medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear John,
While it would be lovely to see the life of Thecla played out
extensively on these panels, I'm afraid that there are some major
problems with that interpretation. The top panel really can't be T
receiving water, as all figure shown are male. Male/female distinction
is not always clear in Early Christian art, but following Roman
conventions, women's garments normally go all the way down to the shoes
(as in the second panel) while men's stop at the ankles. The figure on
the ground receiving water is dressed in the short tunic and cloak of
the worker or soldier, and both he and the man behind him wear
"oriental" hats (not the loose hair or veils of women). The scene is
normally interpreted as Moses bringing forth water, and soldiers. The
second panel is generally thought to show the resurrection of Tabitha by
Peter, a servant woman reacting in amazement on the left. The dolphin
next to her is probably part of Tabitha's bed, with a large cushion. The
end prop on such a bed is not usually quite such a large dolphin, but
for the general shape see e.g.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ggnyc/2529909495/
The panels are included in the standard corpus publication: Wolfgang
Fritz Volbach, /Elfenbeinarbeiten der Spätantike und des frühen
Mittelalters/, Röm.-German. Zentralmuseum zu Mainz, Forschungsinst. für
Vor- u. Frühgeschichte, 3rd ed. 1976, no. 117.
Best,
Genevra
John Dillon wrote:
> 3) Thecla of Iconium (d. late 1st cent., supposedly).
>
> On Thursday, September 23, 2010, at 10:04 pm, Genevra Kornbluth wrote:
>
>> There is also an earlier ivory with Thecla; see
>> http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=62246&partid=1&searchText=paul+ivory&fromDate=300&fromADBC=ad&toDate=600&toADBC=ad&titleSubject=on&numpages=10&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx¤tPage=1
>>
>
> The British Museum's text accompanying that image describes only the lowest of the three panels shown. The other two panels also show scenes from the Acts of Paul and Thecla. For example, at left in the middle panel T. is shown standing next to the seal pond in the amphitheatre at Antioch into which she is said to have leapt in an act of self-baptism, while at right in the upper panel T. is shown receiving water from the cave in the rock where she spent her final days after escaping through the cleft.
>
> The animal in the pool, sometimes interpreted in versions of this scene as a dolphin, is in the texts a seal (a.k.a. sea calf). For an attested Roman amphitheatre with a pool containing seals, see Calpurnius Siculus, _Ecl._ 7. 65-68.
>
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