The Silos Beatus Codex

Commentary on the Apocalypse by Beatus of Liébana, Spain, 1090-1109AD
British Library Add. MS 11695.

Folio f222v. Siege of Jerusalem
Jerome, Commentary on Daniel


A larger image of Jerusalem, Silos Beatus Codex, Beatus of Liébana, Spain.


British Library Add. MS 11695
The manuscript was copied in 1090 and the illuminations completed in 1109 in the Spanish monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, near Burgos.

Siege of Jerusalem
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. (Dan. 1:1)
This miniature actually illustrates an earlier siege in which Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and, on the plain of Jericho, the escaping King Sedecias of Judah. At the bottom sits the enthroned Nebuchadnezzar, flanked by guards; he directs the blinding of Sedecias and the killing of his sons (4 Kings 25:1–7). At upper left, Jeremiah, seated outside the city, laments the fall of Jerusalem and defeat of the Israelites.

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The Silos Beatus Codex, Beatus of Liébana, Spain.