medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dorothea of Caesarea in Cappadocia (the Wikipedia article's "Caesarea Mazaca" is a modern retronym for today's Kayseri in Turkey, clumsily putting together -- in reverse chronological order -- two individual names borne by the city at different times in its history) shares the essential aspects of her legend with the earlier attested Dorothea of Alexandria in Egypt, about whom one first hears in Rufinus' early fifth-century additions to Eusebius' _Historia ecclesiastica_. But there is no evidence for that Dorothea's ever having enjoyed a recognized cult, whereas a Dorothea of Caesarea in Cappadocia does appear in the late sixth- or early seventh-century (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology. Either Rufinus erred in his localization of the virgin martyr Dorothea or else the latter's legend was transferred to Dorothea of Caesarea in Cappadocia at some point prior to its appearance in St. Aldhelm's late seventh- or very early eighth-century prose _De virginitate_.
We have no evidence at all for the date of Dorothea of Caesarea's martyrdom: the Wikipedia article's fixing her death after Diocletian's resignation derives from Rufinus' ascription of Dorothea of Alexandria's suffering to the reign of Maximinus. On the other hand, Dorothea of Caesarea in Cappadocia's entry in the (ps.-)HM seems to have furnished the legend with its secondary martyr Theophilus Scholasticus, as he's absent from Rufinus' account of Dorothea of Alexandria. The apples and the roses (later and more generically, flowers) that become Dorothea's characteristic attribute make their first appearance in the ninth-century martyrology of St. Rabanus Maurus and the six-year-old boy whom brings them to Theophilus makes his first appearance in the also ninth-century martyrology of St. Ado of Vienne. The basket containing these gifts is an even later development. The basket containing the dog Toto belongs to another Dorothy altogether.
Some medieval images of Dorothea of Caesarea in Cappadocia:
a) Dorothea as depicted in the early twelfth-century mosaics of Grado's four female saints in the cupola di San Leonardo of the basilica cattedrale di San Marco in Venice:
http://tinyurl.com/kq7eyjv
b) Dorothea (at right; on the wing at left, St. Mary Magdalene) as depicted by Ambrogio Lorenzetti on a wing of an earlier fourteenth-century triptych (ca. 1325) in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena:
http://www.wga.hu/art/l/lorenzet/ambrogio/1triptyc.jpg
c) Dorothea as portrayed in an early fifteenth-century limewood statue with traces of polychrome (ca. 1410-1420) in the Magyar Nemzeti Galéria in Budapest:
http://www.wga.hu/art/m/master/zunk_hu/zunk_hu2/06doroth.jpg
d) Dorothea at left (at right, St. Catherine of Alexandria) as depicted by the Master of the Darmstadt Passion in an earlier fifteenth-century panel painting (ca. 1440) in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon (in a late medieval interpretation reflected here the boy who serves as Dorothy's messenger is the young Jesus):
http://tinyurl.com/mtfmgex
e) Dorothea's hand holding a basket as portrayed on a fifteenth-century arm reliquary in the treasury of the Catedral Primada Santa María in Toledo:
http://tinyurl.com/n5sqd6h
f) Dorothea as depicted in a fifteenth-century fresco on the apsidal arch of the chiesa di San Giacomo in Urtijëi (BZ) in the South Tirol's Val Gardena:
http://tinyurl.com/mw5ehhb
g) Dorothea as depicted in a mid-fifteenth-century glass window of upper Rhine origin in the Musée national du Moyen Age (Musée de Cluny) in Paris:
http://tinyurl.com/k24zoa8
h) Dorothea as depicted in a later fifteenth-century fresco in the now deconsecrated church of San Pietro at Carpignano Sesia (NO) in Piedmont:
http://tinyurl.com/pn65ul8
i) Dorothea as depicted in a fifteenth- or sixteenth-century book of hours for the Use of Sarum (Riom, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 76, fol. 37v):
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht4/IRHT_080691-p.jpg
j) Dorothea as portrayed in an originally polychromed limewood statue of ca. 1500 from Arlesheim (Kanton Basel) now in the Historisches Museum Basel:
http://tinyurl.com/n92hja6
k) Dorothea as portrayed by Andrea della Robbia in a terra cotta statue of ca. 1500 in the Bode Museum in Berlin:
http://tinyurl.com/lw49ymt
l) Dorothea as depicted in an early sixteenth-century wall painting (ca. 1510) in Nibe kirke, Nibe (Aalborg Kommune) in Nordjylland:
http://tinyurl.com/lfs9tzu
Best,
John Dillon
On 02/06/15, Matt Heintzelman wrote:
>
> https://www.facebook.com/604882972899463/photos/a.624764970911263.1073741830.604882972899463/777193832335042/?type=1&theater
>
>
>
> Saint Dorothy (Dorothea, Dora; Italian: Santa Dorotea, Spanish: Santa Dorotea; died ca. 311) is a 4th-century virgin martyr who was executed at Caesarea Mazaca. Evidence for her actual historical existence or acta is very sparse. She is called a martyr of the Diocletianic Persecution, although her death occurred after the resignation of Diocletian himself. She should not be confused with another 4th-century saint, Dorothea of Alexandria.
> She and Theophilus are mentioned in the Roman Martyrology as martyrs of Caesarea in Cappadocia, with a feast day on 6 February. She is thus officially recognized as a saint, but because there is scarcely any non-legendary knowledge about her, she is no longer (since 1969) included in the General Roman Calendar. (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_of_Caesarea(http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FDorothea_of_Caesarea&h=lAQHH6v1v&enc=AZNGEj9S0PmNQw9u6bhonBlVDwUObPiaeiC0VZE90oBXfFkvZNjykZx6dafDgzFZCW906xOdbWLMn3eyBtMkxhqwwyRxdQIvW71koNE5NWRT_R-CcbymP3Pkst_LA4lwVgcjQn0lyrHJliUDLNYvfZMa&s=1))
>
>
>
> Matt H.
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion
|