22 Revelations' Chapters

[Ross G Caldwell]

I'd like to return to the original question of this thread. Contrary to what several writers here seem to have assumed, when the Revelation of St. John was first written down (in Greek, not Hebrew), the book did not have any chapter or verse divisions. Nor did any other part of the Christian scriptures.

The gospels, the letters of Paul, and the others first appeared as separate hand-written scrolls, much like a Jewish Torah or Roman "book". The greek script ran continuously from first word to last word, without breaks or divisions. Examples of these early scriptures still exist. Centuries after first being written down, as the "canon" of Christian scripture was taking form, and the copying format changed to codices, the texts were internally organized. But it was a long time before Revelations emerged with 22 chapters as we now know it. Even today, this division is not universal. There are some "brands" of Christianity that set it up differently, and kept it that way.

You are of course correct. The modern chapter divisions of all of the books of the Bible is believed to be the work of Stephen Langdon in the 13th century :

"The modern division of the Bible into chapters is believed to have been the work of Stephen Langton, the famous Archbishop of Canterbury (1207-1228) during the reign of the English King John. This system of chapters is found in many Latin Bibles, but only a few of the most recent Greek manuscripts; it has no historical significance.

Our modern verses have even less importance; they were devised by Robert Estienne (Stephanus) for his edition of the Textus Receptus, and have survived in printed editions ever since. They do not, however, occur in the manuscripts."

http://www.skypoint.com/~waltzmn/Divisions.html

Before Langdon, Andreas of Caesarea in the sixth century divided the Apocalypse into 24 3-fold sections:

"In the Apocalypse, the leading system of divisions is that of Andreas of Cæsarea, who lived in the sixth century and wrote the commentary that is found in so many of the Apocalypse manuscripts. Andreas's divisions are highly artificial (and not very well preserved, as the variations in the Nestle margin will show). Andreas arbitrarily divided the book into 24 sections (logoi); this seems to have been inspired by the 24 elders of Rev. 4:4. Each section was subdivided into three kefalaia (these inspired, apparently, by body, soul, and spirit). Thus there are 72 divisions in all in the Apocalypse, which the Nestle text numbers continuously though they are properly divided into groups of three.

Since these divisions were not invented until the sixth century, it will be evident that none of our oldest manuscripts (P47, , A, C) contain them. Andreas summarized his sections, but since the number of divisions was arbitrarily set, it will be observed that these sections do not really accord with the logic of the book's arrangement."

op. cit.

If there is any connection between the 22 chapters now in Revelation and the 22 images of the Major Arcana of the tarot, it is a relatively recent one.

Yes, it must have been within the last 780 years, at least after Langdon ;-)

Ross

 

[NightWing]

Coincidental Majors

Ross: thank-you for the expansion on my point regarding the lack of ancient chapter divisions in the Christian scriptures.

Given the lack of mass printing and the general illiteracy of Europe in the 13th century, the "chapters" devised then were probably known to very few. Not more than some scores of latin scripture scholars at the University of Paris over 150+ years, I suspect.

Not until the Geneva Bible of 1560 were chapter and verse designations used and widely circulated, that were fairly standard, and remain so (more or less), at least for Protestants. In the Catholic world, which included tarot-rich Italy, France, the Spanish Empire, and other nations, there were variants of the scriptures. Not only was the accepted canon different(the Protestant Bible is shorter than the Catholic), but the content of some books varied, as did the translations from the ancient languages, and even the chapter/verse designations in some cases. Catholics were NOT encouraged to own or read a copy of the Bible, as were Protestants, even if they were able to handle latin. This only really began to change in the 20th century.

It would be most interesting if a link could be shown between the emergence of tarot in the 15th century and the then very narrow world of Biblical scholarship. Alas, I know of no such connection.

Most artists of the time only knew the biblical stories from hearing them read aloud to them in church. For example, I understand that Michaelangelo was essentially illiterate, and dictated his notes to a secretary (Doesn't sound that different from modern business practice!). He would have been unaware of anything other than the biblical "book" that the material came from. There were medieval and early renaissance book collections that were the pride of their wealthy owners...who often could not read them.

Thus I think it unlikely that a common tarot artist in Italy of the 14th or 15th century would have had any awareness of the chapter divisions within Revelations, let alone any inkling of their supposed significance.

Interesting possibilities then include the tarot Majors being designed by an Italian (Catholic) biblical scholar to be illustrated by a contracted painter, or the Majors being designed by a biblical scholar in Protestant northern Europe, but after the Reformation started rolling in 1519. Neither of these seems all that likely.

I tend to think that the evolution of the 22 Majors, the chapterisation of the Revelation of St. John, and the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet are coincidental, and largely accidents of history. All numbers are repeated in various places and over time; I was once 22 years of age, and owned exactly 22 books, both while living at #22 State Street. So what?

Both Alexander the Great and Jesus of Nazareth are said to have lived 33 years, and there are 33 letters in the Ukrainian alphabet. That alphabet is derived from the Greek one. Alexander spoke and spread the Greek language and the gospel accounts of Jesus were thence written in Greek. There must be a connection! No, there doesn't.

 

[venicebard]

If there is any connection between the 22 chapters now in Revelation and the 22 images of the Major Arcana of the tarot, it is a relatively recent one.

Of course! unless those who divided it were simply expressing what had been oral tradition prior to that time. In support of this possibility, it did seem to me there was some direct correlation with letters, but by bardic numeration (on which trumps are based) for the most part, rather than alef-bet order.

But where it crosses paths with tarot most closely is in having influenced the Vieville-type LeSoleil, methinks, which would indicate its designer thought there was a direct correlation.

 

[Ross G Caldwell]

Hi NightWing,

I tend to think that the evolution of the 22 Majors, the chapterisation of the Revelation of St. John, and the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet are coincidental, and largely accidents of history.

I agree. For the Tarot and 22 that is.

However, Langdon's chapter divisions did affect illustrations of the Apocalypse. A very famous one is Dutch manuscript 3 [manuscrit néerlandais 3] in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. There is an illustration for each chapter, plus a "preface" with life of St. John (you can see all the illustrations here)-
http://www.moleiro.com/facsimile/AF/en/Flemish_Apocalypse.html

Another description -

"To introduce the narrative pictures from the Apocalypse, we have chosen an illumination from the first illustrated Apocalypse produced in the Netherlands, a Flemish manuscript dating to about the year 1400. There are 23 full-page illustrations; one for each of the book's 22 chapters and another at the beginning presenting scenes from the life of St. John. Four distinct episodes are included in the illumination for Chapter 12. Reading from the right top to bottom, we see the Woman in childbed presenting her child to an angel, who will take it to the one enthroned in heaven. She is surrounded by rays as of the sun and at her feet are both the moon and the sun together. Just below this, an angel fits a wing to her shoulder. At the bottom left, she appears once more in a grove of trees. The dragon pursues her there, vomiting the water which the earth opens up to swallow, thus aiding the Woman. At the upper left, Michael wields his sword against the dragon. The Manuscript is one of the treasures of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris."
http://www.udayton.edu/mary/resources/apocalypse1.html

Illustrated Apocalypses were "popular" in the late 14th and early 15th centuries; the inventories of libraries of the Este, Visconti and René d'Anjou all have a few of them. These people were not illiterate, but they liked fine illumination as well. So the chapter divisions did influence art, and since the trumps are art and were created long after the chapter divisions of the apocalypse, the absence of such divisions in the early bible is not a sound counterargument.

But personally, I don't think the trumps - in number or subject - reflect a systematic illustration of the Apocalypse.

Ross

 

[Huck]

<quote>Originally Posted by NightWing
I tend to think that the evolution of the 22 Majors, the chapterisation of the Revelation of St. John, and the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet are coincidental, and largely accidents of history.</quote>

I agree not.

The Hebrew Alphabet is the oldest of the 3 objects. There are indices, that the number of letters was formed according to a mathematical structure, which had similar (logical) conditions as the results of throw with two dices.
This is obvious by the existence of the Sepher Yetzirah, which explains the number of letters just in this way.

http://trionfi.com/tarot/new-themes/sepher-yetzirah/

The chapterisation of the relevation was done, when the number of the
Hebrew letters had won strong influence. It's likely, that it got 22 chapters, cause there were 22 Hebrew letters. "Ideal numbers" chosen for chapterisation are a common feature in old literature generally ... there is more than one example of this interest. Of course this doesn't mean, that any chapterisation included such an idea - but in the special case of relevation it looks likely.

For the development and acceptance of the Tarot in the public(the "success" of just this Tarot-version) it was relevant, that Tarot had structure elements, which were already common by other popular games, which used dices (see above, Sepher Yetzirah).
Again: not really accidently.

... When sombody lives in a house with the number 22, and he lives all his life there, then it's naturally that he's once 22 years old.
... It looks a little unbelievable, that you only had 22 books.

 

[Rosanne]

The Hebrew Alphabet is the oldest of the 3 objects. There are indices, that the number of letters was formed according to a mathematical structure, which had similar (logical) conditions as the results of throw with two dices.
This is obvious by the existence of the Sepher Yetzirah, which explains the number of letters just in this way.

Hmmm, maybe we forget the daily life of the peoples of the ancient Middle East. The Sun appeared in Taurus at the beginning of Spring during the years 4000 BC -1800 BC. That was their New Year. That was the start of their year- that was their symbol Aleph the Ox and The Ox/Bull was the symbol of the Phoenician God Baal- their own Magician and they had an 'Abjad'- 22 Consonant sounds without vowels- the first sound started with the sign of Spring -their first day of the year; I guess how their year went was truely in some ways 'a fall of the dice' weatherwise. ~Rosanne

 

[Rosanne]

I forgot to add-what happened next. Moving counterclockwise of course through the year; rising on the horizon, on the right shoulder of Orion is the Arabic 'yad al Jawza' the fixed star Betelguese. The Phoenician words are 'Beyt el Jooze' the house of the Twins or Gemini (to us now) interesting- another fall of the dice in position number two. ~Rosanne

 

[Huck]

Hmmm, maybe we forget the daily life of the peoples of the ancient Middle East. The Sun appeared in Taurus at the beginning of Spring during the years 4000 BC -1800 BC. That was their New Year. That was the start of their year- that was their symbol Aleph the Ox and The Ox/Bull was the symbol of the Phoenician God Baal- their own Magician and they had an 'Abjad'- 22 Consonant sounds without vowels- the first sound started with the sign of Spring -their first day of the year; I guess how their year went was truely in some ways 'a fall of the dice' weatherwise. ~Rosanne

We had an international bull cult at that time. Northern Egyptia in the Delta region (Apis), Phoenicia and Creta. Even Persia found to a Mithras cult. Likely this was spread there, where it was possible, to have cows and bulls. In the upper Nile, you've no bull cult, cause it didn't work there. Likely it took place in the sign of taurus, cause these guys made the zodiac, so it's not really surprizing.
... however, although the Phoenecian took aleph, the bull letter, as first letter, ... this alone doesn't explain anything about the 22.

 

[Rosanne]

... however, although the Phoenecian took aleph, the bull letter, as first letter, ... this alone doesn't explain anything about the 22.

I absolutely agree with you Huck. I guess what I am saying is that maybe the 22 letters and numbers is more to do with rising stars and astrological signs for the seasons and important days of their Gods- than to do with mathmatical structures. My example would be He-(behold) Phoenician For Sirius is Hannabeah/Egyptian is Hesiri and sometimes Sati or Sed. Behold Sirius rising- The Nile rises (the Summer soltice) in July. So maybe letter 5 is Sirius. Maybe later the rebus was used by Mystics of Hebrew thought. I do not believe the 22 chapters of Revelations is in any way connected, other than by the coincidental use of the number 22.~Rosanne

 

[Huck]

I absolutely agree with you Huck. I guess what I am saying is that maybe the 22 letters and numbers is more to do with rising stars and astrological signs for the seasons and important days of their Gods- than to do with mathmatical structures. My example would be He-(behold) Phoenician For Sirius is Hannabeah/Egyptian is Hesiri and sometimes Sati or Sed. Behold Sirius rising- The Nile rises (the Summer soltice) in July. So maybe letter 5 is Sirius. Maybe later the rebus was used by Mystics of Hebrew thought. I do not believe the 22 chapters of Revelations is in any way connected, other than by the coincidental use of the number 22.~Rosanne

The Egyptian had an "ideal" "mythological" partition of their country - at least this is true around ca. 2400 BC and later. 42 regions, 20 for lower Egyptia, that's the delta of the Nile, and - 22 for the upper part, that's the region of the Nile before the delta. Although this number not in each political situation was the practical real number, they kept the system. Each of the region had a special sign, - a sort of Tarot card, if you want, or perhaps a better a sort of "heraldic design" or Totem animal - usually an animal (lower Egyptia had various bulls or cows, they dominate there for natural reasons) and each region had its own cultic system - mostly in connection to the sign.
When the people died, they met 42 underworld-gods, to which they had to explain: "I didn't do this and I didn't do that." 42 times, different this and that of course. So the 42 elements were used also as a moral law.
This structure was chosen according to an "ideal" system, it was not "accidently". The reason was, that 22 + 20 + 22 = 64. 64 was the ideal number, not 22, but the 22 was a sub-system of the 64. If you want to understand that, you can read:

http://trionfi.com/tarot/new-themes/sepher-yetzirah/

It was the same system - or at least similar- , what's behind the Sepher Yetzirah.

In the Egyptian interpretation

22 - was the upper nile (the river)
20 - was the lower nile (the delta)
(22) - missing, but likely meant the river in the sea.
---
64

They wrote the Osiris-Mythos. Osiris reigned 28 years. Then he was cut to pieces by his brother Seth. 14 pieces. 28 + 14 = 42.

Ideal-number-games.

The alphabet was made after ca. 2400 BC.

In it's 22-form it was made according to the already existent "old system" - which was farspread and well known. This had the effect, that the people could easily learn it - even stupid, not well leaned people. So it became a worldwide success-story - cause it was easy. In comparition to it the old hieroglyphic scripture had about 600 signs to learn. This was difficult - ergo people didn't learn it and the people stayed stupid and not educated.

Even when other people adapted the alphabet and changed it according to their specific language by adding letters (which made the original "22" lost) .. it simply was a very practical tool, which created "cultural advance".

A very similar progress to the revolutionary advances caused by book-printing in 15th century.

Phoenicia was more or less Egyptia. The hidden stream of the Nile went to Byblos, which was an Osiris-center. This was all part of the cult.

(Added later

The bull-cult with Baal and El had a response at Egyptian side: Isis was "mythological" beheaded and got the head of a cow as replacement. A female Minostauros, if one sees the parallel.

The Greek identified Isis with Io, who was transformed by jealous Hera in a cow and then wandered as this in wild journey from Greek to Egyptia, where she was honoured as goddess and gave birth to Apis, which became the bull god. "Real" Apis-cult in the delta region of Egyptia.

Athen represented a development against the bull-cult. Their gods were Athena and Hephaistos, gods of industrial products. Just a new form of society.