This book is about major early Byzantine works of art such as the ivory Cathedra of Ravenna, the Purple Codex of Rossano, and the Cypriot silver plates of the life of David held in Nicosia and New York.
The leaps in pictorial organization, inconsistencies in pictorial composition, and breaks in pictorial narrative that have long puzzled scholars are explained here in novel terms as the intentional narrative form of a hidden allegory. This deeper reading of biblical events works with duplications, juxtapositions, and contrasts which, in the biblical action, describe the underlying work of God in creation and history. The images in question do not illustrate the biblical text but interpret it allegorically, remaining close to the text both pictorially and exegetically. They challenge the mind of the most attentive observer.