Image: Tetragrammaton-Trinity-diagram-12thC

Description: A diagram on the Tetragrammaton (divine four-letter name) YHWH (Hebrew יהוה) — or "IEVE" as it's transcribed into the Latin language here — as a foundation of the Christian Trinity. This is taken from a 12th-century manuscript of the ca. 1109 A.D. work Dialogi Contra Iudaeos ("Dialogues against the Jews") by Petrus Alphonsi / Petrus Alfonsi / Peter Alfonsi (a convert to Christianity from Judaism). The diagram shows the three persons of the Christian Trinity assigned to the three possible consecutive two-letter sequences of the Tetragrammaton YHWH / IEVE — namely IE, EV, and VE. These three sequences are in three circular nodes, connected to each other by three lines making a triangle. In the center, supported by fanciful animals, is a scroll with the complete Tetragrammaton. (The fanciful animals would not have been present in Petrus Alfonsi's original version of the diagram, but were probably a personal decorative addition by the scribe who copied out this particular manuscript of the Dialogues.) The current-day relevance of this diagram is mainly that it influenced the development of the later "Shield of the Trinity" or "Scutum Fidei" diagram, as well as influencing Joachim of Fiore's own different IEUE interlaced circles diagram (which in turn led to the use of the Borromean rings as a symbol of the Christian Trinity).[1]
Title: Tetragrammaton-Trinity-diagram-12thC
Credit: This is a cropped version of the image on page http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/manuscripts/medieval_manuscripts/medman/A/Web%20images/E4f153v.htm , which is a scan from folio 153v of Manuscript E.4 in the collection of the library of St John's College, Cambridge University, England. This manuscript is referred to as manuscript "J1" (among the many surviving manuscripts of the Dialogus adversus Judaeos) in the book "Petrus Alfonsi and his Medieval Readers" by John Victor Tolan (1993, ISBN 0813012384).
Author: Unknown (12th century scribe)
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No