Miniature from Hortus Deliciarum

This religious allegory depicts God the Father standing in the upper corner holding a fishing rod. The line consists of eight circular medallions showing the ancestors of Christ, ending in a depiction of the Crucifixion which acts as the bait. The monstrous Leviathan, representing the devil or chaos, is shown below being caught by the hook of the cross.

The image visualizes the medieval theological metaphor of the 'Christus Hamus' (the Hook of Christ), where Christ's humanity is the bait that lures and captures the dragon of death. It originates from the 'Hortus Deliciarum', a massive 12th-century encyclopedia compiled by Herrad of Landsberg that synthesized biblical history with contemporary natural philosophy and cosmology.