Commentary on the Apocalypse and commentary on the Book of Daniel
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1910
Apocalypse: Trumpet III, Burning Star (Revelation 8:10-11) -- Nimbed angel sounding trumpet; falling star; four corpses in two rivers; decorated and starred background.
And the third angel sounded the trumpet. And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch. And it fell upon a third part of the rivers and upon the sources of water. And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And a third part of the waters were turned into wormwood. And many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. (Rev. 8:10–11)
The giant burning star is red, but not torchlike as in some Beatus manuscripts. The two green diagonal strips suggest rivers. The four floating, naked dead men, poisoned by the bitter waters, make their first appearance in the earliest surviving Beatus, the Morgan's mid-tenth-century manuscript illuminated by Maius.