Hortus Deliciarum facsimile Tab.03

This three-tiered print depicts medieval soldiers and biblical figures in detailed 12th-century chainmail armor and robes. The top register shows the giant Goliath alongside the three Magi pointing toward a star; the middle register portrays Joshua leading a cavalry charge; and the bottom register illustrates a fiery siege of a city and a soldier removing a fallen enemy's helmet. Descriptive Latin labels accompany the figures and locations, typical of Romanesque manuscript illumination.

The Hortus Deliciarum was a landmark medieval encyclopedia compiled by Abbess Herrad of Landsberg to synthesize sacred and profane knowledge. It represents the high medieval 'Speculum' tradition, which sought to mirror the entirety of divine creation and history, a precursor to the universalist and encyclopedic aims of Renaissance Neoplatonists and natural philosophers.