medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Jim,
How do you explain the inscription over the figure in question? That is what has led to the identification of this figure as (exceptionally) Januarius and not (as one would expect) Christ. That identification, sometimes expressed with caution but usually not, is standard in scholarly writing both on the Neapolitan catacombs and on the artistic representation of this saint. It has, moreover, been accepted in work whose focus is _not_ Neapolitan, e.g. by J. M. C. Toynbee (writing on this very issue of figures other than Christ accompanied by the chi-rho and/or by an alpha and omega), "A New Roman Mosaic Pavement Found in Dorset", _Journal of Roman Studies_ 54 (1964), 7-14, p. 12, by Hans Belting, _Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image Before the Era of Art_ (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1994), p. 563, n. 13, and by Robin Margaret Jensen, _Face to Face: Portraits of the Divine in Early Christianity_ (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005), p. 174.
Absent a convincing alternative explanation of the inscription I am willing to accept conventional wisdom on this point.
Best,
John Dillon
PS: A quick glance at these two earlier posts on this list
http://tinyurl.com/2rz4jo
http://tinyurl.com/ytwm28
should suffice to indicate my awareness of both the chi-rho and the alpha and omega in this composition. Their presence, I would think, is pretty obvious. Your injunction to me to notice them could be considered patronizing.
On Wednesday, September 19, 2007, at 7:11 pm, Jim Bugslag wrote:
> > Here's J. in a fifth-century wall
> > painting in what are now that city's Catacombs of San Gennaro:
> > http://www.aissca.it/aissca/immagini/SanGenn1ImageMosaic2.jpg Detail:
> > http://www.aissca.it/aissca/immagini/SanGenn1particolare.jpg
>
> Dear John,
> These are wonderful images, but are you sure they are of Januarius?
> Notice the chi and rho
> intersecting within the halo behind the head, and the alpha and omega
> flanking this standard
> monogram of Christ. Iconographic conventions were still not
> completely set by this time, but I
> at least suspect that this figure represents Christ, rather than St. Januarius.
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