49. Gr. Xitw_n kosu&mbrwtoj, kai\ e0pwmi\j, kai\ podh~rej (should be podh&rhj, xitw&n being understood), kai\ ki/darij, kai\ zw&nh, kai\ mi/tra, kai\ pe/talon . The word e0pwmi/j , as used by Greek writers, denotes the point of the shoulder where it joins the collar-bone, and also the part of the women's tunic which was fastened on the shoulder by brooches. The ephod, or vestment worn by the Jewish high priest over the blue tunic, consisted of two shoulder-pieces, one covering the back, the other the breast, and was therefore not unlike the Greek epomis.
50. Gr. smara&gdou . The stones, however, were onyx-stones. See Exod., xxviii, 9.
51. Gr. to_ logei=on th~j kri/sewj . Logeion denoted the place on the Attic stage from which the players spoke; pulpitum in Latin. Here it is used in the sense of lo&gion , an oracle. Kri/sij denotes the judicial sentence by which one is justified or condemned; and the wearing of the plate was meant to signify God's acceptance of Israel, grounded on the sacrificial functions of the high priest.
52. Some think that in the breastplate there were inserted two images which personified Lights and Perfections, the mysterious Urim and Thummim. Others again take Urim and Thummim to be the breastplate itself, with its rows of precious stones. After the taking of Jerusalem it was carried to Rome, and with other spoils deposited in the Temple of Peace.
53. Gr. a)spidi/skaj , lit. small shields; the ouches of our bible.
54. Hence its name, podh&rhj .
55. Gr. ki/darin bussinh_n . Cidarim Persae regium capitis vocabant insigne; hoc caerulea fascia albo distincta circumibat.---- Q . Curtius, iii, 3.
56. Gr. sfragi\j a(gia&smatoj Kuri/ou . See Exod. xxviii, 36: " And thou shall make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, Holy to the Lord." The plate was worn in the mitre, or upper turban.
57. Gr. bombwna&ria . A very rare word. It is used by the Byzantine historian Malala.
58. See Pls. 20 and 21 in the Appendix.
59. According to Josephus, the bells signified thunder, and the pomegranates lightning, or were meant to give notice to the people outside when the priest entered or came forth from the Holy place.
60. Psalm lxxviii, 20.
61. Numerous inscriptions, partly Egyptian and partly Nabataean, are still to be found on the rocks of Sinai. The Egyptian are of great antiquity, even long prior to Moses, as they contain the names of Egyptian kings from Senefu and Cheops down to Ramses II.
The discovery, moreover, of the cuneiform tablets at Tel-el-Amarna shows us that in the century before the exodus people were writing and corresponding with each other in the east from the Euphrates to the Nile. The Nabataean inscriptions, again, belong to the early inscriptions of the Christian aera, and the characters used are the Western Aramaic or Syriac. Cosmas, with easy credulity, took them to be as old as the time of Moses. Along with Eusebius and Jerome, he identified Mount Serbal with Mount Sinai. The famous monastery of St. Catharine was founded by Justinian in the time of Cosmas.
62. Galat. iii, 19.
63. I Cor. xv, 21.
64. Heb. xii, 11.
65. Gr. Diagra&fomen . . . th_n stratopedarxi/an . The proper meaning of stratopedarchia is the office of a military commander. Cosmas seems to use it here instead of stratopedeuma---- a camp. Neither these sketches, nor those of the men of old and the Prophets mentioned below, are given.
66. See note 2, p. 164.
67. Ephes. v, 32.
68. Coloss. i, 15.
69. Gr. th_n i0sotimi/an kai\ to_ xre/oj th~j fu&sewj a)naplhrw&saj . The debt was that which was due by the woman to Adam, and which she acquitted by bearing Christ without seed. There seems to be reference also to the debt which Adam incurred by his sin, and which Christ paid by His death.
70. Rom. v, 14.
71. Gen. iii, 20.
72. Gen. iv, 25.