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The role of late antique art in early Christian worship: a reconsideration of the iconography of the ‘starry sky’ in the ‘Mausoleum’ of Galla Placidia1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2011

Ellen Swift
Affiliation:
Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies, SECI., University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NF,Great Britain. [email protected]
Anne Alwis
Affiliation:
Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies, SECI., University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NF,Great Britain. [email protected]
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Abstract

Attingendo alla nozione di Jaś Elsner della ‘visione mistica’ e le contestuali fonti scritte che descrivono la decorazione degli interni della chiesa e l'importanza simbolica della luce e delle stele nell'esegesi paleocristiana, questo articolo riesamina le volte mosaicate con cieli stellati, principalmente quelle all'interno del cosiddetto ‘Mausoleo’ di Galla Placidia a Ravenna. Esso enfatizza il ruolo attivo dello schema decorativo nella tarda antichità; e il ruolo dell'arte non solo come esemplificazione, ma anche come mediazione del culto paleocristiano. La proposta avanzata è che gli effetti visivi esibiti dai mosaici sono strumenteli nel creare una particolare relazione con lo spettatoie antico, relazione in cui le stelle potevano essere state viste non solo come una rappresentazione del cielo, ma come una concreta manifestazione del potere raggiante dei santi nel loro ruolo di intermediari tra la terra e il paradise.

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Copyright
Copyright © British School at Rome 2010

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References

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29 Mackie, Early Christian Chapels (above, n. 7), 183.

30 Maguire, Earth and Ocean (above, n. 16), 9-10.

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33 Nordström, Ravennastudien (above, n. 24), 19-21.

34 Mackie, G., ‘New light on the so-called St. Lawrence Panel at the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna’, Gesta 29 (1990), 5460CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Mackie, Early Christian Chapels (above, n. 7), 185-91.

35 Nordström, Ravennastudien (above, n. 24), 15; Lowden, Early Christian and Byzantine Art (above, n. 21), 108-9. The fact that he appears to be moving out of the frame towards the viewer lends additional support to this premise, in line with Alfred Gell's theory on the agency of the image (Gell, A., Art and Agency (Oxford, 1998Google Scholar)).

36 Grabar, Martyrium (above, n. 23), 111; von Simson Sacred Fortress (above, n. 7), 42; Deichmann, , Ravenna I (above, n. 7), 168–9Google Scholar; Deichmann, , Ravenna II (above, n. 7), 84–6Google Scholar; Mackie, Early Christian Chapels (above, n. 7), 81.

37 Cyril of Jerusalem in a letter to Constantine in Philostorgius, , Church History (trans. Amidon, P.) (Atlanta, 2007Google Scholar), ch. 25.

38 Grabar, Martyrium (above, n. 23), 110-11, 191, 276-7.

39 von Simson, Sacred Fortress (above, n. 7), 42-58; Grabar, ‘L'iconographie du ciel’ (above, n. 7) is more sceptical. See also Deichmann, , Ravenna II (above, n. 7), 84–6Google Scholar.

40 von Simson, Sacred Fortress (above, n. 7), 42-3.

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42 Janes, D., God and Gold in Late Antiquity (Cambridge, 1998), 128–9Google Scholar. Jewels were added to representations of objects and cities to enhance their status as holy and powerful.

45 Nordström, Ravennastudien (above, n. 24), 27-31.

44 Nordström, Ravennastudien (above, n. 24), 15; Lowden, Early Christian and Byzantine Art (above, n. 21), 108.

45 Grabar, Martyrium (above, n. 23), 111. See also von Simson, Sacred Fortress (above, n. 7), 46-50, who quoted Paulinus of Nola, letter 32: ‘where there is the cross there is also the martyr, because the cross is also the martyr's cross’ (Letters of St. Paulinus of Nola, 2 vols (trans. Walsh, P.) (Westminster, 1966-1967), IIGoogle Scholar.

46 Gell, Art and Agency (above, n. 35).

47 Gell, Art and Agency (above, n. 35), 6-7.

48 Exemplified, for instance, in the late antique context by a quotation from Paulinus of Nola: ‘Somewhat farther within the larger church a room has been built into the outer wall, almost as a kind of offspring. Its star-spangled dome makes it beautiful … The source of devotion at its centre lends it brilliance, and in a remarkable way it both transforms the whole and is itself transformed’ (Poem 28 in The Poems of St. Paulinus of Nola (trans. Walsh, P.) (New York, 1975Google Scholar)).

49 Gell, Art and Agency (above, n. 35), 97-9, 104-6. See also Swift, E., Style and Function in Roman Decoration: Living with Objects and Interiors (Farnham, 2009), 20–1Google Scholar, for further discussion of literature relating to this.

50 Kitzinger, E., ‘The cult of images in the age before iconoclasm’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 8 (1954), 83-150, esp. p. 137CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

51 von Simson, Sacred Fortress (above, n. 7), 58; see also Brown, Cult of the Saints (above, n. 22), 86-105.

52 Loerke, W. “Real presence' in early Christian art’, in Verdon, T. (ed.), Monasticism and the Arts (Syracuse, 1984), 2951Google Scholar.

53 Elsner, J., ‘Image and ritual: reflections on the religious appreciation of classical art’, Classical Quarterly 46 (1996), 515–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Elsner, J., Art and the Roman Viewer (Cambridge, 1995), 88, 97Google Scholar.

54 Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer (above, n. 53), 210, discussed this in relation to another interior space for worship, the Mithracum.

55 Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer (above, n. 53), 210-14, 222-39.

56 Swift, Style and Function (above, n. 49), 10-23.

57 Riegl, A., Late Roman Art Industry (trans. Winkes, R.) (Rome, 1901; republished 1985), 134–40Google Scholar.

58 Kitzinger, Byzantine Art in the Making (above, n. 41), 54-5.

59 See Amheim, R., Art and Visual Perception: a Psychology of the Creative Eye (Berkeley, 1974Google Scholar), chapters 1 and 8 on the creation of these kinds of optical effects.

60 Nordström, Ravennastudien (above, n. 24), 26; Ricci, C., ll mosaico di Galla Placidia in Ravenna (Rome, 1914), 70Google Scholar.

61 Janes, God and Gold (above, n. 42), 112; Mackie, Early Christian Chapels (above, n. 7), 100.

62 Mackie, Early Christian Chapels (above, n. 7), 180, 240-1.

63 Nordström, Ravennastudien (above, n. 24), 22.

64 Trout, D., ‘Damasus and the invention of early Christian Rome’, Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 33 (3) (2003), 517–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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66 Trout, D., ‘Saints, identity and the city’, in Burrus, V. (ed.), A People's History of Christianity II. Late Ancient Christianity (Minneapolis, 2005), 165-87, cited at p. 174Google Scholar.

67 ‘nova sidera’, Damasus, Epigram 26: Ihm, M., Damasi Epigrammata (Leipzig, 1895Google Scholar). Trout translated the epigram as follows: ‘Whoever you are who seeks equally after the names of Peter and Paul, you should know that the holy men once dwelt here. The East sent its apostles, a fact we freely acknowledge. By virtue of their martyrdom and having pursued Christ through the stars (per astra), they reached the heavenly asylum and the kingdoms of the pious. Rome has earned the right to claim them as her own citizens. These things Damasus wishes to relate in your praise, O new stars (nova sidera)’; Trout, ‘Saints, identity and the city’ (above, n. 66), 174.

68 Trout, ‘Saints, identity and the city’ (above, n. 66), 174; Trout's translation. See also epigrams 3.11-14; 7.3, 5; 10.12; 23.1-2; 47.3.

69 Letter 23 (Letters of St. Paulinus (above, n. 45), 37). The reference to Paul is Philippians 2.15.

70 Poem 15 (Poems of St. Paulinus (above, n. 48), 94). Delivered January 398.

71 Poem 19 (Poems of St. Paulinus (above, n. 48), 131). January 405.

72 Poem 19 (Poems of St. Paulinus (above, n. 48), 138).

73 Poem 19 (Poems of St. Paulinus (above, n. 48), 139).

74 Elsner, J., Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph (Oxford, 1998), fig. 159Google Scholar.

75 Trout, D., ‘The verse epitaph(s) of Petronius Probus: competitive commemoration in late fourthcentury Rome’, New England Classical journal 28 (3) (2001), 157-76, esp. pp. 169-70, 172-4, 176Google Scholar.

76 Conybeare, C., Paulinus Noster: Self and Symbols in the Letters of Paulinus of Nola (Oxford, 2000), 11-16, 20, and esp. 4152CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

77 Most of our information for him comes from Agnellus's ninth-century Life, from whom the spiritual leader also received his epithet of ‘the golden orator’. Agnellus lists Chrysologus as Peter I and Peter II (Agnellus, Liber Pontificalis 47).

78 Chrysologus, Sermon 108 (vol. 1, p. 69). For martyrs in heaven, see also Sermon 129 (vol. 1, pp. 214-15); Sermon 133 (vol. 1, p. 219): Selected Sermons: St. Peter Chrysologus, vol. 1 (trans. Ganss, G.) (Washington DC, 1983Google Scholar). All volume and page references to the sermons in the following notes refer to the published editions given in this note and in n. 80.

79 With reference to Saint Felicitas (Sermon 134: vol. 1, p. 221). Chrysologus was very careful to dissociate stars from astrology, which he often denounces. He understands stars in varying capacities.

80 Chrysologus, Sermon 118.2 (vol. 3, pp. 150-1). Also Sermon 10.1 (vol. 2, p. 52) and Sermon 14.1 (vol. 2, p. 66): St. Peter Chrysologus (trans. Palardy, W.), vols 2 and 3 (Washington DC, 2005Google Scholar).

81 Chrysologus, Sermon 1 (vol. 1, p. 25).

82 Chrysologus, Sermon 1 (vol. 1, p. 26).

83 Chrysologus, Sermon 36 (vol. 1, p. 75). Other examples: ‘Brethren, at this point I would already be willing to explain the mystery in this passage, but greater profit can be gained from doing this later on, and this restrains me. I observe that as you listen you are not experiencing fitting compassion, nor deeming these matters our concern; rather, you are passing over them quickly with fleeting attention … We shall scrutinize the deeper matters later, because we have greater obligation to our congregation and our customs’ (Sermon 2 (vol. 1, pp. 33-4)). The translator noted that ‘our customs’ refers to the habit of ‘preaching only short sermons’ (n. 10, p. 34); ‘we should speak to the populace in popular fashion. The parish ought to be addressed by ordinary speech. Matters necessary to all men should be spoken about as men in general speak … Therefore, today let the learned grant pardon for commonplace language’ (Sermon 43 (vol. 1, p. 90)); Sermon 74 (vol. 1, p. 127); Sermon 122 (vol. 1, p. 209).

84 Chrysologus, Sermon 118.2 (vol. 3, p. 150).

85 Chrysologus, Sermon 5 (vol. 1, pp. 43-4). Other examples: ‘However, the historical narrative should always be raised to a higher meaning … Therefore, we should now unfold, by allegorical discourse, what symbolic teaching is contained …’ (Sermon 36 (vol. 1, p. 78)).

86 Chrysologus, Sermon 5 (vol. 1, p. 51). Other examples: ‘Surely, if there were not mystical meanings, no distinction would remain between the infidel and the faithful, between the wicked man and the devout one … But, as things are, when the soul asks, the mind knocks, the power of perception seeks … and studious attention deserves it, the one who labours in perspiration does see fruit appear’ (Sermon 96 (vol. 1, p. 152) — with reference to parables in general).

87 Chrysologus, Sermon 92 (vol. 3, p. 94).

88 Chrysologus, Sermon 160 (vol. 3, p. 278).

89 Luke 13.20-1: ‘To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened’.

90 Chrysologus, Sermon 99.4-5 (vol. 3, p. 108).

91 Chrysologus, Sermon 126.1 (vol. 3, p. 181); Sermon 139.1 (vol. 3, p. 216). Introduction to vol. 2, pp. 25-6 for ‘interpreting the Scriptures as a cooperative venture between the preacher and the congregation, with the latter contributing their undivided attention’ (n. 3, vol. 3, p. 181).

92 Mackie, Early Christian Chapels (above, n. 7), 181-4, 191-3, focusing on the cross in the mosaic and the overall decorative layout of the building: ‘Thus the mausoleum of Galla Placidia can best be understood as a funerary chapel, decorated as a microcosm of heaven, and expressing in symbolic terms the Christian hope of life after death in the realms beyond the stars’ (p. 192).

93 Lehmann, ‘Dome of heaven’ (above, n. 2); Smith, B., The Dome of Heaven (Princeton, 1950Google Scholar); see also McVey, K., ‘The domed church as microcosm: literary roots of an architectural symbol’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 37(1983), 91121CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

94 Sermon 78.3 (vol. 3, p. 32). See also sermon 81 (vol. 3, p. 39): [Rebellious Judea strives to vanquish the creator] … ‘it has removed peace from the earth, it has dissolved the harmony of the universe, and it has so ruptured what joined the elements together, that it was drawing the whole world back to its ancient chaos. And so it puts day to flight with night, it attacks light with darkness, It removes heaven from the universe, it makes the earth quake, it mingles the dead with the living, it jumbles together those who dwell in the lower and the upper world, and with the whole order among creatures disrupted it leaves absolutely nothing that is peaceful or harmonious. That is why when Christ returned from the underworld, so that he might restore peace to the universe, he exclaims: ‘peace be with you’.

95 Chrysologus, Sermon 148 (vol. 1, pp. 248-9).

96 Chrysologus, Sermon 1 (vol. 1, p. 29) and also Sermon 3 (on the same subject) (vol. 1, p. 36): ‘Clearly, if the heavenly Father had not cast His rays upon the returning son's face, if He had not lifted the mist of his shame by the light streaming from His own glance, that son would never have seen God's brilliant face’. See also Sermon 87 (vol. 3, p. 68) and Sermon 120 (vol. 1, p. 207) when referring to Paul: ‘He who will live according to PauL's teachings, he, too, will surely be greater than the sky. He who thus shines throughout the world by the rays of his virtues so that he does not let himself be darkened by any night of vices, he will be brighter than the sun. He who mitigates this darkness not by any dimmed light, but banishes all the night by the strong brilliance of his merits, he will surely be more luminous than the moon. He will not, like the moon, experience daily diminutions of his light, but by the steadily glowing lantern of his deeds he will remain in the illumination of a heavenly light … I say nothing about the stars, because the saints shine with as many virtues as the sky is spangled with stars. ‘You are the light of the world’, said the lord; ‘shine like lamps in the world” (quoting Matthew 5.14, 16).

97 Paulinus of Nola, Poem 28 {Poems of St. Paulinus (above, n. 45), 303).

98 Chrysologus, Sermon 3 (vol. 1, p. 36) — see n. 96. Sermon 120 (vol. 1, p. 207) — see n. 96. Sermon 149 (vol. 1, p. 252): ‘Today, Christ, who is the King of peace, has come forth with His peace and routed all discord, banished dissensions, and dissipated conflicts. As the brilliance of the sun lights up the sky, so He illumines the Church with the splendour of peace’.