IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Cathay and the Way Thither : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
388 RECOLLECTIONS OF TRAVEL IN THE EAST,
The second son of Nimrod was Belus, and had his residence in Babel after him. . . Now Bagbel, as it is called in their language, is different from Babylon. For the latter •
means confusion, whilst bag with the letter g means a garden pi
or paradise. [Bagbel therefore means the Garden] of Bel, and it is called also Bagdag.1
He then relates how Belus originated idolatry, and finishes 0
with this singular passage : D
The Jews however, the Tartars, and the Saracens, con-
sider us to be the worst of idolaters, and this opinion is not
confined to Pagans only, but is held also. by some of the Christians. For although those Christians show devotion to pictures, they hold in abomination images, carved faces, and alarmingly life-like sculptures such as there are in our churches ;2 as for example on the sepulchre of St. Adalbert
at Prague.
Then follow chapters Concerning Nynus, and Concerning the Wife of Nynus.
Semiramis, the wife of Nynus, the glory of womankind, hearing that her husband was slain, and fearing to entrust the government to her son, who was yet a child, kept him closely concealed. Meanwhile she adopted a dress made after the Tartar fashion, with large folds in front to disguise her bust, long sleeves to hide her lady's hands, long skirts to cover her feet, breeches to maintain her disguise when she mounted on horseback, her head well covered up, and so
Lib. Secret. lid., etc., i, c. 6; Edrisi, i, 302; Pegolotti, cap. xv; Mandeville, p. 144.)
1 Marignolli gets into a muddle in trying to connect Babel and Baghdad, building on the Persian Bccgh, a garden.
2 " Abhominantur larvas facies, et horrendas sculpturas sicut sunt in ecclesiis." Not only the Oriental Christians, but even Jewish Doctors, distinguished between paintings and figures in relief, considering the former to be lawful (Ludolf., Comment., p. 372).
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