Les Quatre Cavaliers De L'Apocalypse (Bible)

Engraving of Albrecht Drer depicting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are heavenly and mysterious characters mentioned in the , the sixth chapter of the Apocalypse. This is a reworking of two visions of a prophet of the Old Testament , Zechariah ^{Riders and their mounts}

Riders and their horses as described in the Apocalypse:

Illumination of the Beatus Facundus, dated 1047.

Here is the text of the Apocalypse (6.1 to 8):

(1) And my vision continued. When the Lamb opened the first of seven seals, I heard the first of the four living creatures cry out as a voice of thunder, "Come! "(2) And here there appeared to me a white horse Its rider held a bow, he was given a crown and he went forth conquering, and to win again.

(3) When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come! "(4) Then another horse came out, red fire, and whoever the rider was to banish him peace from the earth and make men slay each other, they gave him a great sword.

(5) When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come! And here there appeared to me a black horse, his rider was holding a scale, (6) and I heard as a voice among the four living creatures, saying: "A quart of wheat for a penny, three quarts of barley for a penny! As for the oil and wine, do not waste! "

(7) When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come. (8) I looked and looked a horse of a greenish color. Its rider was named Death, and Hades accompanied him.

So we gave them power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, by famine, by pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

Interpretations

This whole transition has received very different interpretations. Some see the specific references to a series of historical data, most often in the first century , but sometimes when he saw that produces this interpretation , others a division of history into four parts, either from the beginning of the world , or since the advent of Jesus Christ, some with a typology of the various calamities that can befall mankind without having to a specified period .

White Horse

The white knight on a stained glass of St. Denis.

Opinions on the first horseman, riding the white horse, are numerous .

Many ancient and modern authors, Catholics, Protestants or unbelievers, have seen the Christ ( Irenaeus of Lyons , Victorin Pettau , Andrew of Caesarea ), or the triumphant gospel preaching ( the Venerable Bede , Albertus Magnus , Ribeira, Bossuet , Bernhardt Weiss, Loisy , etc..). Indeed, although the first rider to come top of a series of plagues, color symbolism (leukos) is clearly and unambiguously positive, and indeed it reappears later in the Apocalypse (19:11) clearly identified the "Word of God."

Other authors see the expansion of an earthly power: either the conquering Roman Empire (including several authors of the Middle Ages, and Protestants), or the Parthian Empire invaded the Roman Empire, especially since the border of the Euphrates between the two empires is mentioned twice in the Apocalypse, and the Parthians were always depicted as archers.

Red Horse

The second rider is the war, and the color of his horse, the blood spilled on the battlefield. It also carries a sword that represents the confrontation and struggle. As stated we should kill each other (Greek alllous), it may be mentioned here especially civil wars, as opposed to wars of conquest that would be represented by the first rider.

Black Horse

The third rider, whose horse is black seems to represent the famine. It carries a balance which means the evaluation and therefore the price hit by the food the most characteristic of the ancient Mediterranean world: cereals, oil and wine. Grains reach an exorbitant price, a penny corresponding to the daily wage of a worker antique. As for the oil and wine, the rider is asked to save, that is to say, from the Greek verb used (adikein), not cause them harm, not to s' take them. This passage is poorly explained. .

Horse greenish or pale

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, by Viktor Vasnetsov (1887).

The Fourth Horseman (whose horse has a color claim, difficult to identify precisely, and to link with the notion of "pestilence"), is named Death. The color of his horse evokes fear, disease, decay and death. It is accompanied or followed instead of Sheol (Greek Hades, corresponding to Biblical Hebrew Sheol).

Their collective mission

The passage ends with these words: "So we gave them power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, by famine, by pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth." The vast majority of commentators relate this to all riders, not just the last. In fact the sword is the second rider, hunger in the third and the fourth plague. This would imply that they perform their tasks simultaneously and not sequentially. The addition in this context of "beasts (Greek Theria) from the earth" remains enigmatic, although it takes a commonplace of the prophecies of disaster in the Old Testament.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the culture

Medieval Representations

The black knight in the Bamberg Apocalypse (about one thousand).

• The four horsemen are represented in the illuminations of the comments called Beatus Apocalypse (from ninth to twelfth century) and more generally in many illuminated manuscripts of the Bible in the Middle Ages, such as the Bamberg Apocalypse (to the 1000).
• These jumpers are shown several times on the Apocalypse tapestries exhibited at the Chateau d'Angers ( Maine-et-Loire ).

Modern Representations

• One of the best known representations of the four horsemen is the woodcut of Durer reproduced at the top of this article.
• The horseman Death is represented in a painting by Joseph Mallord William Turner, entitled "Death on a Pale Horse" (1830)

References contemporary

In the contemporary world dominated by Anglo-Saxon itself steeped in references to the Bible, many recent works that refer to the myth of the mysterious horsemen.

Literature

• The novel by Agatha Christie The Pale Horse is a direct reference to the riders, and more particularly to Death.
• The Four Horsemen are mentioned in the book Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. In this book, they are appointed Pollution, War, Famine and Death. Indeed, Pestilence took early retirement following the discovery of penicillin , and is then replaced by Pollution.
• In the novel by Monique St. Helier , Trooper Straw , the title of the book and the second part of the yellow horse, alluding to the pale horse of death.
• In a novel by Bob Morane Editions Ananke (2007) The Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
• It is also a book of Vicente Blasco Ibez , published in 1917.

Comics

• In the world of Marvel comics U.S., the eternal character Apocalypse also has some time to harm his four horsemen. "Death" has been personified by Archangel, Caliban, Gambit and Wolverine; "Famine" by Ahab, Autumn Rolfson and Sunfire, "Pestilence" by Caliban, Plague and Polaris, "War" by Deathbird, Gazer, and Abraham Hulk Kieros.
• In the series Knight Ardent , they intervene in the album Knights of the Apocalypse.
• In " Wormwood (comics) "by Ben Templesmith, the Four Horsemen appear as such. Everyone has a nickname: Pestilence alias "Pesty" Death aka "Mr. M.", War aka "Big G." Famine and aliases Fimfam. They embody a vision of present themselves and are reluctant to perform their duties, preferring to wallow in sex and drugs (as well as video games for Famine).

Cinema

• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) is an American silent film from 1921, directed by Rex Ingram.
• Vincente Minnelli in 1962 has made a classic film, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse , with Glenn Ford , Ingrid Thulin , Charles Boyer. This is an Argentine family of Franco-German strain torn by the beginning of the Second World War. Among its members, a colonel in the SS, a strong, neutral and a cousin who, under the effect of love, finally took advantage.
• One of the riders mentioned in Pale Rider, the lone rider movie Clint Eastwood.
• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is the title of a film (1991) on the environment which shows how man is destroying the planet. Each horse personifies one of the four threats: domestic waste, toxic wastes, contamination of rivers and destruction of resources. The film, produced by the NFB , is written and directed by Jean-Francois Mercier.
• In April 2009 the film was released in France The Horsemen of the Apocalypse of Jonas Akerlund a horror thriller with Dennis Quaid , Ziyi Zhang and Patrick Fugit.
• In the movie Predictions with Nicolas Cage released on ¹ April 2009 , the four horsemen of the Apocalypse are also present as "murmureurs.
• In the movie "Ghostriders" accompanying the rider Nicolas Cage to end a horse enflamm.Ressemblant strangely a "war" and ignited the black horse.

TV Series

• We also note their presence in the television series Highlander , in the form of four warriors amoral sowing the torments which they are named. One of the characters in the series, Methos , the rider was none other than "Death."
• The Four Horsemen are present in the series Charmed in which riders are elected from evil.
• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse appear at the end of episode 18 of season 10 of The Simpsons , The Simpsons in the Bible (Simpson Bible Stories).
• In Season 5 of the series Supernatural , the Cavalier of War is a very powerful entity that holds the power to manipulate people's perceptions to lead to conflict with the rotation of a ring. It does not have a red horse, but a Mustang the same color. The Rider of Death is in turn released by Lucifer through a big ritual slaughter in the city of Carthage ( Missouri ). We'll see in episode 21 and will present his ring was Dean. His horse is represented by a beautiful old car color blade. Famine appears in episode 14 as an old man leading a squad of demons paid by Lucifer, his power is to "starve" the people of their desires for ever they want (hunger, thirst, libido , etc..). Like the others, thanks to the power of a ring. His horse is a Cadillac Escalade black. Pestilence, meanwhile, loose epidemics with his ring. His horse is represented by a good car for scrap registered SIKN TRD (Sick and Tired Sick and Tired to) and greenish color

Song

• One of the riders has been cited by Mylne Farmer in his clip video Provided they are sweet: At the end of fighting between the French army and the British army, the young English soldier back at one of the paragraphs on The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, when Libertine, riding a horse white, holds out his hand.
• The Four Horsemen are mentioned in the song The Four Horsemen from Metallica , although the war is replaced by Time Time (the group which consists of four members, is called The Four Horsemen).
• The Four Horsemen are mentioned in the song The Four Horsemen of the Greek group Aphrodite's Child in their album 666, the fourth horse is described as "green", the Greek translation of chlorosis.
• On the album United Abominations of Megadeth , the title Blessed are the dead is dedicated to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
• The Scottish rock band The Bollock Brothers released an album in 1986 entitled The 4 Horsemen Of The Apocalypse. The song of the same title refers to Satan and more specifically the song Sympathy For The Devil of the Rolling Stones.
• The song Johnny Cash When The Man Comes Around begins and ends with quotations from the Apocalypse of St. John in the early passage of the first rider, and at the end of the last rider. The song itself evokes the Last Judgement.

Video Games

• We can find the Horseman of the Apocalypse, representing the war in the Video Game: Darksiders available on PC, Playstation 3 and xBox 360.
• The Four Horsemen are quite faithfully represented in the video game Hexen II. These are the four bosses that you face at the end of each world you visit (the Pharaonic Egypt , the Mesopotamia , the ancient Greece and medieval Europe).
• The 4 Horsemen are present in the video game Sam & Max (Season 2, Episode 1 Ice Station Santa) which, combined with an alien spirit, they try to destroy the spirit of Christmas.
• Apocalypse video game starring Bruce Willis , is the boss Four Horsemen: Death, Plague, War and the Beast.
• In the game Warlords Battlecry 3, four demonic creatures in the world of Etheria is known as a horseman of war, death, pestilence, famine.
• Knights Pestilence, Death, War and Famine are represented in the Otherworld of the video game The Darkness.
• Pestilence, Famine and Death are enemies of the astral plane, the last level of the game Nethack. The fourth, War, none other than the hero.
• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are hidden boss of the video game Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call, where they are represented as the "Pale Rider", the "Red Rider", the "black knight" and the "white knight". These are very powerful creatures and therefore almost invincible. It takes a great level of play to hopefully beat them.
• War has also been used as a character in a video game released January 6, 2010 called Darksiders in which he plays the main role
• They are also represented in the video game World of Warcraft in the form of four horsemen, "death knights" in the service of the Lich King. They are the last boss of a wing of Naxxramas, an instance of level 60 (extended to 80)
• The 4 horses are also present in the downloadable content "The Tomb of Overseas Nightmares" by Red Redemption Dead as frames for the hero.
• In the game World of Warcraft , a talent point in the branch of frost death knights called "on a pale horse" (it was pale horse), and the beginning of the description of this talent point is: " You become as hard to stop as death itself, "This is with reference to the horse's death.

Other

• The Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Four Horsemen , was a legendary clan of wrestling. One of the key members was Ric Flair.

References

• Christianity portal

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