The Propylaic Function of the Eusebian Canon Tables in Late Antiquity

Abstract

The canon tables devised by Eusebius at the end of the third century were a powerful concordance tool that changed how the Gospels could be read. Typically housed in elaborate decorative frames, the canon tables were also the first example of manuscript illumination proper to the Christian tradition itself. While long an object of scholarly interest, the question of why the canon tables were framed architectonically and what possible significance this had remains unexplored. Linking together the meaning of the tables for the Gospel text with the use of the aedicular form of the frames within a larger Judaeo- Christian tradition, this article argues that the intention behind the design was to stress how the canon tables served as a gateway into the Gospels that engaged the meaning of a Christian salvation made possible by the full witness of the Gospels themselves and served as a symbolic reference to the idea of passage through the physical church.