,  the  master
evidently kept his bond in his laundry basket.
     2. Latunsky ... Ariman ... Lavrovich: Russian commentators see the name
Latunsky as a fusion of the names of  critics 0.Litovsky and A.Orlinsky, who
led  the  attack  on  'Bulgakovism'  in the  mid-twenties,  after the  first
performances of Bulgakov's play Days of the Turbins. Ariman (Ahriman),  name
of  the principle  of  evil  in  the  Zoroastrian  religion, has  also  been
identified  by  commentators  with L.L. Averbakh, general secretary of  RAPP
(Russian  Association of Proletarian  Writers),  one of  Bulgakov's fiercest
opponents. And Lavrovich is thought to  be V. V. Vishnevsky, who  forced the
withdrawal of two of Bulgakov's plays  from the repertory  of the Moscow Art
Theatre.
     3. an article by the  critic Ariman: It was common  practice  in Soviet
literary politics to mount a press campaign against a book after denying  it
publication.  The  same  happened  at the  end  of  the  fifties with  Boris
Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago.
     4. A Militant Old Believer: The Old  Believers  broke with  the Russian
Orthodox Church in  the  mid-seventeenth century,  in  protest  against  the
reforms of  the patriarch Nikon. The  term  is thus used rather  loosely  by
Latunsky.  In  the  mid-twenties, Bulgakov  was  similarly  attacked  as  'a
militant white guard'.
     5.  in  the  same  coat but  with the  buttons torn  off: This  laconic
reference is the only indication of where the master spent those  lost three
months.  It was customary  to remove  belts, shoelaces  and buttons from the
apparel of those 'held for questioning'.
     Chapter 14: Nikanor Ivamvich's Dream
     1. after  first visiting  another  place: Noteworthy  is  not  only the
impersonality of the  interrogation that follows, but the combination in the
interrogating  voice  of  menace  and  'tenderness'  (a word  Bulgakov  uses
frequently in this context).  The same combination will reappear in  Nikanor
Ivanovich's dream -  an extraordinary rendering of  the operation  of secret
police  within  society,  which  also  suggests  the  `theatre' of  Stalin's
trumped-up 'show trials' of the later thirties.
     2. Quinquet lamps:  A specially designed oil-lamp, named for its French
inventor, in which the oil  reservoir is higher than the  wick. Like  carbon
arc lamps in apartment hallways, they were a means of saving electricity.
     3.  All  sitting?: Bulgakov plays on the meanings of  the Russian  verb
sidet: 'to sit' and also 'to sit in prison'.
     4. The Covetous Knight: One of Pushkin's 'little tragedies', written in
1830, about the demonic and destructive fascination of gold.
     5.  As a  young scapegrace . . . some sly strumpet: The first two lines
of the baron's opening monologue in scene two of The Covetous Knight.
     6. And who's going to pay the rent - Pushkin? : This 'household' way of
referring  to  Pushkin is common  in Russia,  showing how far  the poet  has
entered into people's everyday life, though  without necessarily bringing  a
knowledge of his works with him.
     7.  There great heaps... of gold are mine: Lines from Hermann's aria in
Tchaikovsky's opera The Queen of Spades, based on the story by  Pushkin (the
lines, however, are by Modest Tchaikovsky).
     Chapter 17: An Unquiet Day
     1.  Glorious sea,  sacred Baikal: A  prerevoludonary  song  about  Lake
Baikal,  sung  by convicts  at  hard  labour. It became  popular  after  the
revolution and remained so throughout the Soviet period.
     2. cisco: A northern variety of whitefish caught in Lake Baikal.
     3. Barguzin: A local personification of the north-east wind.
     4.  Shilka  and  Nerchinsk: Towns on the Shilka River  east  of Baikal,
known as places of exile.
     5. Lermontov  studies:  Mikhail  Lermontov  (1814-41),  lyric  poet and
novelist of the generation following Pushkin.
     Chapter 18: Hapless Visitors
     1.  Maximilian Andreevich did not like Kiev:  Bulgakov,  however, loved
Kiev, his birthplace, as the descriptions of the city and of Vladimir's Hill
here  and in The White Guard make clear. Prince  Vladimir  (or St Vladimir),
grand prince of Kievan Rus, gave firm foundations to the first Russian state
and in 988 converted his people to Christianity.
     2.  Passport! : The  internal passport,  a feature  of Russian life  in
tsarist times,  was abolished after the revolution, but reinstated by Stalin
in  1932. It was the only  accepted  means  of identification and had  to be
carried at all times. The  precinct number  that the cat gives later (412th)
is absurdly high, even for a big city.
     3.  Everything was confusion... The second  sentence  of Tolstoy's Anna
Kannina, proverbial in Russia.
     4.  a church panikhida: A special service  of  the Orthodox Church  for
commemoration of the dead.
     5.  Leech bureau: Leeches have been used  medically since ancient times
as  a means  of  blood-letting,  thought  to lower blood pressure  and  cure
various ailments. A rather primitive treatment in this context.
     Book Two
     Chapter 19: Margarita
     1. Margarita: The name  Bulgakov gives to  his heroine recalls that  of
Gretchen  (diminutive of  Margarete),  the  young  girl  ruined by  Faust in
Goethe's drama. It may also recall Marguerite de Valois (1555-1615), wife of
French  king  Henri IV,  known as `la reine Margot'  (several times in later
chapters Margarita will be called Margot and even Queen Margot).
     2.  the dread  Antonia Tower:  A  fortress  in ancient  Jerusalem which
housed  the  Roman  garrison  in  the city  and where  the  Roman procurator
normally stayed  on official visits.  It  was named  by  Herod  the Great in
honour  of the Roman general and triumvir  Mark Antony (85-50 ac), who ruled
the eastern third of the empire.
     3.  Hasmonaean Palace:  Palace of the Hasmonaean or  Maccabean dynasty,
rulers of  Judea in the second century BC, who  resisted the Seleucid  kings
Antiochus IV and Demetrius Soter.
     4.  the Manege: Originally a  riding academy  built after the war  with
Napoleon,  the building was later used as a  quondam concert hall. Abandoned
after the revolution, it served in Bulgakov's time as a garage and warehouse
for  the Kremlin, but has  now been restored as  a permanent  art-exhibition
space.
     Chapter 22: By Candlelight
     1. a candelabrum ...  seven golden claws:  Woland's  two candelabra are
satanic  parodies  of  the menorah made by the Jews at God's  command during
their   wandering  in   the   wilderness  (Exodus   25:51-9,  57:17-24).   A
seven-branched  candelabrum  also  stands  on  the  altar of every Christian
church.
     2. a beetle artfully carved: The Egyptians saw the scarabaeus beetle as
a symbol of immortality because it survived the annual flooding of the Nile.
The ritual use of carved stone scarabs spread to Palestine, Greece and Italy
in ancient times.
     3. Hans: Like Jack, Jean, or Ivan in the folk-tales of their countries,
the Hans  of  German tales  is  generally  the third son of  the  family and
considered  a fool  (though he usually winds  up  with  the treasure and the
princess for his bride).
     4. Sextus Empiricus, Martianus Capella: Sextus Empiricus (second--third
century   AD),  Greek   philosopher,   astronomer   and   physician,  was  a
representative of the  most impartial scepticism. Martianus Capella, a Latin
author of the fifth century AD, wrote an encyclopedia in novel form entitled
The Marriage of Mercury and Philology.
     5.  this pain  in my knee ... Mount  Bracken: Satan's  lameness is more
commonly ascribed  to his fall from  heaven. Mount Brocken, highest  of  the
Harz Mountains  in Germany, is  a  legendary gathering place  of witches and
devils, and the site of the Walpurgisnacht (as in Goethe's Faust) on the eve
of the First of May.
     6.  Abaddon:  Hebrew  for  'destruction'.  In  the Old Testament  it is
another  name for  Sheol,  the place where  the dead abide (Job 26:6, 28:22;
Psalms  88:11). In the New Testament,  it is the name of  the 'angel of  the
bottomless pit' (Revelation 9:11).
     Chapter 23: The Great Ball at Satan's
     1. waltz king: Unofficial title of the Viennese composer Johann Strauss
(1825-99)
     2. Vieuxtemps: Henri  Vieuxtemps (1820-81), Belgian virtuoso violinist,
made his debut  in  Paris at the age of ten. He travelled  the world  giving
concerts, taught  in the conservatory of  Brussels and for some time also in
the conservatory of  St  Petersburg,  where  he  was first  violinist of the
imperial court.
     3.  Monsieur  Jacques: Identified  by  L. Yanovskaya as  Jacques  Coeur
(c.1595-1456),  a rich French merchant who became superintendent of finances
under  Charles VII. He did make a false start  in life in association with a
counterfeiter before embarking on his  legitimate successes, and was  indeed
suspected  of poisoning the king's mistress, Agnes  Sorel,  but was  quickly
cleared. He was neither a traitor to his country nor an alchemist.
     4. Earl Robert: Identified by L. Yanovskaya as Robert  Dudley,  Earl of
Leicester (?1532-88), a favourite of Elizabeth I of England, whose wife, Amy
Rosbarts, did die in suspicious circumstances, though  not by poisoning  but
by falling downstairs.
     5. Madame Tofana: La Tofana,  a  woman of  Palermo,  was  arrested as a
poisoner and strangled in prison in 1709. The poison  named after  her, aqua
tofana,  had in  fact been known  since  the  fifteenth century  and is held
responsible for the deaths of some 600 persons, including the popes Pius III
and Clement XTV and the Duke of Anjou.
     6. a Spanish hoot: A wooden torture device.
     7. Frieda: Her story is reminiscent of that of Gretchen in Faust. B. V.
Sokolov   finds  Bulgakov's  source  in   The  Sexual  Question,   by  Swiss
psychiatrist Auguste  Forel, who tells  a similar  story of a certain Frieda
Keller.
     8. The  marquise:  Marie-Madeleine  d'Aubray, Marquise  de Brinvilliers
(1650-76), a notorious poisoner, was decapitated and burned in Paris.
     9.  Madame  Minkin:  Nastasya  Fyodorovna  Minkin,  mistress  of  Count
Arakcheev  (1769-1854), military  adviser  to  the  emperor Alexander  I.  A
notoriously  cruel and depraved  woman, she  was  murdered  by her household
serfs in 1825.
     10. the emperor Rudolf: Rudolf II Hapsburg (1552-1612), German emperor,
son  of Maximilian II, lived in Prague, took great interest in astronomy and
alchemy, and was the protector of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler.
     11. A  Moscow dressmaker: The  heroine  of  Bulgakov's own play, Zyka's
Apartment, which describes a brothel disguised as a dressmaker's shop.
     12.  Caligula: Gaius Caesar  (AD 12-41),  nicknamed  Caligula  ('Little
Boot^,  was  the son of Germanicus  and succeeded Tiberius as  emperor. Half
mad, he  subjected  Rome to  many  tyrannical outrages  and  was  eventually
assassinated.
     13.  Messalina: (AD  15-48),  third wife of the  emperor Claudius,  was
famous for her debauchery.
     14.  Maliuta  Skuratw.   Nickname  of  the  Russian   nobleman  Grigory
Lukyanovich Skuratov-Belsky,  the  right-hand man of Ivan the Terrible,  who
made him head  of  the oprichnina, a special  force opposed to the nobility,
which terrorized Russia, burning, pillaging and murdering many people. He is
said  to  have smothered St  Philip, metropolitan  of  Moscow, with  his own
hands.
     15. one  more... no, two!: B. V. Sokolov  identifies these  two unnamed
new ones as  former  People's Commissar  for  Internal Affairs,  Genrikh  G.
Yagoda  (1891 -1938)  and his  secretary, P. P. Bulanov. Yagoda,  a ruthless
secret-police official who fabricated  the 'show  trial' of the  'right-wing
Trotskyist  centre', was  later arrested  himself  and condemned to be shot,
along with  his secretary, Bukharin,  Rykov and  others,  in Stalin's  third
great 'show trial' of 1938.
     16. the Kamarinsky: A popular Russian dance-song with ribald words.
     17. A salamander-conjurer: The salamander enjoyed the reputation during
the Middle  Ages and  Renaissance of being able  to go through fire  without
getting burned.
     18.  the same  dirty,  patched  shirt:  According to  one of Bulgakov's
sources,  M.  N.  Orlov's  History  of Man's  Relations  with  the Devil (St
Petersburg, 1904), Satan always wears a dirty shirt while performing a black
mass.
     19.  it  will  be  given  to  each  according  to  his faith: A  common
misapplication of Christ's  words,  'According to your  faith be it done  to
you' (Matt. 9:29).
     Chapter 24: The Extraction of the Master
     1.  wandered in the wilderness for nineteen days: A comic distortion of
well-known examples: the  period  of wandering is  usually a  round figure -
forty days or forty years - and the usual sustenance is manna or locusts and
wild honey (see Numbers 35:58, Amos 5:25, Matt. 5:1-4).
     2. manuscripts  don't bum: This phrase became proverbial among  Russian
intellectuals after the publication of The  Master and Margarita,  an  event
which in itself seemed to bear out the truth of Woland's words.
     3. Aloisy Mogaiych: An absurd combination of the Larinate Aloisius with
the  slangy  'Mogarych', the word  for the round  of drinks that concludes a
deal, which happens to have the form of a Russian patronymic.
     4. bruderschaft: A special pledge of brotherhood  drunk with interlaced
right  arms, after  which the  friends address each other  with the familiar
form ty.
     Chapter 25: How the Procurator Tried to Save Judas of Kiriath
     1. Falemo:  A rich and strong  red wine, named for the  ager falemus in
the  Roman Campagnia  where it  was produced  in  ancient times (not  to  be
confused with the white Falerno now produced around Naples).
     2.  Caecuba:  Also a strong red wine,  product of  the ager caecubus in
southern Larium.
     3. the feast  of the  twelve gods: The twelve senior  gods of the Roman
pantheon:
     Jupiter, Juno, Neptune,  Vulcan, Apollo,  Diana,  Ceres,  Venus,  Mars,
Vesta, Mercury and Minerva.
     4.  lares:  A  word of  Etruscan  or Sabine  origin,  referring  to the
nameless protective deiries of the house and hearth in Roman religion.
     5.  messiah:  From  the Hebrew  mashiah,  meaning 'the  anointed  one',
referring to the redeemer and deliverer of Israel  to be  born  of the royal
house  of  David, prophesied  by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah and others, and
awaited by the  Jewish  nation. Christians  believe that  this  prophecy was
fulfilled in Christ (christos being Greek for 'the annointed one").
     6. were they given the  drink before being  hung on the posts?: Thought
by  some commentators to be a legal mercy granted to the condemned to lessen
the suffering of crucifixion, as Pilate means it here, though in the Gospels
it has more the  appearance of a final mockery.  Jesus also refuses to drink
it (see Matt. 27:54, Mark 15:25).
     7. ... among human vices he considered cowardice one of the first: This
saying, not found  in the Gospels,  is of great  thematic importance for the
novel. Bulgakov himself, according to one of his friends, regarded cowardice
as the worst of all vices, 'because all the  rest come from it' (quoted in a
memoir in Vospominaniya o Mikhaile Bulgakove, Moscow, 1988, pp. 589-90).
     Interestingly,  all references to this  'worst  of vices'  were removed
from the original magazine publication of the novel.
     Chapter 26: The Burial
     1. thirty tetradrachmas: The 'thirty pieces of silver' mentioned in the
Gospel  of  Matthew  (26:15) as  Judas's  reward  from the  high priest  for
betraying Jesus. A tetradrachma was  a Greek silver coin worth four drachmas
and was equivalent to one Jewish shekel.
     2. Now we shall always be together: Yeshua's words are fulfilled in the
Nicene Creed: '... one Lord Jesus  Christ ... who was crucified for us under
Pontius Pilate...' - words repeated countless  times a day  for  nearly  two
thousand years in every liturgy or mass. Later in the novel, Pilate will say
that nothing in the world  is more hateful to  him than 'his immortality and
his unheard-of fame'.
     3. the  son of an astrologer-king  ... Pila: Details found in the  poem
Pilate by the twelfth-century Flemish poet Petrus Pictor  (noted by Marianne
Gourg in her commentary to  the French translation of the novel, R. Laffont,
Paris, 1995). The name of Pila thus becomes the source  of the  procurator's
second name.
     4. En-Sarid: Arabic for Nazareth.
     5. Valerius  Gratus: According  to Flavius Josephus, in Antiquities  of
the Jews (Book  18, Chapter 2),  Valerius Gratus  was  procurator  of  Judea
starting  from  sometime around  AD  15,  and was  thus  Pilate's  immediate
predecessor.
     6. might he  not  have  killed himself?: Here Pilate  prompts Aphranius
with what is in fact the Gospel account of Judas's death (Matt. 27:5).
     7. baccuroth: Aramaic for 'fresh figs'.
     8. the pure river of the water of life:  'And he shewed me a pure river
of water of  life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and
of the Lamb' (Revelation 22:1).

     Chapter 27: The End of Apartment No.50
     1. the Hotel Astoria ... bathroom: A large  hotel on  St Isaac's Square
in Petersburg, where  Bulgakov  and his wife used to  stay when visiting the
city.
     2. starka: An infusion of a pale-brown colour, made from spirits, white
port, cognac, sugar, and apple and pear leaves.

     Chapter 28: The Last Adventures of Koroviev and Behemoth
     1. a  currency  store: A  phenomenon of  Soviet life,  currency  stores
emerged  in the early  thirties, offering a  great  variety of goods (in the
midst  of  the  general  impoverishment and uniformity of  Soviet  life)  in
exchange for  foreign  currency. They  were  supposed to be exclusively  for
foreigners, but  were  also patronized by privileged Russians who had access
to currency or special  coupons (Bulgakov himself occasionally had  currency
from  sales of his books abroad and could  avail himself of this privilege).
There was in fact a  currency store at the  comer of the Arbat and Smolensky
Square.
     2. Harun al-Rashid: (?766--809),  Abassid caliph  of Baghdad,  known in
legend  for  walking  about  the  city  at  night  disguised  as  a  beggar,
familiarizing himself with the life of  his subjects.  He became  a hero  of
songs and figures in some tales from The Thousand and One Nights.
     3. Palosich!: A spoken contraction of the name Pavel Yosifovich.
     4.  Kerch Herring:  Much-prized fish from the Crimean city of Kerch, on
the Sea of Azov.
     5.  Bitter,  bitter!: There  is  an  Old  Russian  custom  of  shouting
'Bitter!'  every now  and  then  during  the  banquet  after a wedding.  The
newly-weds are then expected to kiss so as to make it sweet.
     6. Dead Souls: The only novel by the 'father of Russian prose', Nikolai
Gogol (1809--52). Its  influence on  The Master and Margarita  is pervasive.
Bulgakov made an adaptation of Dead Souls for the Moscow Art  Theatre in the
thirties, while at work on his own novel.
     7. Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Thalia: Three of the nine Greek muses,  of
tragedy, lyric poetry and comedy respectively.
     8.  The  Inspector  General:  A comedy  by Nikolai  Gogol,  one of  the
masterpieces of the Russian theatre.
     9.  Evgeny Onegin:  Koroviev's  comically  slighting  reference  is  to
Pushkin's poem, not to Tchaikovsky's opera.
     10. Sojya Pavlovna: The citizeness happens to have the same name as the
heroine of Griboedov's Woe From  Wit. It may have been this connection  that
landed her such a desirable job.
     11. Panaev: Two  Panaevs made a brief appearance in Russian literature:
V.  I.  Panaev (1792-1859)  was a writer of sentimental poetry; I. I. Panaev
(1812-62), on the contrary, was a liberal  prose-writer  and for a  time  an
editor of the influential journal `The Contemporary'.
     12.  Skabichwsky:  A. M.  Skabichevsky (1858-1912) was a liberal critic
and journalist.
     13. balyk: A  special dorsal section of flesh running the entire length
of a salmon or sturgeon, which was removed in one piece and either salted or
smoked. Highly prized in Russia.
     Chapter 29: The Fate of the Master and Margarita is decided
     1. Resting his sharp chin on his fist... Woland  stared fixedly: Woland
seems almost consciously to adopt the pose of Rodin's famous sculpture known
as the Thinker, actually the central figure over his Gates of Hell.
     2. to Timiriazev: That is, to the statue of the botanist and founder of
the  Russian school of  plant  physiology,  Kliment  Arkadyevich  Timiriazev
(1845-- 1910), on Tverskoy Boulevard near the Nikitsky Gates.
     Chapter 30: It's Time! It's Time!
     1. Peace  be  unto  you:  Bulgakov  playfully gives this common  Hebrew
greeting (a translation of Shalom aleichem) to his demon. It  was spoken  by
the risen Christ to his disciples  (Luke 24:56, John 20:26) and is  repeated
in every liturgy or mass.
     Chapter 31: On Sparrow Hills
     1. Sparrow  Hills: Hills on  the south-west  bank of the  Moscow River,
renamed 'Lenin Hills' in the Soviet period.
     2. Devichy Convent: Actually the Novodevichy Convent, founded  by Basil
III in 1524, on the  spot where, according to legend, maidens {devitsy) were
gathered to be sent as tribute  to the Mongols. Nikolai Gogol's remains were
transferred there in the  1950s, and many members of the Moscow Art  Theatre
are also buried there, including Bulgakov himself.
     Epilogue
     the  festal springfall  moon:  The  first full moon  after  the  vernal
equinox, which determines  the  date of the feast of  Passover  and thus  of
Easter.