page_title: Codex Gigas
section_title: Illustration of the Devil
hierarchical_section_title: Codex Gigas / Description / Illustration of the Devil
caption_attribution_description: English: This is an enhanced file of the P.S. Burton image - I have color balanced the image - enhanced colors - and enlarged to 1924x3012 - much care was taken to improve clarity. The intention was to create a version for improved visual study of the image and expand the ability to repurpose the image for other media.
context_page_description: The Codex Gigas is the largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript in the world, at a length of 92 cm. It is also known as the Devil's Bible because of a very unusual full-page portrait of the devil, and the legend surrounding its creation.
  It was created in the early 13th century in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia, which is a region in the modern-day Czech Republic. It contains the complete Vulgate Bible as well as other popular works, all written in Latin. Between the Old and New Testaments are a selection of other popular medieval reference works: Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews and De bello iudaico, Isidore of Seville's encyclopedia Etymologiae, the chronicle of Cosmas of Prague, and medical works: these are an early version of the Ars medicinae compilation of treatises, and two books by Constantine the African.
  Eventually finding its way to the imperial library of Rudolf II in Prague, the entire collection was taken as spoils of war by the Swedish in 1648 during the Thirty Years' War, and the manuscript is now preserved at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, where it is on display for the general public.
context_section_description: Folio 290 recto, otherwise empty, includes a picture of the devil, about 50 cm tall. Directly opposite the devil is a full page depiction of the kingdom of heaven, thus juxtaposing contrasting images of Good and Evil. The devil is shown frontally, crouching with arms uplifted in a dynamic posture. He is clothed in a white loincloth with small comma-shaped red dashes. These dashes have been interpreted as the tails of ermine furs, a common symbol of sovereignty. He has no tail, and his body, arms and legs are of normal human proportions. His hands and feet end with only four fingers and toes each, terminating in large claws. His huge horns are red as though dipped in blood.
  He has a large, dark green head, and his hair forms a skull cap of dense curls. His eyes are small, with red pupils, and his red-tipped ears are large. His open mouth reveals his small white teeth, and two long red tongues protrude from the corners of his mouth.
  This doubling of tongues evokes negative associations with serpents, which have forked tongues, a metaphoric reference to dishonest human beings. The expression 'forked tongues' is an ancient one and is found in the Bible (Nordenfalk 1975, n. 15).
  Several pages before this double spread are written in yellow characters on a blackened parchment and have a very gloomy character, somewhat different from the rest of the codex. The reason for the variation in coloring is that the pages of the codex are of vellum. Vellum, or scraped and dried animal hide, "tans" when exposed to ultraviolet light. Over centuries, the pages that were most frequently turned have developed this tell-tale darker color.
caption: Illustration of the devil, Folio 290 recto.
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