E. Breitenbach, Speculum Humanae Salva

tionis (Strassburg, 1930), 144-45; Hamilton, "La source," 156-57; A. Wilson and J. Lancaster Wilson, A

Medieval Mirror, Speculum Humanae Salvationis, 1324-1500 (Berkeley, 1984), p. 163, pl. II. Whether the Speculum Humanae Salvationis originated in late

13th- or early 14th-c. Italy is discussed in E. Silber, "The Reconstructed Speculum Humanae Salvationis:

The Italian Connection in the Early Fourteenth Cen

tury," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes

43(1980), 33, 47. 36. Cf. Hindman, "Fifteenth-Century Dutch Bible Il

lustration," pp. 139-40, pl. 32-b, C; S. Hindman, Text

and Image in Fifteenth-Century Illustrated Dutch

Bibles (Leiden, 1977), 57-58, 69. 37. Cf. C. Kratzert, Die illustrierten Handschriften

der Weltchronik des Rudolf von Ems (Berlin, 1974), 69. 38. Cf. Strauch, Jansen Enikel, IV, no. 1; VI, no. 2, and

X, nos. 82-83 (Regensburg, Frstlich Thum und Tax

is'sche Hofbibliothek, MS, fols. 39d and 40b from S. Germany, c. 1380, and Munich, Bayrische Staatsbib

liothek, MS Cgm. 11, fols. 35v-36, S. Germany c.

1340). Cf. also E. Petzet, Die deutschen Pergament

Handschriften Nr. 1-2000 der Staatsbibliothek in Mnchen (Munich, 1920), 21-22; V. Kessel, Die sd deutschen Weltchroniken der Mitte des 14. Jahrhun derts (Bamberg, 1984), 144, 156, 183, 220. The Jansen Enikel illustrations show the princess and Pharaoh din

ing at a table; Moses is standing on a chair and removes

Pharaoh's crown. Whether the Enikel chronicle was in

fluenced by Jewish sources in these details deserves

study. Again, whether the illustrations of this story in

the two South German Haggadah manuscripts from the

15th century were inspired by the 14th-century rendi

tion of similar scenes, such as those found in the Enikel

chronicle, deserves investigation. Cf. also an initial of

a folio in the English Bible of William of Hales, c. 1254 (The British Library, MS Royal I B. XII, fol. 20v), which shows a horned Moses removing Pharaoh's crown, R.

Mellinkoff, "More about Homed Moses," Jewish Art

12/13 (1986/1987), 195-96. 39. W. Neumller, Speculum Humanae Salvationis

(Graz, 1972), 28. The inscription is: "Puer Moyses con

fregit coronam pharaonis cum hamone, id est, deo suo."

40. Cf. L. Ktzsche-Breitenbruch, Die neue Kata

kombe an der Via Latina in Rom, Jahrbuch fr Antike

und Christentum, Ergnzungsband 4, (Mnster, 1976),

p. 37, n. 207, and Gutmann, "Josephus' Antiquities," 437-38.

41. G. Wamer, Queen Mary's Psalter (London, 1912),

pp. 18, 67, pl. 40. Moses casting the crown into the fire

is not mentioned in any source known to me. The

Anglo-Norman French inscription reads: "Coment

Moyses met sa coroune sur la teste Moyses, e il le prent e gette v fou; e il le comaunde mettre a mort, a syre, sire autresi uoluntiers il maungereit vn charboun ar

daunt." Although the inscription explaining the mini

ature appears to follow Comestor's version of the story, the text itself, on fol. 20v, mentions that Moses was

given a choice between a live coal and a gold coin (vn denar de oor), ibid., 18 and 67. Cf. supra, n. 32 and Gut

mann, "Haggadic Motif," 19*. L. F. Sandler, Gothic

Manuscripts 1285-1385 (Oxford, 1986), II, 64-66, as signs Queen Mary's Psalter to London and dates it between 1310-1320.

117

Article Contentsp. 107p. 108p. 109p. 110p. 111p. 112p. 113p. 114p. 115p. 116p. 117

Issue Table of ContentsBulletin of the Asia Institute, Vol. 2 (1988) pp. i-x, 1-164Front MatterNotes from the Editors [pp. vii-ix]China and the Altai [pp. 1-9]An Iranian Sarapis [pp. 11-17]"Parthian" Monuments in Transcaucasia and Central Asia [pp. 19-24]A Kushan Scabbard Slide from Afghanistan [pp. 25-30]Siva as Dispenser of Royal Glory on Kushan Coins [pp. 31-34]Sacral Kingship in Sasanian Iran [pp. 35-52]Ancient Coins as Evidence for the History of Art [pp. 53-65]The Putto and Garland in Asia [pp. 67-85]The Celestial Chariot East and West [pp. 87-105]The Testing of Moses: A Comparative Study in Christian, Muslim and Jewish Art [pp. 107-117]irz Fabrics in the Byzantine Collection, Dumbarton Oaks. Part One: irz from Egypt [pp. 119-139]Shorter NoticesRichard Barnett, C.B.E., D.Litt., FBA., FSA. An Appreciation [pp. 141-142]A Jain Socle from Afghanistan [pp. 142-144]Societas Iranologica Europaea: First European Conference of Iranian Studies [pp. 144-145]

ReviewsReview: untitled [pp. 147-147]Review: untitled [pp. 147-147]Review: untitled [pp. 147-148]Review: untitled [pp. 148-148]Review: untitled [pp. 148-149]Review: untitled [pp. 149-149]Review: untitled [pp. 149-150]Review: untitled [pp. 150-150]Review: untitled [pp. 150-151]Review: untitled [pp. 151-151]Review: untitled [pp. 151-152]Review: untitled [pp. 152-153]Review: untitled [pp. 153-153]Review: untitled [pp. 153-153]Review: untitled [pp. 153-154]Review: untitled [pp. 154-155]Review: untitled [pp. 155-156]Review: untitled [pp. 156-156]Review: untitled [pp. 156-157]Review: untitled [pp. 157-157]

Books Received [pp. 159-161]Back Matter