Valentina De Pasca

Il presente contributo ha l’obiettivo di indagare le modalità nonché le motivazioni che hanno spinto Mimmo Jodice e Josef Koudelka a documentare, ciascuno attraverso lo stile che gli è proprio, le vestigia della classicità disseminate lungo le coste del Mediterraneo. L’esame delle immagini dei due fotografi – qui poste per la prima volta a confronto – consentirà di osservare come la rovina e il frammento archeologico siano il punto di partenza per riflessioni antitetiche in cui troviamo riversate la soggettività e la biografia degli autori.

This study aims to deepen methods and reasons which led Mimmo Jodice and Josef Koudelka to record, each through his own style, the remains of classical antiquity scattered throughout the Mediterranean coasts. The images of the two photographers compare here for the first time. This exercise allows us to observe how ruins and archaeological fragments could be the starting points for opposed reflections which are strongly characterized by authors’ biographies.

How many artifacts do we prefer to forget because of the many questions which arise in relation to production, dating and origin? This study aims to draw attention on the shield boss in gilded bronze found in the Tomb 1 of the Nocera Umbra's necropolis. This burial is one of the most rich of the early medieval cemetery. It enumerates among the funeral goods a shield boss which is characterized by a central frieze with battle scenes realized with an openwork decoration. To date similar shield bosses have not been yet discovered neither in Italy nor outside. So despite its uniqueness in the archaeology field and in the art historical one, it has been forgotten for many years. The impossibility to compare the Nocera Umbra's shield boss with similar ones does not allow to add it accurately within time-space coordinates. A significant help comes only from an iconographic and stylistic research. The shield boss may be connected indeed to the artistic production of the Late Antiquity period and of the Early Byzantine one only comparing it with artifacts belonging to other categories as well as silver plates, buckles. The depth study of this object emphasizes therefore the complexity of rebuilding the circumstances and the productive context of valuable artifacts if we limit ourselves to just one field of study. A multidisciplinary approach which makes dialoguing archaeology and art history becomes more and more significant in the construction of the Late Antique and the Early Byzantine world.

This study aims to give systematicity to coin findings brought to light in the Early Medieval necropolis of Castel Trosino and Nocera Umbra. The focus will be on gold coins mounted in jewelry. It will investigate whether the decision to include numismatic items in jewelry is to be related to the legacy of practices such as the Charon’s obol, the search of protection, or whether it is essentially dictated by the taste of the customer.
This analysis has a multidisciplinary nature: it will examine first of all the archaeological data, and then focus on burial customs and, therefore, on the artistic culture which influenced the choices of populations settled in the two sites.

***

Questo studio si pone l’obiettivo di dare sistematicità ai ritrovamenti monetali portati alla luce nelle necropoli altomedievali di Castel Trosino e Nocera Umbra con particolare attenzione alle monete auree montate in gioielli. Si indagherà infatti se la scelta di inserire elementi numismatici all’interno di monili sia da porre in relazione al retaggio di consuetudini quali l’obolo di Caronte, alla ricerca di protezione, oppure se sia dettata essenzialmente dal gusto estetico del committente. L’analisi, di carattere multidisciplinare, approfondirà anzitutto il dato archeologico, per poi concentrarsi sui costumi funerari e, quindi, sulla cultura artistica che influenzarono le scelte delle popolazioni stanziate nei due siti.

The early medieval sites of Castel Trosino and Nocera Umbra, both located in Central Italy, were discovered by chance at the end of the 19th Century during agricultural works. Their study is very significant not only because their material culture is the widest source to know italic-byzantine handiworks widespread from 6th to 8th Century, but also because the percentage of graves belonging to infants is remarkable. This study will focus on children burial practices but also on infant grave goods and their specific choice, for instance the intentional will to insert particular gemstones. A careful observation of children mortuary practices reveals that elements of ancestral tradition blend with elements linked to the context and it’s possible to identify three main categories of grave goods in Castel Trosino’s and Nocera Umbra’s infant burials. One composed from objects strictly connected to the past and to the ancient traditions (e.g. pierced coins, pottery’s or glass’ vessels); a second category where we found elements reminding to the past but that show a strong influence of the cultural context in which they’re inserted (e.g. jewels and fibulae) and finally a third one that includes objects completely new as regards of ancient customs (e.g. gold crosses).

How many artifacts do we prefer to forget because of the many questions which arise in relation to production, dating and origin? This study aims to draw attention on the shield boss in gilded bronze found in the Tomb 1 of the Nocera Umbra's necropolis. This burial is one of the most rich of the early medieval cemetery. It enumerates among the funeral goods a shield boss which is characterized by a central frieze with battle scenes realized with an openwork decoration. To date similar shield bosses have not been yet discovered neither in Italy nor outside. So despite its uniqueness in the archeology field and in the art historical one, it has been for many years forgotten. The impossibility to compare the Nocera Umbra's shield boss with similar ones does not allow to add it accurately within time-space coordinates.
A significant help comes only from an iconographic and stylistic research. Indeed the shield boss may be connected to the artistic production of the Late Antiquity period and of the Early Byzantine one only comparing it with artifacts belonging to other categories as well as capitals, silver plates, buckles.
The depth study of this object emphasizes therefore the complexity of rebuilding the circumstances and the productive context also of valuable artifacts particularly if we limit ourselves to just one field of study. A multidisciplinary approach that makes dialoguing archeology and art history becomes more and more significant in the construction of the Late Antique and Early Byzantine world.

Disc brooches, as well as crossbow fibulae, were a clear symbol of social status and their typological differentiation connoted the social level of the bearer and his role. With the beginning of the fourth century disc brooches become an imperial insigna of the emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire. It is no accident that in the well-known sixth-century mosaic panel of San Vitale (Ravenna, Italy) the only one to wear a disc brooch with three pendulia is the emperor Justinian. This kind of clasp was indeed one of the imperial insigna of the Byzantine emperors therefore a symbol of power.
Portraits of Byzantine emperors on the most different media are often characterised by the presence of a clasp which holds the chlamys fastened on the right shoulder. Although literary and iconographic sources (e.g. coins, mosaics, statues) record such a custom, few luxury artefacts attest this kind of production, and none of them attributable with certainty to a Byzantine court workshop. The reverse occurs instead among the Lombards. Excavations in Lombard necropolis as well as sporadic findings in areas inhabited by the Lombards brought to light different typologies of disc clasps. It is so significant that a symbol of power purely "Byzantine" is used even by a different ethnic group. Why? If we assume that the Lombards inherited the symbolic meaning of the disc brooch to legitimate their power, it is no clear why most of the disc brooches was discovered in female burials. The discovery of some fibulas of particular value, however, poses another issue: were a Lombard production or the result of an imperial donation?
This contribution will be built on such a dichotomy.
At first the focus will be on the iconographic sources which attest this custom in the Byzantine society and on the distinctive features of that jewel. When it would seem to start this fashion? What is its origin? These are only some of the questions we will attempt to give an answer bringing attention to an aspect often neglected.
The actors of the second part of the contribution will be the disc brooches stored in Italian and international museums. Although the luxury which distinguishes some of these objects suggests a high patronage (e.g. disc brooch from Benevento preserved at the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK), to date unfortunately these artefacts are not attributable directly to the imperial sphere. Their typological and morphological analysis will allow us to give concrete shape to this kind of objects and to deepen this field of study in which the dialogue between archaeology and art history may lead to new possible interpretations.

The primary role attributed to precious objects emerges in a relevant way studying grave goods brought to light in Goths and Lombard Italian Early Medieval cemeteries. To date attention has been concentrated mainly on barbarian elements which characterised jewels and other precious items found in the tombs. Unfortunately this kind of research has shown several limits: it does not take into account the Byzantine element.
To emphasize and evidence the cultural exchanges attested from the art of the migration period we will put emphasis on the study of a specific class of artefacts: earrings. This paper aims at showing, through the study of several pairs of luxury earrings discovered in different Italian funerary contexts, how elements of barbarian art blend with typological and stylistic features typical of the art of the East Mediterranean.
An example which outlines the influence of Byzantine models in Lombard jewellery production is a pair of gold earrings with triangular pendant plate and gold and amethyst drops brought to light in the cemetery of Castel Trosino (grave S). If the shape of the jewels recall Gothic and barbaric models similar to the earrings discovered in the Domagnano Treasure, their fine creation had a more classical prototype as attested by the wide use of granulated wires. This example demonstrates a sort of inspiration given by Byzantine models which circulated throughout Medieval Europe. This way permitted neighbouring cultures to adopt fashions from the Byzantine repertoire.

This study aims to emphasize how in Constantinople the notions of ‘rule’ and ‘recreation’ were often strongly associated. A paradigmatic example is indeed constituted by the mosaic floor of profane subjects discovered in the area of the Great Palace of the Byzantine emperors and by the architectural context that hosted it. The concept of ‘rule’ is embodied in the apsed hall, an architectural site highly symbolic, whilst the concept of ‘recreation’ is based on the choice of certain iconographic subjects which stand out on the mosaic carpet adorning the peristyle colonnade on which overlooked the apsed hall.
The floor mosaic has been unearthed during the excavations campaigns carried out in the years 1935-1938 and 1952-1954 in the area of the Great Palace. The aim of those excavations was to investigate and identify the imperial apartments which were the scene of key events during the history of the Byzantine Empire from the fourth to the twelfth century, when the Komnenian dynasty opted to move the court in the Palace of Blachernae.
Any visitor remains fascinated by the moltitude of images which stand out on the mosaic carpet, now conserved at the Büyük Saray Mozaikleri Müzesi: it is possible to recognize scenes linked to mythology, hunting, daily life and ancient tales. Among them we can also identify some fragmentary images that seemingly have no meaning but whose careful study allows a reconstruction of the lost iconographies. The observation and the comparison with some floor mosaics reveal similarities and iconographic assimilations. They often differentiate in style but still share a common intent in the representation of the subject which they suggest if we pay attention to the unit of composition and to the spatial organization of the whole.

La “Targa Vito Fumagalli” dell'Istituto di Studi Medioevali Cecco d'Ascoli è stata assegnata in occasione della XXVI edizione del Premio Internazionale Ascoli Piceno 2014 a Valentina De Pasca (Università di Milano) per la tesi di specializzazione "Manufatti di arte suntuaria di produzione classica e dell'Oriente Mediterraneo nelle necropoli di Castel Trosino e Nocera Umbra".

Il presente lavoro individua quale ambito della ricerca lo studio archeologico e al tempo stesso storico artistico delle fibule a disco portate alla luce in età longobarda (fine VI-VIII secolo) nei territori della Penisola italiana. La volontà di tale approfondimento è nata dall'esigenza di colmare un vuoto degli studi relativo a questo specifico documento di cultura materiale che, ad oggi, era stato indagato sommariamente e con il solo fine di evidenziare la ricezione di un costume della romanitas da parte di una popolazione cosiddetta "barbarica". La terminologia con la quale si è voluto indicare tale fenomeno ha preso però le distanze dall'espressione tanto superficiale quanto generica di "acculturazione", preferendo un'indagine che individuasse in tale manifestazione un processo di "assimilazione".
Il primo momento di questo studio è da individuare nella redazione del Catalogo delle fibule a disco di età longobarda (secoli VI-VIII) portate alla luce sul territorio italiano. Il testo, che supporta e completa la narrazione principale, è costituito dalla schedatura di tutte le fibule a disco che rispondono ai parametri sopraindicati; tali manufatti sono stati accostati per la prima volta e, inoltre, si è cercato di fornire la loro immagine complessiva (placca anteriore e placca posteriore), nella quasi totalità dei casi inedita.
L'esame approfondito del catalogo ha consentito di individuare due tipologie di manufatti, sulle cui funzioni distinte si è fondata l'intera scrittura: la prima è costituita dai monili ascrivibili alla categoria delle fibule a disco di carattere elitario (sei in tutto) che in antico, con ogni probabilità, appartenevano a individui maschili e avevano la funzione di simboli di potere; la seconda tipologia si compone invece di manufatti portati alla luce in sepolture femminili o emersi in rinvenimenti sporadici. Questi ultimi, benché spesso realizzati in materiali di pregio, erano oggetti comuni utilizzati quali accessori di chiusura del mantello femminile secondo una consuetudine mediterranea.
L'analisi della seppur limitata diffusione di tali monili di pregio in ambito longobardo ha richiesto tuttavia che ci si confrontasse in principio con la creazione del prototipo di tale manufatto durante il Basso Impero e nella prima età bizantina attraverso lo studio analitico degli esemplari giunti sino a noi; che si indagasse la duplice funzione – simbolica ed estetica – che sembrerebbe aver connotato, da subito, tali preziosi manufatti, prestando una particolare attenzione al portato simbolico e cosmologico evidenziato da alcuni documenti riconducibili alla produzione artistica della Siria romana (stele funerarie, tesserae); e, infine, che si avessero chiari alcuni fenomeni di interazione culturale tra il mondo germanico e quello proto-bizantino.
Quanto emerso dalla prima parte dell'indagine ha costituito la base su cui fondare la seconda parte della ricerca, certamente la più rilevante e originale perché completamente focalizzata sullo studio dei manufatti di ambito longobardo. La duplice tipologia di fibule a disco ha inevitabilmente richiesto di modellare la ricerca su due linee: l'attenzione si è quindi rivolta anzitutto sui manufatti di carattere elitario per poi spostarsi sugli oggetti più comuni.
Nel primo caso si è messo in luce come la quasi totalità delle fibule elitarie vanti una provenienza dalla Langobardia Minor e, di conseguenza, da un milieu culturale fortemente influenzato dall'Italia bizantina tanto da aver sempre ricercato una sorta di autonomia rispetto alla parte settentrionale del Regnum. L'analisi del Ducato di Benevento ha quindi permesso non solo di evidenziare alcune "consonanze bizantine" bensì anche di leggere l'attestazione di tali manufatti come attributi di potere in un'ottica autonomista rispetto alla Langobardia Maior nonché quali indizi di dialogo nei confronti dell'Italia bizantina e del suo sovrano. L'analisi storico artistica ha inoltre consentito di giungere a nuove conclusioni sia rispetto alle coordinate spaziali della produzione (es. fibula da Capua) sia per quanto riguarda le datazioni (es. fibula cosiddetta Castellani).
A proposito dei manufatti più comuni, oltre ad aver ridimensionato quello che anche nei più recenti dibattiti era stato definito il "fenomeno delle fibule a disco", merito di questo lavoro è stata l'identificazione dei preziosi monili che possono essere riconducibili alla cultura artistica longobarda e di quelli che, invece, attestano un momento di passaggio e sono quindi ascrivibili alla sensibilità estetica e al linguaggio espressivo merovingio.

***

This study aims to investigate disc brooches brought to light in Italy (VIth-VIIIth) from an archaeological and historical artistic point of view. The will of this research must be identified in the need to fill a gap in the studies related to this specific document of material culture. To date disc brooches were investigated summarily and with the sole purpose of highlighting the reception of a costume related to the romanitas by a so-called "barbaric" population.
The first step of this study has been the drafting of the Catalogo delle fibule a disco di età longobarda (secoli VI-VIII) portate alla luce sul territorio italiano. This document supports and completes the thesis work: it consists of the recording of all the disk brooches which meet the above parameters. Such artifacts have been combined for the first time and, moreover, I tried to provide their overall image (front and back plate) that was in almost all the cases unpublished.
The deep analysis of the above mentioned Catalogo has allowed to identify two kind of artifacts, on whose distinct functions was founded the whole writing. The first type consists of the jewels attributable to the category of élite disc brooches (six in total): these, in the early medieval period, belonged to male individuals and were symbols of power. On the contrary, the second type of disc brooches belonged to female individuals: although made of valuable materials, they served as accessories to close the cloak according to a Mediterranean tradition.
The analysis of the limited diffusion of such precious jewels in the Lombard context required that we confronted in principle with the creation of the prototype of this kind of artefact during the Late Roman Empire and in the Early Byzantine age. Then we have investigated the double function - symbolic and aesthetic - which would seem to have immediately characterized these precious artifacts, paying particular attention to the symbolic and cosmological significance highlighted by some documents referable to the artistic production of Roman Syria (funerary reliefs, tesserae).
What emerged from the first part of this research constituted the basis on which to base the second part of the research, certainly the most relevant and original because it is completely focused on the exam of the Lombard objects. The dual type of disc brooches has inevitably required to model the research on two lines: the focus was therefore on the élite artifacts first and then move on the most common objects.
In the first case it was highlighted that almost all the élite disc brooches have a provenance from the Langobardia Minor and, consequently, from a cultural milieu strongly influenced by Byzantine Italy. The duchy of Benevento indeed tried always to achieve a kind of autonomy from the northern part of the Regnum. The historical artistic analysis has also allowed to reach new conclusions both with respect to the spatial coordinates of the production (e.g. brooch from Capua) and with regard to the dating of most of them (e.g. the so-called Castellani brooch).
About the most common artifacts, in addition to having resized what even in the most recent debates had been defined the "phenomenon of disc brooches", the merit of this work was the identification of the precious jewels that can be traced back to the Lombard artistic culture and of those that, instead, attest a moment of transition and are therefore ascribable to the Merovingian aesthetic sensibility and expressive language.