Leaf from The Tenth German Bible

Printer Reinhard (Hans) Grueninger (German, active 1480s)

Place of OriginGermany (Strassburg)

Date1485

DimensionsOverall: 7 3/4 x 11 3/8 in. (19.7 x 28.9 cm)

MediumHand colored woodcut

ClassificationBooks

Object number

1929.169

Not on View

Label TextMost Bibles were in Latin, but there was increasing demand by the German reading public to have Bibles in their own language. With illustrations, these Bibles became elucidating story books. This text, from the First Book of the Maccabees (Chapter 6) in The Apocrypha, is about King Antiochus, who was hoping to conquer Elymais, a town in Persia, which was renowned for the gold and silver treasury left there by Alexander the Great. His attempts faiiled, and when he heard of further defeats to his other troops fighting elsewhere, he took to his bed with a sickness caused by extreme distress and grief. The illustration shows a group of knights in armor, with King Antiochus in golden armor, near an elephant carrying several warriors. The roofs of the town are in the distance. The scene depicted is of the turning point in th story when King Antiochus hears the bad news of his military losses.