Miloš Živković
University of Belgrade

Between Russian and Western-European Models: the Serbian Manuscript of Christian Topography of Cosmas Indicopleustes Reconsidered

The manuscript of the Christian Topography of Cosmas Indikopleustes from the Serbian Saint Trinity monastery (near Pljevlja, Montenegro), as it results from earlier fundamental researches, was copied from some Russian contemporary illustrated manuscript. However, its stylistic features were not adequately treated in previous historiography. This particular question is the main subject of our work. On the basis of comparison with a Russian manuscript of Christian Topography of Cosmas Indikopleustes (Moscow Theological Academy. N 75) we assume, instead of analogies that had been already suggested, that some very similar work was used as a kind of template for the Serbian manuscript. We shall also focus our attention on the more detailed analysis of a specific zodiac miniature in the Serbian manuscript, that is, an image of the so-called Homo signorum. The question of its origins will be treated with much attention.