Hence, e.g., in the Pergamenian letter, the white stone is not to be explained as an imitation of a precisely

similar white stone used in ordinary pagan life (as most recent commentators suppose); it is a free

employment of a common form in a new way to suit a Christian idea. The current forms are used in the

Apocalypse, not slavishly, but creatively and boldly; and they must not be interpreted pedantically. A new

spirit has been put into them by the writer.

Figure 2: The Parthian king welcomed by the genius of the capital. Parthian coins, A.D. 42-65

Thus to refer to the Parthian king of 6:2: the type of the archer-horseman was familiar to the thought of all in

the eastern Provinces; but if we look at the most typical representations, those which occur on coins, we

find the various elements separately, but not united. The regular reverse type on Parthian coins shows the

founder of the race, Arsaces, deified as Apollo, sitting on the holy omphalos, and holding the bow, the

symbol of authority based on military power (see Fig. 1). A rarer type, though common on coins of King

Vonones (83-100 AD) and of Artabanus III (42-65), shows the monarch on horseback welcomed by the

genius of the State: Fig. 2 gives the type of Artabanus: the king wears Oriental attire with characteristic full

trousers. The coins of Vonones have a type similar, but complicated by the addition of a third figure.

Figure 3: Parthian captives sitting under a Roman trophy. Coin of Trajan, A.D. 116

In Greek and Roman art the Parthian appears, not as victor, but as vanquished. The coins of Trajan show

two Parthian captives, a man and a woman, under a trophy of Roman victory. St. John describes the Parthian

king as seen by Roman apprehension, followed by Bloodshed, Scarcity and Death; but that point of view

was naturally alien to art, except the art practised in Parthia. The spirit of the artist, or of the seer of the

visions, gives form to the pictures, and they must be interpreted by the spirit.

As to the letters, we notice that there are two pairs of ideas mentioned in 1:20, "the seven stars are the

angels of the Seven Churches; and the seven lamps are Seven Churches." Of these, the second pair stand

on the earth; and in the first pair, since the stars belong to heaven, the angels also must belong to heaven.

There is the earthly pair, the Churches and the lamps that symbolise them; and there is the corresponding

heavenly pair, the angels and the stars which symbolise them.

A similar correspondence between a higher and a lower embodiment of Divine character may frequently be

observed in the current religious conceptions of that time. We find amid the religious monuments of Asia

Minor certain reliefs, which seem to represent the Divine nature on two planes, expressed by the device of

two zones in the art istic grouping. There is an upper zone showing the Divine nature on the higher, what

may be called the heavenly plane; and there is a lower zone, in which the God is represented as appearing,

under the form of his priest and representative, among the worshippers who come to him on earth, to whom

he reveals the right way of approaching him and serving him, and whom he benefits in return for their

service and offering duly completed. One of the best examples of this class of monuments, dated AD 100,

and belonging to the circuit of Philadelphia, is published here for the first time after a sketch made by Mrs.

Ramsay in 1884. The lower zone is a scene representing, according to a type frequent in late art, an ordinary

act of public worship. At the right hand side of an altar, which stands under the sacred tree, a priest is

performing on the altar the rite by means of which the worshippers are brought into communication with the

god. The priest turns towards the left to face the altar, and behind him are five figures in an attitude nearly

uniform (the position of the left hand alone varies slightly), who must represent the rest of the college of

priests attached to the sanctuary. Their names are given in the inscription which is engraved under the

relief. There was always a college of priests, often in considerable numbers, attached to the great

sanctuaries or hiera of Anatolia; those priests must be distinguished from the attendants, ministers, and

inferiors, of whom there were large numbers (in some cases several thousands).

Figure 4: The sacrifice on earth and in heaven: relief from Koloe in Lydia