Roman Sarcophagi

Sarkophag, um 300 n. Chr. Inschrift AE 1996,1095=AE1999,1086; EDCS-03000646: Callosiae Clamosae co(n)i/ugi carissimae quae vexit / annis XXVIIII et m(ensibus) V d(iebus) n(umero) XVIIII / cui Fl(avius) A[---] v(ir) p(erfectissimus) p(rae)p(ositus) v/inorum coniux eius faci/undum curavit.

Recent investigations in the North-East Necropolis and in the st Philip church at Hierapolis brought to light numerous fragments of marble sarcophagi. The paper presents the results of the archaeological examinations carried out on these sarcophagi, which are discussed in integration with petrographic, isotopic and cathodoluminescence data. Imported sarcophagi from Dokimeion and others made of local marbles (especially from Thiounta and Marmar Tepe) are attested, suggesting a new scenario for the production
activities and the presence of travelling craftsmen in the Lykos Valley. Also the reuse of the Roman Imperial sarcophagi inside the Byzantine building site of the St Philip church is discussed.

Dans un premier temps, je ne mettrai pas de pdf de l'article qui se rapporte aux découvertes de la nécropole fouillée près de la place E. Wernert (Lyon 5). Voici seulement en pièce jointe une photographie d'un sarcophage qui remploie une architrave-frise d'un mausolée et une liste de quelques mots-clefs : Lyon ; églises Saint-Just et Saint-Irénée ; paléochrétien ; remplois ; nécropole ; sarcophage ; mausolées antiques ; sanctuaire du culte impérial ; décor architectural ; sculpture ; griffons ; Méléagre ; stèle funéraire avec un portrait ; Eros sur un sarcophage.

In order to complement the text by Aby Warburg on Manet (published in this issue of Engramma, German edition and Italian version by Maurizio Ghelardi), we present a series of fragments pinned in 11 unnumbered sheets, dating back to the last months of Warburg’s life [WIA 102.1 .2]. Fragments are published in German version and Italian translation by Maurizio Ghelardi. In the Commentary by Monica Centanni, the main themes of these adnotations are put in evidence: The ancient sarcophagi as energy catalysts;” Sphaera barbarica” and katasterismos; Liberation of the demons and emancipation (Olympic) of the chthonic gods; Images of the Nymph: the handmaid, the Victory, Hecate; Dinamogrammi;  Denkraum / Zwischenraum; Notes for the Bilderatlas Mnemosyne; Manet as a guide through the paths of Mnemosyne.

Preface - Introduction - The twelve labours of Hercules on Roman sarcophagi - Conclusion - Catalogue - Sarcophagi from Rome - Sarcophagi from Italy - Attic sarcophagi - Asiatic sarcophagi - Sarcophagi from the eastern provinces - Diagrams - Bibliography - List of figures - Concordance - Index of locations and provenances - Index of subjects.

Drawing from a rich corpus of art works, including sarcophagi, tomb paintings, and floor mosaics, Patrick R. Crowley investigates how something as insubstantial as a ghost could be made visible through the material grit of stone and paint. In this fresh and wide-ranging study, he uses the figure of the ghost to offer a new understanding of the status of the image in Roman art and visual culture. Tracing the shifting practices and debates in antiquity about the nature of vision and representation, Crowley shows how images of ghosts make visible structures of beholding and strategies of depiction. Yet the figure of the ghost simultaneously contributes to a broader conceptual history that accounts for how modalities of belief emerged and developed in antiquity. Neither illustrations of ancient beliefs in ghosts nor depictions of afterlife, these images show us something about the visual event of seeing itself. The Phantom Image offers essential insight into ancient art, visual culture, and the history of the image.

How can material artifacts help illuminate the religious lives of women in antiquity? In what ways do archaeological and art historical studies recover women’s religious perspectives and experiences that the literary record misses or underrepresents? The authors of the essays in this volume set out to answer such questions in fascinating, new case studies of women and ancient religions in the Near East and Mediterranean world. They cover a broad historical, geographic, and religious spectrum as they explore women’s lives from the time of ancient Egypt in the second millennium BCE into the early medieval period, from the Syrian Desert to Western Europe, in the religious traditions of Egypt, Canaan, Greece, Rome, ancient Israel, early Judaism, and early Christianity. Working at the intersections of religion, archaeology, art history, and women’s history, these authors make fresh contributions to interdisciplinary studies, and their essays will be of interest to students and scholars across these academic fields.

The late Antique mosaic of Orpheus decorated a small room, approximately 18 m2 in area, connected with two even smaller ones, in 4 m2 and the other 2 m2 in area, belonging most likely to a small funerary chapel (or tomb) discovered in the ancient necropolis by the Damascene Gate in Jerusalem; it was discovered in 1901 by H. Vincent.
The author proposes a new interpretation of the iconographic program of the Orpheus myth used by wealthy Christians in a sepulchral context (see Olszewski M.T. «Orphée endeuillé de la mosaïque funéraire de Jérusalem», in Rey Mimoso-Ruiz, B. ed., Actes du colloque «Orphée entre Soleil et ombre», à l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse du 16 au 17 novembre 2007, Inter Lignes, numéros spécial – mars 2008, pp. 205-214, 226). He also proposes a new interpretation of the role Orpheus played in Roman funerary art, concentrating on the importance of the play on words and the visual and textual punning that was popular in ancient art and especially in funerary art. He rejects the popular interpretation of Orpheus as Christ in the Roman catacombs and proposes to interpret the image as that of Orpheus, bard of the departed souls, without any ahistorical connection with Christ. The program of the mosaic from Jerusalem is thus explained as a play on the words Orpheus-orphanos and Chiron (Chi-Rho) and Pan [Παν(τοκράτωρ)].The frequently used Christian funerary formula of resting in peace, Christ or the Lord corresponds
perfectly with the mood created around the mythical bard.
Orpheus’ universal role as singer and musician moving even the most stony of hearts, extolling the beloved departed, is absolutely justified in the context of a 6th-century Christian tomb. Orpheus is a popular and neutral figure, meaning that in effect it does not constitute a threat to Christian theology and can be tolerated by the educated Christians of Jerusalem.

Cette étude, unique, révèle enfin, l’histoire du plus célèbre sculpteur du XIIe siècle, le Maître de Cabestany, le créateur du tympan de l’église de Cabestany, au sud de Perpignan, et de nombreuses autres œuvres, aujourd’hui dispersées entre le sud de la France et le nord de l’Espagne.

Certaines de ces œuvres sont connues depuis longtemps, comme la frise de l’église du Boulou, l’Assomption de la Vierge à Rieux-Minervois ou encore le sarcophage de l’abbaye de Saint-Hilaire, dans l’Aude, et bien d’autres sculptures encore, mais certaines, totalement ignorées jusqu’ici, sont révélées et montrées pour la première fois, comme les chapiteaux de l’abbaye de Moissac, ou les petites sculptures du soleil et de la lune sur le portail de l’église de Saint-Pons-de-Thomières.

Chaque sculpture présentée dans cette étude est datée très précisément, ce qui a finalement permis de reconstituer la véritable histoire de ce sculpteur hors-norme, une histoire bien différente de celle habituellement présentée par les chercheurs, depuis sa naissance près de Toulouse à la fin du XIe siècle, jusqu’à sa mort, en Catalogne espagnole, près de 70 ans plus tard.

Mots-clés : Maître de Cabestany, art roman, sculpture, chapiteau, tympan, sarcophage de Saint-Sernin, abbaye de Moissac, Saint-Etienne de Cahors, Rieux-Minervois, Saint-Pons-de-Thomières, église de Cabestany, Le Boulou, église de Bellpuig, Vaissières, monastère de Sant-Pere-de-Rodes, Sant-Pere-de-Galligants, Sant-Esteve-d’en-Bas, château de La Réole, église d’Orrondo.

More than 20 years after presenting his first interpretation of the mosaic from the House of Aion in a paper entitled “Uwagi na temat mozaiki z Domu Aiona w Nea Paphos (Cypr)” (Meander 9/10, 1987, p. 421-438, in Polish, and translated to English: « The Immortality of the Human Soul and the Dionysiac Mysteries in the 4th Century Allegory [in Connection with the Interpretation of the Mosaic from the “House of Aion” at Paphos in Cyprus]»), where he proposed reading the five mythological panels (1. Leda and Zeus; 2. Dionysus on Mount Nysa; 3. The Dionysian thiasos; 4. Apollo and Marsyas; 5. The Apotheosis of Cassiopeia) as an allegory of the destiny of the human soul and body, starting with conception and ending with the liberation of the soul and its apotheosis, the author now enhances his initial interpretation with numerous reflections concerning the historical context of this work of art, created in the years 320-360.
If, according to the author, the mosaic is a “Hymn” in honour of the pagan gods, Man (his soul) and his place in the (pagan) universe, then at the same time it polemicises with the Christian faith and its God, Jesus Christ.
The author puts forward numerous new solutions relating to the mosaic’s iconography and iconology. Analysis of the mosaic also leads him to propose a solution to the as-yet unanswered question regarding the absence of images of the crucified Christ in Christian art of the 3rd and 4th centuries, up until 420/430, when the first images of Christ on the cross appear.
CONTENTS:
Introduction
1. Research to-date (recap)
2. Description of mosaic (recap)
2.1. Composition of five mythological scenes
2.2. Brief iconographic description of mythological panels
2.3. Outline of individual iconographic elements and their respective roles
2.4. The pagan gods’ air of majesty and dignity as an expression of piety
3. A few words about the pagan reaction
4. An apology of pious human life according to pagan principles and a polemic on the Christian model of Man and his theological idol, Jesus Christ
4.1. Divine intervention in the act of human conception (allusion to/polemic on the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary)
4.2. The Epiphany of Dionysus (an allusion to the Epiphany of Christ – Theou Pais)
4.3. The procession and dissemination of Dionysian order (allusion to/polemic on Christ’s entry into Jerusalem)
4.4. The error of Marsyas (polemic on/allusion to the error of Jesus the Messiah): arrest, sentencing for arrogance and lack of piety (asebeia) and condemnation to a martyr’s death
4.5. The anabasis (or anagoge psyches) of a ‘beautiful soul’ (allusion to/polemic on the Ascension of Christ)
5. A few words on the mosaic programme prior to final conclusions
Final conclusions

Il nuovo allestimento del Museo della via Appia antica è frutto dei lavori di riorganizzazione e di restauro, realizzati dalla Soprintendenza dei Beni Archeologici di Roma negli anni 1998-1999, ma la scelta di collocare nel complesso monumentale della tomba di Cecilia Metella e del Castrum Caetani una vera e propria raccolta archeologica risale agli inizi del Novecento. Si deve ad Antonio Muñoz l'idea di raccogliere nel cortile e nelle sale del palazzo un piccolo Antiquarium con i reperti rinvenuti durante gli scavi eseguiti nell'Ottocento, per garantirne la conservazione e per permetterne la fruizione da parte dei visitatori. Già agli inizi di quel secolo alcuni manufatti marmorei erano stati murati nella tamponatura del portale originale del Castrum, trasformando, su intervento di Giuseppe Valadier ed Antonio Canova, la facciata in una mostra dei materiali più significativi provenienti dall'area del mausoleo. Le opere raccolte nel Museo della via Appia antica sono esemplificative delle principali tipologie di oggetti e monumenti funerari: urne, cippi, iscrizioni, sarcofagi, rilievi con decorazioni vegetali o figurate, elementi architettonici, statue ideali ed iconiche, ritratti. In questo volume si sono voluti riunire tutti i reperti scultorei ed epigrafici attualmen-te conservati nel complesso metelliano: sia i marmi inseriti nella mostra ottocentesca, sia le opere collocate nei locali interni del Castrum, comprese quelle provenienti dai recenti scavi di fine Novecento e le parti del fregio e delle cornici distaccatesi dal Mau-soleo di Cecilia Metella. Il catalogo è preceduto da un'introduzione e da alcuni capitoli relativi alla storia del Museo e degli Scavi, con particolare attenzione alla documentazione di archivio sugli interventi di recupero e di restauro eseguiti nei secoli al fine della riscoperta e della valorizzazione della via Appia. Un capitolo è dedicato ai risultati ottenuti dalle più recenti indagini archeologiche (scavi 1997-2001), realizzate nel Castrum sotto la direzione della dottoressa Rita Paris. Una documentazione fotografica, completa e aggiornata, arricchisce il volume, permettendo una conoscenza puntuale ed esaustiva di tutti i reperti conservati nel Museo della via Appia antica.

Lo stesso autore del Repertorio dei sarcofagi decorati della Sardegna romana, volume edito pochi anni or sono, ne propone qui un aggiornamento sull’onda dell’immediato interesse suscitato dalla pubblicazione, attestato da recensioni dell’opera e dall’edizione di nuovi studi, riguardanti sia singoli sarcofagi repertoriati sia nuove attribuzioni. Tutti questi dati vengono ora ripresi e vagliati in un saggio che risulti funzionale, da un lato, a chiarire alcuni piani di lettura del volume, dall’altro a proporre una sintesi aggiornata delle conoscenze recentemente acquisite sui sarcofagi
decorati di età romana ritrovati in Sardegna, integrata infine dall’analisi dei nuovi esemplari di recentissima scoperta.

"Representations", N. 129, Winter 2015.

The essay analyzes the project of maintaining the body of V. I. Lenin in the Mausoleum in Moscow for the past ninety years, focusing on the unique biological science that developed around this project, and the unexpected political role this body has performed.

In the Roman provinces of the Near East some people never passed away completely. Memories of the deceased were prolonged after death through portraits and epitaphs, monumental stone coffins, and roadside tombs. We know that these forms of displaying the dead had arrived through the cultural networks of the Roman Empire, but so far, we have failed to grasp how they were embedded in mortuary rituals. This project will incorporate the mortuary context in the debate on culture change, and investigate how the dead were mobilized in ongoing negotiations between the global (empire-wide) and the local. Thus far, two barriers have stood in the way of this type of research: the inaccessibility of legacy datasets, and disciplinary divides in scholarship on epitaphs, human bones, ornamentation, and material remains. Recently, digitization efforts have made large datasets of ancient inscriptions and portraits available, and a pilot database was developed at the University of Groningen that brings different data categories in conversation with each other. Capitalizing on these initiatives, this project integrates legacy datasets of archaeologists, historians and art historians. Using an object-active approach we interrogate the transformation of relationships between people, tombs, epitaphs, coffins, and visual imagery in the cemeteries of Roman Lebanon, Syria (Palmyra), and Turkey (Pisidia). Over the next five years, a team of two post-docs, two PhDs, research assistants, and the CIT department will work with the PI to build a digital infrastructure to enhance legacy and orphaned datasets from coastal Lebanon, Palmyra, and Pisidia, as well as to unlock inaccessible collections for wider audiences.

San Salvatore at Barzanò, from Private Church to Baptismal Collegiate Church. A Historical, Architectural and Art-historical Enquiry

During the Middle Ages Barzanò was a small village forty km northeast of Milan. The site was first mentioned in 1015: due to a privilege of Emperor Henry II, the bishop of Como was granted quandam curtem que dicitur Villa Barzanorum, as a personal possession. The privilege was confirmed in 1055 by Emperor Henry III. In the late twelfth century this territory would appear under the control of "da Porta orientale" family, originating from the east side of Milan. At end of the thirteenth century, the church of San Salvatore is documented as part of the diocese of Milan and controlled by "da Pirovano" family, also originating from Milan. The church was probably founded in the late tenth century as a private chapel, on the southeast side of a high ground, perhaps already fortified.

The church of Phase 1, consisting of a square shaped hall (6x6,5 meters) with a barrel-vaulted apse, is still partly recognisable in today's building.

At the very beginning of the eleventh century the bell-tower was built first (Phase 2a), then the western bay, transforming the first facade in arcade (Phase 2b). The entire nave floor was raised by 0,8 meters, both to level the hill slope and to make room for a crypt under the apse. Two flight of stairs were probably positioned along the walls, three meters east from those still existing. The pre-Romanesque crypts of San Pietro al Monte at Civate, San Daniele alla Pedeserva, and San Salvatore at Almenno are comparable in several aspects. Finally, an early christian sarcophagus was placed in the middle of the nave. It was likely the burial of the dominus, i.e. the head of the household owning the church.

Most likely in the late eleventh century, the chapel of San Salvatore evolved in baptismal collegiate church. It was the occasion for a further architectural renovation (Phase 3). A masonry dome on squinches, arcades and piers was built inside the central bay, squeezed up against the walls. The first (disappeared) baptismal font was set up under the dome.

The last medieval renovation dates back to the beginning of the thirteenth century (Phase 4). The apse and the crypt were extended towards the nave by the excavation of a corridor/trench covered by timber ceiling. The additional space was connected to the vaulted bay by two arcades, which were obtained demolishing the wall, while the stairs were 'moved' three meters west. The reorganisation of the liturgical space implied the dismantling of the first baptismal font. The monumental western portal, dated 1231, was realised quite possibly in the same phase.

In the need to provide a new baptismal font, a workshop experienced in fine stone-cutting was hired, able to engineer and realise an octagonal structure consisting of no less than 49 pieces (considering those allegedly lost) assembled with meticulous precision.
In San Salvatore there is neither material nor written evidence of an altar of Saint John the Baptist, even though it was used during the baptism, in particular in ambrosian context. Why shouldn't there have been such an altar in San Salvatore? Was it perhaps a movable wooden one? The question still stands.

A mural decoration completed the renovation of Phase 3, that means presumably in the late eleventh century. A peculiar cycle of Christ folds out in the domed bay, modestly preserved despite the 2009-2010 fine restoration.
The radial composition of the dome could be interpreted as the last episode of the christological cycle: the Pentecost, also considering the mural icon of the Virgin with Child at the base, or rather the Mission of the apostles to the four corners of the World.  The meander band at the base of the dome seems to point out the line between earthly and heavenly dimension. Given the above, the painted dome could also be seen as a teophanic apparition of the Lord/Christ with his heavenly court, or even a synthetic representation of the heavenly Jerusalem.
The experienced workshop rooted its language in the ottonian culture; nevertheless, it doesn't automatically imply a chronology by the beginning of the eleventh century, as suggested by some scholars trusting only the "stylistic" analysis. Referring to the Middle Ages, the role of traditions, the strength of models of reference, the persistence of pictorial patterns, and the really slow transformations inside a workshop, should be stressed. In such a situation, architectural features are much more reliable as a chronological indicator; in this case they suggest the late eleventh century, which is not in contrast to what is depicted.

The traditions on which the creation of the standard metropolitan relief sarcophagus in the early second century A. D. are based, have hitherto received little attention. The sarcophagi, despite their completely new design, are structurally closely related to grave monuments of the early Imperial period. Tracing the development of the relief decoration from altars and urns to garland and ultimately frieze sarcophagi not only helps understand the relevance of the few pieces like the outstanding Velletri sarcophagus but also allows for greater differentiation in the interpretation of the mythological representations on the standard sarcophagi.

[digital version of the paper on request]

This article, in honour of one of the greatest living scholars of early Christian Medieval art, attempts to use a comparative method to examine the development and uses of narrative in the arts of early Christianity and early Buddhism-both new religious interventions in their respective landscapes, which conducted major revisions of their visual and dogmatic worlds, and employed visual imagery in relation to Scripture. In particular I compare images that conflate different times from the arts of each religion-a typological juxtaposition of Old and New Testaments in a fourth century Roman sarcophagus found in southern France and the thematic juxtaposition of a scene from the Buddha's final life with ones from his earlier incarnations as recounted in the Jātaka tales on a probably third-century CE frieze from a stūpa in southern India. At stake art historically are the ways that images supplied commentarial competition to the forms of commentary and exegesis offered by texts in both religions and cultural contexts, through parallels of visual narrativity implied by the themes juxtaposed.

Griechische Mythen erobern im kaiserzeitlichen Rom einen neuen Bildraum - die Gräber. Unter den Reliefsarkophagen des 2. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. fällt eine kleine, in der Forschung wenig beachtete Gruppe ins Auge, die mit dem Mythos eines höchst problematischen Helden dekoriert war: Orestes. In einer detaillierten Analyse der 29 erhaltenen Sarkophagbilder erschließt Ruth Bielfeldt die kulturellen Beweggründe, die zur Rezeption dieses griechischen Mythos im römischen Sepulkralbereich geführt haben.
Der Band ist die erste Monographie zu den Orest-Sarkophagen.

More than 20 years after presenting his first interpretation of the mosaic from the House of Aion in a paper entitled “Uwagi na temat mozaiki z Domu Aiona w Nea Paphos (Cypr)” (Meander 9/10, 1987, p. 421-438, in Polish, and translated to English: « The Immortality of the Human Soul and the Dionysiac Mysteries in the 4th Century Allegory [in Connection with the Interpretation of the Mosaic from the “House of Aion” at Paphos in Cyprus]»), where he proposed reading the five mythological panels (1. Leda and Zeus; 2. Dionysus on Mount Nysa; 3. The Dionysian thiasos; 4. Apollo and Marsyas; 5. The Apotheosis of Cassiopeia) as an allegory of the destiny of the human soul and body, starting with conception and ending with the liberation of the soul and its apotheosis, the author now enhances his initial interpretation with numerous reflections concerning the historical context of this work of art, created in the years 320-360.
If, according to the author, the mosaic is a “Hymn” in honour of the pagan gods, Man (his soul) and his place in the (pagan) universe, then at the same time it polemicises with the Christian faith and its God, Jesus Christ.
The author puts forward numerous new solutions relating to the mosaic’s iconography and iconology. Analysis of the mosaic also leads him to propose a solution to the as-yet unanswered question regarding the absence of images of the crucified Christ in Christian art of the 3rd and 4th centuries, up until 420/430, when the first images of Christ on the cross appear.
CONTENTS:
Introduction
1. Research to-date (recap)
2. Description of mosaic (recap)
2.1. Composition of five mythological scenes
2.2. Brief iconographic description of mythological panels
2.3. Outline of individual iconographic elements and their respective roles
2.4. The pagan gods’ air of majesty and dignity as an expression of piety
3. A few words about the pagan reaction
4. An apology of pious human life according to pagan principles and a polemic on the Christian model of Man and his theological idol, Jesus Christ
4.1. Divine intervention in the act of human conception (allusion to/polemic on the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary)
4.2. The Epiphany of Dionysus (an allusion to the Epiphany of Christ – Theou Pais)
4.3. The procession and dissemination of Dionysian order (allusion to/polemic on Christ’s entry into Jerusalem)
4.4. The error of Marsyas (polemic on/allusion to the error of Jesus the Messiah): arrest, sentencing for arrogance and lack of piety (asebeia) and condemnation to a martyr’s death
4.5. The anabasis (or anagoge psyches) of a ‘beautiful soul’ (allusion to/polemic on the Ascension of Christ)
5. A few words on the mosaic programme prior to final conclusions
Final conclusions
Key words: mythological mosaic, House of Aion, Nea Paphos, Late Antiquity, Roman art, allegorical narrative, allusive language of mythological pictures, wordplay (Marsyas-Messias), Jesus Christ, anti-Christian polemic, Dionysos, Cassiopeia, Apollon, Nereides, Abstract Personifications, Greek Mythology, ΚΥΠΡΟΣ

The gesture code in Ancient Art is based on a hierarchical combination of different parts. In some respect it can be compared to an agglutinative language, in which words may contain different morphemes which contribute to define or change their meaning. Ancient craftsmen assembled figures from general types (e.g. the elderly woman in domestic dress) by attaching intentional and coded gestures (e.g. the hand holding up the arm of a suffering) and various unintentional patterns of behaviour (e.g. the shoulder strap falling; the head  leaning back). These elements act as morphological prefixes and suffixes to define the meaning of the final figure.