On Halos: Angel with a Millstone/Frisbie

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
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After a bit of research, I think I found the same “Angel with Millstone” that Cecil mentions in his answer to the question, “Why do Saints have halos?” (13-April-1984).

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_040.html

It is from the Bomberg Apocalypse:

http://www.apocalyptic-theories.com/gallery/millstone/bamberg.html

It illustrates the scriptural passage:

“And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, 'Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all” (Revelation 18:21).

The millstone, by the way, looks a heck of a lot more like a real millstone (or a Frisbie) than the other medieval illustration of the “Angel casting a millstone into the sea” I found. The other millstone looks more like a round loaf of bread or possibly a cushion.

The monk who drew that one had probably never seen a millstone, since he didn’t have any problem drawing a circular halo. Then again, he lavished such care on drawing his angel and Saint John (the man taking notes across the sea), that maybe he simply didn’t have time to do a proper millstone.

http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/objects/o3396.html

I have seen a couple of millstones in my time. In fact I worked in a (restored) grist-mill one summer (1979). Actually, Charlie ran the grist-mill. He was a farm boy with the mechanical skills the rest of us lacked. Miraculously, he kept his $100 (Canadian) car running almost all of the time.

We had a buckwheat pancake picnic for our families with the grain we (Charlie) ground.

It was one of those Government-funded “make-work-for-students” dealies.

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Interestingly enough (note use of code words for “probably not interesting”), there was an article in Biblical Archaeology Review a few months ago about millstones in Biblical times – Old Testament times in particular, I believe.

Actually, the article was about a particular story wherein a woman carried a millstone to the top of the wall of a besieged city and threw it down on the opposing general, resulting indirectly in his death.*

Many people had scoffed at the tale, saying a woman couldn’t possibly carry a heavy millstone up and then certainly could not throw it. The upshot of the article is that there were millstones and then there were millstones; many of them were actually more like what we would term a pestle. Thus, even a small woman would have no trouble throwing one.
OK, so it wasn’t all that interesting. It does, at least, give me a reason to use this smiley. ==> ;j

That felt good.

RR

*I think he was mortally wounded, so he had one of his soldiers kill him rather than have it know he was killed by a woman.