The Last Pagans of Rome and the Viewers of Roman Art

16

R. L

izz

i TesT

a (ed.) T

he Strange D

eath of P

agan R

om

e

The end of paganism in antique Rome strongly involves the nature of the relations between pagans and Christians in the fourth century AD. The historical paradigm of conflict has been disseminated by scholars as the Hungarian András Alföldi, who in 1934 presented a Christian Constantine in irreconcilable conflict with a pagan Rome, and by Herbert Bloch. The latter, most notably in 1958, in a seminar confer-ence at the Warburg Institute, consolidated the idea of a conflictual model in which the aristocracy of Rome, faced with a tightening of measures against traditional cults, realized a real ‘pagan revival’ and led against Theodosius I «the last pagan army of the ancient world». This model was subjected to a massive critique by Alan Cameron in his The Last Pagans of Rome, Oxford 2011, but in the course of less than two years Cameron’s publication has aroused a strong response, especially on the part of European scholars, and the debate has gained new, effervescent relevance.

This volume, edited by Rita Lizzi Testa, collects the reflections of some Italian scholars – Guido Clemente, Rita Lizzi Testa, Giorgio Bonamente, Silvia Orlandi, Giovanni Alberto Cecconi, Lellia Cracco Ruggini, Franca Ela Consolino, Isabella Gualandri, Gianfranco Ago-sti, Gianluca Grassigli, Alessandra Bravi – and of the illustrious profes-sor François Paschoud from Geneva, on the theme of the last pagans of Rome. It is not only A. Alföldi’s and H. Bloch’s model that pro-vides the dialectic reference for their discussions, but rather, the more insidious in its paradoxical nature, Alan Cameron’s. For the English scholar the concept of conflict is a pure historiographical construc-tion because no real pagans remained in Rome when Theodosius issued laws against paganism. They were not pagan but classical élites, people totally soaked in classical culture, who accepted Christianity when it became compatible with classical culture and the imperial in-stitutions. In his monumental book (more than 800 pages), he argues his position through learned demonstrations and the review of a vast amount of literary, archaeological, epigraphic and even artistic docu-mentation. Nevertheless, much of this evidence can be read again from very different perspectives, and this is what the contributors of the volume try to do.

ISBN 978-2-503-54942-2

9 782503 549422

BIBLIOTHECA

F

Edited byRita Lizzi Testa

The Strange Death of Pagan Rome

BIBLIOTHECA

GIORNALE ITALIANO DI FILOLOGIA

EDITOR IN CHIEFCarlo Santini (Perugia)

EDITORIAL BOARDGiorgio Bonamente (Perugia)

Paolo Fedeli (Bari) Giovanni Polara (Napoli) Aldo Setaioli (Perugia)

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

Maria Grazia Bonanno (Roma) Carmen Codoñer (Salamanca) Roberto Cristofoli (Perugia) Emanuele Dettori (Roma)

Hans-Christian Günther (Freiburg i.B.) David Konstan (New York)

Julián Méndez Dosuna (Salamanca) Aires Nascimento (Lisboa)

Heinz-Günter Nesselrath (Heidelberg) François Paschoud (Genève)

Carlo Pulsoni (Perugia) Johann Ramminger (München)

Fabio Stok (Roma)

SUBMISSIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO

Carlo Santini [email protected]

Dipartimento di LettereUniversità degli Studi di Perugia

Piazza Morlacchi, 11 I-06123 Perugia, Italy

BIBLIOTHECA

GIORNALE ITALIANO DI FILOLOGIA

16

The Strange Death of Pagan Rome

Reflections on a Historiographical Controversy

F

Edited by Rita Lizzi Testa

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.

D/2013/0095/275

ISBN 978-2-503-54942-2

Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper

© 2013 Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium

Idol from the Syriac sanctuary on the Janiculum (Rome), fourth century CERome, Museo Nazionale Romano, inventory number 60919

Su concessione del Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma

7

Contents

Rita Lizzi TestaPreface 9

Guido ClementeIntroduction 13

Rita Lizzi TestaWhen the Romans Became pagani 31

Giorgio BonamenteChapther 3: The Frigidus 53

silvia OrlandiAlan Cameron and the Use of Epigraphic Sources 71

Franca ela ConsolinoMacrobius’ saturnalia and the Carmen contra paganos 85

Lellia Cracco RugginiCorrectors and the ‘Classical’ Text 109

Gianfranco AgostiClassicism, paideia, Religion 123

Isabella GualandriClaudian in Context 141

Giovanni Alberto CecconiAlan Cameron’s Virius Nicomachus Flavianus 151

Gian Luca GrassigliClassical Revivals and ‘Pagan’ Art 165

Alessandra BraviThe Last Pagans of Rome and the ‘Viewers’ of Roman Art 171

François PaschoudLa storia Augusta 189

10.1484/M.GIFBIB-EB.1.102177

171

In Chapter 19 (Classical revivals and ‘Pagan’Art) Cameron (henceforth C.) portrays the mentality of the Roman élite at the end of the 4th century in a perspective that is different from the one offered by written sources; indeed it focuses on the ways this mentality is expressed in the iconography that appears on objects of the material culture.

In this part of the book C. deals with the ‘pagan’ representa-tions that appeared on a wide range of objects: contorniates 1, silverware, ivories, marble statues and illuminated manuscripts 2. In the following pages, I have chosen to concentrate only on the items that I believe are the most representative in order to under-stand the original characteristics of C.’s contribution with regard to a long series of earlier studies: famous examples of silverware, marble statues and the Nicomachorum-Symmachorum diptych.

At the end of the 4th century mythological images continued to be depicted on typical objects used by the aristocracy, such as silverware and diptychs, and were represented as sculptures that were present in public spaces and played an important role in the private lives of the élites. A ‘strong’ expressive func-tion has been attributed to this mythological imagery, that is, an attempt has been made to find traces of ‘pagan’ cults and beliefs in it. The conviction arose among scholars of the last

1 C., pp. 691-698; the most recent work on contorniates: P. F. Mittag, Alte Köpfe in neuen Händen. Urheber und Funktion der Kontorniaten, Antiquitas Reihe 3, Band 38, Bonn 1999.

2 The chapter dedicated to ‘illuminated manuscripts’ is on C., p. 706.

AlESSANdRA BRAvI

ThE lAST PAGANS oF RoMEANd ThE ‘vIEwERS’ oF RoMAN ART

A. BRAvI

172

century that this ‘classical’ iconography reappeared cyclically as ‘revivals’ 3. The commissioners of the large silver plates, on which the polytheistic world of images was represented, were identified with prominent protagonists of these and otherminor ‘pagan revivals’: emperor Julian, the circle of Symmachus and Praetextatus.

C. confuted already many of these theories with a series of essays and proposed that late-antique pagan or Christian aristocracies did not perceive late-antique art objects on the basis of religious beliefs but through the cultural categories of paideia; again in this book he seems to suggest that in an atmosphere of dialogue among faiths and ideologies the ‘secular’ approach to art may have been born.

1. Pagan art and resistance

According to Andreas Alföldi the conflict between pagans and Christians was evident in the traditional polytheistic images that pervaded material culture at the end of the 4th century. Alföldi saw forms of anti-Christian polemics on contorniates, conceived as objects distributed to the people by prefects on the occa-sion of games 4, and in depictions on silverware: the chariot ofCybele and Attis on the lanx from Parabiago expressed the ideological attitudes of the pagan senatorial class, open to ac-cepting mystery cults, that struck contorniates between 356 and 410 5. The lanx appeared to be a sort of figurative mani-festo of the pagan resistance to the subversion of Gratianus.

3 «At certain times and in certain places bold stabs were made in the direc-tion of new, unclassical forms, only to be followed by reactions, retrospectivemovements and revivals. In some contexts such developments – in either direction – took place slowly, hesitantly, and by steps so small as to be almost imperceptible. In addition there were extraordinary attempts at synthesis, at reconciling conflicting aesthetic ideals. out of this complex dialectic, medieval form emerged»: E. Kitzinger, Byzantine Art in the Making: Main Lines of Stylistic Development in Mediterranean Art, 3rd-7th century, Cambridge 1977, p. 4.

4 See Mittag, Alte Köpfe in neuen Händen... cit., pp. 227-238.5 A. Alföldi, Die Kontorniaten. Ein verkanntes Propagandamittel der stadt-römischen

heidnischen Aristokratie in ihrem Kampfe gegen das christliche Kaisertum. Festschrift der Ungarischen numismatischen Gesellschaft zur Feier ihres vierzigjährigen Bestehens (2 voll.), Budapest - leipzig 1942/1943.

ThE lAST PAGANS oF RoME ANd ThE ‘vIEwERS’ oF RoMAN ART

173

The art connected with pagan resistance even included other objects. The following inscription was engraved on a plate from Mildenhall: Eutheriou. The plate was once attributed to thehomonymous cubicularius of Julian, who never set foot on Britishsoil but who may have given it to lupicinus magister militum 6. Also the Corbridge lanx was part of Julian’s ‘revival’ dating back to 361-363; according to otto Brendel it nostalgically commemorated the rites of delos in which Julian participated before the expedition to Persia 7.

It seems that the last and fatal pagan revival took place in the years when the armies led by the last defender of paganism, Eugenius, were defeated by the troops of the Christian emperor Theodosius on the Frigidus river. The vain hopes of the Frigidus may have been depicted with an evocative and melancholic classicism on the valves of the Nicomachorum-Symmachorum ivory diptych 8.

2. Art and the late antique ‘viewer’:committed pagan or common viewer

C.’s view of late Antique’s artistic production is very clear and is almost obsessively present through all the book

...classical mythological scenes on silverware continue down into the seventh century... what this continuing pagan themes really illustrate – and illustrate abundantly – is the routine acceptance of such themes by the now-Christian elite of the Roman world. Not only are they not pagan propaganda, more interestingly and ultimately more important, they represent common ground between pagans and Christians,

6 K. S. Painter, The Mildenhall Treasure. Roman Silver from East Anglia, london (British Museum Publications), 1977, pp. 18-23.

7 o. Brendel, The Corbridge Lanx, «The Journal of Roman Studies» 31, 1941, pp. 100-127; R. E. leader - Newby, Silver and Society in Late Antiquity, Aldershot, 2004, pp. 144-151.

8 h. Bloch, The Pagan Revival in the West at the End of the Fourth Century, in A. Momigliano (ed.), The Conflict between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century, oxford 1963, pp. 193-218. on the diptych the essential bibliography is re-examined by d. M. Gwynn, The End of Roman Senatorial Paganism, in l. lavan - M. Mulryan (eds.), The Archaeology of Late Antique Paganism, leiden - Boston 2011, pp. 135-164, p. 150.

A. BRAvI

174

common ground that allowed my center-pagan group, more interested in culture than cult, to slip into a respectable center-Christianity without having to give up their classicizing tastes in art and literature. The enthusiasm among (center)-Christians for classicizing motifs and ‘pagan’ iconography is limited to cultivated members of the elite (C., p. 706).

Those who commissioned such objects, or who happened to look at them, was considered to belong to a group havinghomogeneous political characteristics, that is the senatorial aristocracy. It may have been implicit for lovers of ‘pagan’ iconography in the ‘classical’ style to view it with a strong ideological, mental and sentimental involvement or with religious faith.

what C. want to confute is the correspondence between classical forms and political ideologies, between mythologicalrepresentations on silverware or diptychs of the last pagans and their religiuos beliefs. ‘Pagan’ symbols on silverware or textiles, intended for domestic fruition, can only be perceived as «decorative rather than devotional» (C., p. 701). In the secular context of a villa, the images of oceanus surrounded by Nereids and Bacchantes, as depicted on the Mildenhall plate, cannotembody the eschatological meanings of the myth that led Painter to interpret such images as a metaphor of the isle of the Blessed 9.

According to C. the lanx from Parabiago cannot be con-sidered, as Alföldi held, to be an expression of the resistance ofthe last pagans, although the representation of Attis and Cybele on the lanx and of thiasos (with dionysos ‘and dancing Maenads’) may reflect in some cases, «however remotely, actual religious ritual»: the mythological images and the objects that were their material support can be interpreted, considering their context of fruition, as being decorative in profane contexts and devotional in religious ones (C., p. 702). In particular C. emphasizes that in the ‘secular’ ambients, where domestic silverware were usedand the mythological images were perceived, rather than ex-pressing political ideologies or professions of faith, myths were the outcome of a shared classical culture that united the pagan and Christian members of the élites. Art became a tool to express

9 As Painter does, in Painter, The Mildenhall Treasure... cit., passim.


175

dialogue and a successful model of perception because it unified different people and habitus under the common banner of wealth and the flowering of classical culture.

Therefore, the common paideia had important consequences on the shaping of a new type of viewer: a commissioner of art works, who enjoys mythological scenes on silverware as a ‘routine fact’ (routine acceptance):

what this continuing pagan themes really illustrate ... is the routine acceptance of such themes by the now-Christian elite of the Roman world. Not only are they not pagan propaganda, more interestingly and ultimately more impor-tant, they represent common ground between pagans and Christians, common ground that allowed my center-pagan group, more interested in culture than cult, to slip into a re-spectable center-Christianity without having to give up their classicizing tastes in art and literature (C., p. 706).

According to C. it was this kind of perception, achieved through the cultural code of paideia, that represented a common basis, a universal interpretative key, that opens the most complicated allegories and reveals the most cryptic images. ‘Classical’ images represent a ‘common ground’, for a cultivated elite, a level of meanings between pagans and Christians.

deep in the common ground of his classicizing taste the erudite‘viewer’ was able to observe ‘pagan objects’ or ‘Christian art’ without shaking his faith or having to change his mentality or style of life, that of an aristocratic class intensely devoted to the exercise of culture. Members of this class were the owners ofthe casket from the Esquiline treasure, on which the matron Projecta is believed to embody the venus who stands aboveher on the wedding casket 10. Therefore, a non-religiously-oriented perception might be postulable for the recipient of the Porto Baratti jug or the rich owner of the Corbridge lanx. All these prominent people belonged to a social class that was harmoniously unified by paideia, a neutral level in respect to religious or political devotions. on the casket of Secundus and

10 A. Cameron, The Date and the Owners of the Esquiline Treasure, «AJA» 89, 1985, pp. 135-145.

A. BRAvI

176

Projecta Christian inscriptions are juxtaposed with mythological scenes and among the artefacts of the Mildenhall treasure there are the same images of bacchic frenzy as those appearing on the large plates that were the symbol of the chi-rho between alpha and omega. Also according to Elsner, for visitors to the house of the Roman owner Secundus «classical motives and deities (at least in secular contexts) could only express very general attitudes: they alluded to the glorious past of Rome in literature, culture and imperial splendour» 11.

According to C. historians have hypothesized that both city and country inhabitants of the late-antique world, privileged owners of artistic objects decorated with traditional images, may correspond to different categories and to a multiplicity of nuances of belief: «fanatics, zealots, extremists, diehards, devout on the one side; time-servers, conformists, opportunists, trim-mers, lukewarm, indifferent, or weak-kneed on the other» 12. late-antique ‘viewers’ can be defined on the basis of their level of involvement in the faith: committed Christians like Ambrose and Augustine and committed pagans like Praetextatus and Sym-machus 13. But, thanks to a common paideia, these ‘viewers’ could, without problems of conscience, observe Achilles, dionysus and venus cohabit, in the depictions on plates, with Christograms, crosses and declarations of Christian faith.

on the ‘common ground’ of late-antique art, objects could be perceived in virtue of a neutral habitus between pagans and Christians, an attitude that allowed, without compromising one’s own religious identity, in the name of a strong cultural identity ‘of class’, looking at erudition that seemed to be the prerogative of a restricted elite in the fourth century. The concept of ‘com-mon ground’ becomes in C. an essential hermeneutic principle to define the most widespread nature of the habitus of the late-antique man, elegantly avoiding the aporia of conflict, many decades after Alföldy described this art as a theatre of action of men dominated by violent and incurable political or religious

11 J. Elsner, Art and Architecture, AD 337-425, in Av. Cameron - P. Garnsey (eds.), The Cambridge Ancient History XIII, Cambridge 1998, pp. 736-761, p. 747.

12 C., p. 176.13 C., p. 177.


177

passions. Therefore, ‘pagan’ images would acquire secular func-tions, while Christian symbols would correspond to the ‘true’ faith of the owners.

According to Ias Elsner «the Christianity or paganism of a work of art lay not in its iconography but in how its viewer chose to see it». But how can we establish the way in which a “viewer” from Britannia or Antioch chose to see the mytho-logical representations that appeared in front of him? Can we be certain that everyone considered mythological images to be only elements of routine acceptance by the «now-Christian elite of theRoman world» (C., p. 706), of an everyday life that did not imply faiths, beliefs or specific mentalities to be expressed through art? Are these themes really an exclusive expression of wealth and a high-level of culture? did not themes and iconographies con-tinue to express also values and mentalities of the habitus, political choices and beliefs?

In my opinion, the idea of a shared culture of a cultured élite as a basis for a common perception raises questions on thespecific function of iconographies and themes. Indeed, reading C. one has the impression of losing, in this ‘harmonious inter-pretation’, the value and meanings of iconographies and themes and of attributing sacred or secular functions to artefacts whose use is not exactly known; not only private banquets but also sacred ones could consider the use of plates decorated with mythological scenes.

C.’s interpretation of a ‘common viewer’ without conflicts of conscience adapted to the idea of a Christianized world that peacefully encompassed the visual testimonies of Rome’s glorious past. however, in some cases material testimonies would lead us to believe that structures and synchretisms of beliefs in the late-antique period are still to be investigated, like the in-scriptions on the objects from the Thetford treasure that attest to the owners’ devotion to the god Faunus and, at the same time, to Christian beliefs 14. Moreover, there are cases and con-texts in which mythological iconographies prove that mean-ings and values continued to be expressed, for instance, within

14 For the Thetford treasure, cfr. leader-Newby, Silver and Society... cit., p. 9, n. 7.

A. BRAvI

178

metropolises, where the owners’ social actions took place. within urban spaces the citizens of the late-antique empire could show different ‘ways of seeing’ or levels of perception, varying on the basis not only of situations and contexts but also of profes-sions of faith, for example, while one stopped by a tomb and reflected on the memory of the deceased, or while one carried out political activities in the forum. Furthermore, we must ac-cept the possibility of the existence of devotees who believed in a divine presence in simulacra and in the sacredness of temples, even after the prohibition of sacrifices, considering that simulacra were still present within these spaces and some people could still honour them with rites 15. The possibility seems to emerge from sources that during the final decades of the fourth century thevalue and the function of mythological images and of simulacra were not limited to cultural metaphors. on the other hand, among the many levels of perception, leaving the field open to different interpretations seems to be necessary.

The statues that stood in public places were maintained, re-stored, moved or replaced in their original position during all the late-antique period. The public spaces of the imperial cities are an ideal context to investigate the possible attitudes of viewers.These spaces, which were open to a wide range of viewers, are an example of continuity and of meanings that change and transform according to different situations, without ‘revivals’ or breaks in the continuity of meanings and values.

3. ‘Viewers’ and contexts

Jerome reproved Constantine who ‘stripped’ the most prestigious cities of the oikoumene of their statues and transported them to Constantinople (hier., Chron. a. 325).

According to C. this action seems to correspond to a function of cultural prestige.

15 R. lizzi Testa, Il terrore delle leggi in difesa dell’insatiabilis honor della Chiesa: la retorica della rappresentazione cristiana dell’Impero, in M. v. Escribano - R. lizzi Testa (a cura di), Entre política, religión y legislación (ss. IV y V d.C.): convergencias, antagonismos y rectificaciones. Coloquio Internacional hispano-italiano (Zaragoza, 29 y 30 de octubre de 2009), Bari, in press.


179

we should bear in mind that Constantine brought statues from all over the Empire to decorate his new capital, much of it representations of pagan deities from cult centers. Eusebius implausibly claimed that he was exposing them to ridicule, but obviously the real reason was to equip Constantinople with the traditional artistic trappings befitting a capital city. It was similarly traditional to equip villas with colonnades and gardens peopled with classicizing statues (C., p. 704).

like the aristocrats of Gallia who decorated their villas with mythological statues and classical styles to demonstrate their social level and culture, also Constantine, with antique images, intended to confer an urban prestige on the city that was destined to be the capital.

Constantinople’s antique statues were exposed to the view of people of all levels and their meanings that changed over the centuries, cannot be understood only by relying on the culturalvalues of paideia or as predicative decorations of the rank of a capital city. The Constantinian elite must have recognized the distinguishing traits of the new leader of the world and the con-tinuity of imperial policies in many statues brought by Constan-tine. Pagans or perhaps simply devotees of the greatness of Rome could offer a cult to the herakles by lysippos, moved from the Rome Capitol to the basilica of the Augusteum, where it had its own cult at least until the mid-fifth century. The image of Constantine-helios on the column certainly was and remained an object of the imperial cult.

The ‘committed-Christian’ sources emphasized that divine statues could be viewed in many different ways: Eusebius is clear evidence of this kind of ‘viewer’ when he states that bronze statues were nothing more than a warning to the public deludedby paganism and an incitement to embrace the new faith 16.

16 «The pompous statues of brass were exposed to view in all the public spaces of the imperial city: so that here a Pythian, there a Sminthian Apollo ex-cited the contempt of the beholder: while the delphic tripods were deposited in the hippodrome and the Muses of helikon in the palace. In short the city which bore his name was everywhere filled with brazen statues of the most exquisite workmanship, which had been dedicated in every province, and which the deluded victims of the superstition had long vainly honoured as gods with num-berless victims and burnt sacrifices, though now at length they learned to think

A. BRAvI

180

Nevertheless, if we analyze evidence derived from other sources regarding the city ornaments we can deduce that Constantine’s intentions were different from Eusebius’ ‘theological-oriented’ view; the disposition of the statues seemed to underline the value of the new spaces of the city. Statues of Ajax, Achilles and Alexander provided an adequate setting for celebrating Constan-tine’s military glory in the Strategion. Constantinople’s statues conveyed meanings of power and victory. Even in the twelfth century in the Forum of Constantine cultured and less cultured people (idiotai: Arethas, Schol. Aristid. Or., 50, t. III) could still identify the ancient statues of Anphitrite and Athena and inter-pret them as symbols of the imperium terra marique. Statues did not express the classicizing taste of aristocracies, but were still signs and symbols, conveyors of intense present meanings 17.

we can agree with C.’s statement: the «classicizing mythological scenes on silverware» that «continue down into the seventh cen-tury» (C., p. 705) were not necessarily commissioned by pagan patrons. however, I am convinced that there are possible levels of interpretation of images that escape not only the rigid con-traposition between pagans and Christians, but also the generic category of ‘people of general culture’ able to perceive decora-tions with erudition. These further coexisting levels may have been based on political convictions and on the fact that images had long been incarnations of values that were broadly held within the society.

4. A case-study:the Nicomachorum-Symmachorum diptych

The Nicomachorum-Symmachorum diptych is an important object that emerges in several parts of the Chapter 19 on the

rightly, when the emperor held up these very playthings to be the ridicule and the sport of all beholders» (Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 3, 54).

17 A. Bravi, Opere d’arte antiche e spettatori bizantini a Costantinopoli: le sta-tue del Forum Constantini, in G. F. Chiai et all. (eds.), Athen, Rom, Jerusalem. Normentransfers in der Antiken Welt, Eichstätter Studien. Neue Folge Band 66, Regensburg 2012, pp. 313-326; A. Bravi, Costantinopoli: le immagini classiche negli spazi pubblici (VI-XIII sec. d.C.), in press.


181

basis of various arguments: defined «the umbrella under which modern scholars have thrown every artefact with a pagan theme for which a Roman provenance might be claimed and which can be characterized in one way or another as classicizing» (C., p. 699), on p. 707 criticism is expressed about its exhibition as a proof of late-antique paganism, although it bore only depictions ofbloodless sacrifices, incense burning (were these not also used in paganism?); elsewhere mention is made of the opinion of Kitzinger who interprets it as an emblematic expression of the pagan revival «exercises in nostalgia undertaken in the service of a very specific cause», «professions of unswerving devotion to the ancient gods» (C., p. 713).

on the Symmachorum valve the scene is dominated by a female figure wearing a chiton and completely covered by a himation. She is wearing a crown of ivy leaves on her head. She is stand-ing, in profile, and is sprinkling grains of incense over the flames that burn on an altar, crowned by Ionic volutes and decorated with taeniae and a garland of oak leaves. A female cult attendant, also crowned with ivy leaves, is holding ritual vessels: a kantharos and a cup. An oak tree grows in the background. The focus of the scene is on the rite being performed on the altar. At the top of the panel is a tabula ansata with the inscription Symmachorum.

Under the tabula ansata with the inscription Nicomachorum stands a foreshortened female figure wearing an ample sleeveless chiton, that slips to the right leaving a breast uncovered. A himationis wrapped around her hips. her hair is gathered at the back of her head and loose over her shoulders. In each hand she holds an upside-down burning torch. A pine tree with cymbals hanging from its branches is in the background.

The altar is slightly behind the figure. her right foot is tread-ing on the frame. her chiton falls in naturalistic folds that are varied and hardly schematic.

All the rules governing the Greco-Roman mimetic art seem to be observed in the creation of these images: sense of depth, or-ganic proportions, realistic movement of figures in space. whilethere is agreement among scholars regarding the interpretation of style, defined ‘classisist’, the iconographic elements of the diptych have brought about diverging interpretations.

A. BRAvI

182

The first critics interpreted female figures as priestesses perform-ing ‘pagan’ rites. hans Graeven analyzed the symbolic elements of the landscape and the female figures’ attributes in an attempt to understand which cult or rite might have been represented 18. on the Symmachorum panel an ivy garland and a cantharus are depicted, while there is an oak, a tree sacred to Jupiter, in the backgrounbd. on the Nicomachorum panel the pine and cymbals seem to evoke the presence of Cybele, while the ivy garland seems to evoke dionysus. Graeven thought that the panels cele-brated mystery initiations. Sometime later delbrueck concluded that the scenes might have represented a priestess of Ceres at an altar of Cybele (the pine and cymbals) on the Nicomachorum panel, while on the the Symmachorum one there was a priestess of Bacchus (the ivy garland and cantharus refer to dionysus) mak-ing an offering to Jupiter (however, the oak also has dionysian connotations).

According to Bloch and many others the ‘Bacchante’ with the two inverted torches alluded to a wedding. Their symbolismmade the torches, used in a wedding, souvenirs of the union between the virius Nicomachus Flavianus (d. 394) and Quintus Aurelius Symmachus (d. 402) families 19.

Subsequently, the tendency to attribute divine identities or personifications to enigmatic female figures found favour among critics. Erika Simon interpreted the Nicomachorum figure asbeing Kore (due to the iconographic analogies with the Kore on the Torre Nova sarcophagus) 20. however, the naked breast,incompatible with Kore, should therefore allude to Aphrodite and the torches would become a wedding attribute.

According to dale Kinney the figure depicted on the Sym-machorum panel can be compared to pietas images on middle-imperial coins and on contorniates while the young womanrepresented on the Nicomachorum panel should date back to a type of ‘Kore’ found on Athenian coins (bronze, second cen-tury Ad), on a relief in Naples and on a stucco at the Roman

18 h. Graeven, Heidnische Diptychen, «RM» 28, 1913, pp. 198-304.19 h. Bloch, A New Document of the Last Pagan Revival in the West, «harvard

Theological Review», 38, 1945, pp. 199-244, p. 229; C., p. 714, n. 91-93.20 E. Simon, The Diptych of the Symmachi and Nicomachi. An Interpretation,

«Greece and Rome» 39, 1992, pp. 56-65.


183

National Museum, first century Ad 21. In Kinney’s opinion the details of the trees have simply a typographic value. The obvious theme should be Bacchic, a sacrifice in a rural landscape with a Bacchante. The ‘cryptic’ theme involves Pietas and Kore, one represents Rome and the other Athens. An adequate occasion for the creation of the diptych might have been Praetextatus’ initiation to Mysteries.

In his analysis C. claims first of all that none of the above inter-pretations is based on concrete evidence. Regarding the inter-pretations of female figures as being priestesses C. objects that neither of the two figures can be linked to a specific priesthood or to a mystery cult (C., p. 715), while concerning the inter-pretation of the torches as alluding to a wedding, he objects that the nuptial imagery is codified and cannot be found on the diptych.

C. begins by drawing attention to the first concrete evidence, that offered by the dedications, Symmachorum/Nicomachorum, whichreveal the ambient of the commissioners and recipients. The inscription makes one exclude that the personage to whom thediptych is dedicated did not belong to the two families. Praetex-tatus’ hypothesis 22 would only aim at proving the strong meaning of the ‘paganism of the panels’. No evidence exists of a declara-tion of pagan faith in the images of the diptych. Thus, a profile can be drawn up of viewers with a common ground, for whom «the details are not in themselves significant» and who may have been able to choose «a series of classical scenes of generally pagan inspiration» to express a meaning that was far from the strongchiaroscuros of the propaganda. C first points out that the inverted torches were usually associated with death rather than weddings. Therefore, he identifies the ‘torch bearer’ with «demeter look-ing for Persephone», as she was also described by Claudianus in de raptu Proserpinae 3, 438-442. Thus, the two valves should commemorate the death of an aristocrat, one by means of the fu-

21 d. Kinney, The Iconography of the Ivory Diptych Nicomachorum-Symmachorum, «Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum» 37, 1994, pp. 64-96; and also Ead., A Late Antique Ivory Plaque and Modern Response, «AJA» 98, 1994, pp. 473-480.

22 B. Kiilerich, A Different Interpretation of the Nicomachorum-Symmachorum Diptych, «Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum» 34, 1991, pp. 115-128.

A. BRAvI

184

neral symbol of the torches, the other through the representation of a female figure making an offering to the spirits of the dead.The ideal commissioner would seem to be Memmius Symmachus who might have wanted to commemorate the death of his father-in-law Nicomachus Flavianus and his father Symmachus. Sub-sequently, C. explores the wide field of meanings offered by the cryptic symbolism of the diptych. C. interprets the figure with the naked breast as demeter in distress and mourning for herdaughter Persephone. This interpretation no longer has a mysteric or religious meaning but, along with the rural symbols of the landscape, it takes on the metaphoric meaning of death, mourn-ing and rebirth.

Some details of his interpretation can be debated; for exam-ple, we cannot explain the presence of Cybele’s cymbals that, in association with the pine tree, would seem to be symbolsincompatible with a general funeral meaning. The combination of torches with the naked breast of the female figure on theNicomachorum valve does not correspond to any depiction of Kore or demeter, but it continues to resemble a bacchante and, therefore, to mainly allude to Bacchus. The ivy in itself is not a specific semantic clue to express ‘rebirth’, considering that it is commonly associated with a wide range of deities and rites.

C.’s hermeneutic perspective appears to be concentrated on the following statement:

The details are not in themselves significant. Memmius simply chose a series of classical scenes of generally pagan inspiration that in one way or in another suggested death, mourning, rebirth (ivy garlands) or apotheosis (C., p. 725).

however, we wonder if a late-antique ‘viewer’ between the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century can bepostulated to have chosen scenes of ‘generic pagan inspiration’, that is to have revolutionized the semantic codes of the attributes of divine figures as insignificant details. For instance, how could he express the concept of apotheosis, that usually has a codified symbology, that is completely absent in the diptych?

C. is right when he states that we have no elements that op-pose a ‘harmonious interpretation’ of the diptych images. There-fore, we have to analyze the specific aspects of its figurative


185

language in relation to contexts and possible diptych viewers of late-antique society. Anomalies and unusual associations of the attributes of different deities could make one think of a con-scious use of a coded language that could only be understood by a selected and very restricted group of viewers. The only precisereferences that we can draw from this language, reinforced by the names of the two important aristocratic Roman families inscribed on the diptych, concern the class of the commissioners that most likely corresponded to that of the recipients and ‘viewers’.

The starting point is, as justly underlined by C., the strong clue that we have: the inscriptions attributing the object to the Sym-machorum and Nicomachorum families. This work of art conveys a message specifically intended for the highest levels of the roman aristocracy to which it should evidently ‘speak’ using a shared formal code. As a medium, diptychs, as Symmachus wrote, were intended to consolidate relations of equality among fratres, «the most powerful and closest friends» 23. These objects were created for communication among friends and sodales 24.

Female figures are represented in scenes concerning sacrifices. The focal element of both valves, on which the actions are concentrated, is the monument of the offering to the gods, the altar. The altar certainly indicated the existence of a cult place. Rites took place by the altar. The fire burns on the altar and the enigmatic ‘Bacchante’ seems to have just lighted the torches. This language is not melancholic but alludes to a ritual action about to take place 25.

23 Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Lettres III (livres VI-VIII), ed. and trans. J. P. Callu, Paris, 1995, 7.76, quoted in A. Cameron, Observations on the Distribution and Ownership of Late Roman Silver Plate, «JRA» 5, 1992, p. 180.

24 Function of diptychs, as «just one class of gifts that served to create, build and maintain networks of friendship and influence among equals in lateAntiquity»: A. Eastmond, Consular Diptychs, Rhetoric and the Languages of Art in Sixth-Century Constantinople, «Art history» 33, 5, 2010, pp. 742-765. As a transferof prestige among new consuls and senators: A. Cutler, The Making of the Justinian Diptychs, «Byzantion», 54, 1984, pp. 75-115, reprinted in A. Cutler, Late Antique and Byzantine Ivory Carving [variorum: CS617], Aldershot 1998, Study v.

25 Cracco Ruggini objected that inverted torches did not necessarily indicate death, see F. Paschoud (ed.), Colloque Génévois sur Symmaque à l’occasion du mille

A. BRAvI

186

Altars could have the symbolic function of giving substance to the strength of oaths and alliance agreements. Symmachus wrote in the Relatio III that the Altar of victory in the Curia «assures agreement among all of us» ... «guarantees the loyalty of the individual and nothing else confers so much authoritativeness on the declarations we make in the Curia as the fact that the Senate takes all decisions bound under oath». (Symm. Rel. 3, 5).

The altar depicted on the diptych valves, along with the inscrip-tions alluding to the union of the Symmachi and Nicomachi, stands out with the strength of friendship oaths between the two aristocratic families and the rite expresses the soundness of the ius. It is an alliance and amicitia agreement that constitutes a tie assuring the unity and perpetuation of society, with its hierar-chies and orders. The representation on the diptych is highly expressive, reveals social structures and mentality and shows how wide the space for rites was in that society. By the images a strong message of solidarity between the two families seems to be transmitted. Also the iconographies express their solidarity, because they show two scenes both alluding to the performance of a rite.

on the other hand, the ways this rite is depicted are very important; they portray rites and underline the political stability still possessed by the gentilitial structure of late-antique society.Therefore, they could be easily accepted by the members of the Christian aristocracy. From the combination of inscriptions and depictions a representation full of meaning is obtained.

In conclusion, the diptych proves that the representations of myths were still effective at the end of the fourth century and their use had not undergone substantial interruptions. They still had the power to express the conceptual structures of the society. The different genres of Roman art, with their diverse languages, persisted into the fourth century. This continuity of ‘classical’ styles and of mythological themes is in opposition to the ‘classical revival’ model, because there are no profound fractures, oblivion and consequent revival.

six centième anniversaire du conflit de l’autel de la Victoire, Paris 1986, p. 65, quoted in C., p. 718, n. 110.


187

Thanks to C.’s studies on late-antique society, we are able to follow a new path to investigate the perception of antique art in its specific contexts. C.’s interpretations appear to be essential to depict the characteristics of these contexts. In masterly essays such as that on the Esquiline treasure the late-antique Roman society stands out as a wide historical and social scenario, com-plex and chiaroscuro, and not characterized by religious wars but rather by social relations and structured in concrete contexts of aristocratic art commissioners and ‘viewers’ in the late fourth century.

The Last Pagans of Rome and the Viewers of Roman Art

Documents

Transcript of The Last Pagans of Rome and the Viewers of Roman Art