medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Back again. At 12:47 AM 6/30/2004 -0300, you wrote: >John: > >Well, it's _a_ "pagan" Roman statuary niche (there are several forms, one > >of which, regardless of its ancestry, is clearly arched and rounded). And > >I don't understand the point of your question: were you expecting me to > >anticipate the distinction -- not drawn in your previous post -- between > >"pagan" and Christian statuary niches? I was responding, remember, to an > >undifferentiated comment about "the 'statuary niche'". > >Risa: >Yes, I did expect you to make the distinction without having to expressly >state it. The distinction was already in the thread subject. The subject >was bathtubs as modern Christian statuary niches. That was your _interpretation_ of the subject of the previous thread ("Re: Burying Saint Joseph"). To expect that others would necessarily share that interpretation seems presumptuous. After all, experience has just shown that I interpreted the thread as having to do with niches for religious statuary. In my view, Christianity was germane to this topic but not essential, since in any discussion of the form's ancestry we would be likely to get back to pre-Christian antecedents. And, of course, threads do mutate. You recognized this by changing the thread title to "Statuary niches (Was: Burying Saint Joseph)". If you wished others to interpret that as meaning "_Christian_ statuary niches" you could have specified that when you changed the title. <snip> >Risa: >That the Roman version of the Etruscan/Greek (take your pick :-)) pediment >is found along with a rounded arch _in the rear door_ of a "Romanized" small >cult shrine is indicative of made for an non-Roman who used the Roman pediment >in the front and his or her own motif for the rear. It seems to be the >equivalent of wearing both braces and a belt. Hybrids frequently do use >seemingly disparate elements. The _interior_ door of a small shrine pertaining to a "Romanized" cult. See my comments on this matter in response to Part 1. Here's the shrine again: http://www.schule.suedtirol.it/gs-stulrich/comenius_nav/schuelerarbeiten/Pel des09.05.00/geschichte.htm I agree with you that it's a hybrid ("Mischwesen" was the term that came to mind). It suspect that it exemplifies a stage in the acceptance process when Isis could be accompanied by more traditional figures of Roman religion (the figures at bottom left, if they really belong here and weren't just found nearby) but each still gets honored in her/his "native" idiom. In other words, syncresis is at best very incomplete here. But I don't agree that this is necessarily indicative of the shine's having been made for a non-Roman. It could just as easily have been made for a Roman new devotee who still wished to honor other deities (and, apparently, his ancestors) in their customary fashion. <snip> Risa: >Back to Rome: The Basilica of Manentius and Constantine has both the Roman >arch AND the Mosaic tablet/arch... Imperial connection requires the Roman >arch on the building, but the colonnade is the Mosaic narrow, high round arch. >What about the Porta Maggiore? Pedimented, squared support columns alternating >with entry arches, but the arches are the Roman broad arch: all Roman. Here again I'm afraid we disagree: the arches of the Porta Maggiore are all Roman but they are not all broad. The four smaller arches between and around the two large entry arches seem closer to me to the Mosaic tablet/arch. See: http://www.livius.org/a/italy/rome/porta_maggiore/porta_maggiore01.JPG and, for the lower arch in the middle, this reconstruction: http://www.livius.org/a/italy/rome/porta_maggiore/porta_maggiore02.JPG Dated to ca. 50 CE, these are not quite as narrow as the foundation arches from Terracina, but they're in the same ballpark. Although they are from the beginning of the Christian era, I have difficulty attributing their form to the arrival of Christianity in Rome. Which makes this as good a place as any to insert something you said in Part 1: Risa: >And here is the real kicker. Like the Etruscans and Greeks, the Roman symbol >of the authority/protection of god(s) is the *pediment*; not the arch. For >these peoples, the arch was architectural, not specifically a religious >symbol, and they used because it permitted vaulting -- that is, the >roofing of wide expanses without columns running down the middle Well, those terrace foundations above Terracina suggest that they used it for more than vaulting. And if you look at Roman brickwork (and at a lot of concrete structures as well) you'll find the shallow arch used there as a load guiding and stabilizing device. Those quibbles aside, I agree with your position here. And because for the Romans the arch was not specifically a religious symbol, it could come in a variety of shapes depending on the job at hand. Here, for example, is the Arco Felice over the Via Domitiana at Cuma (ca. 95 CE): http://touritaly.org/arco/Italy004.JPG That could be taken for a big version of the Mosaic/tablet arch. Notice also the form of the niches on either side of the entry. They too look like tablets. And I bet they once held statues. Again, here's the arch at Orange (between 10 and 25 CE). Notice the "typical Roman" proportions of the side entry arches: http://www.unf.edu/classes/freshmancore/coreabroad/pictures/2001Orange/orang e-arch-1-PH1100.JPG Now here's the Arch of Septimius Severus from the Roman Forum (203 CE): http://sights.seindal.dk/photo/7832,s161+.html Note the relatively narrow side entry arches. More like the tablet type, it would seem. Before looking for Christian influence here, I'd wonder about the taste of those Severan ladies from Syria, Julia Domna et al. All of whom are conveniently here, BTW: http://www.roman-emperors.org/sevjulia.htm And back to the "Temple of Minerva Medica" (2d half of the 3d cent. CE), discussed briefly in my response to Part 1. Note the form of the statuary niche here: http://sights.seindal.dk/photo/8014%2Cs955.html larger: http://sights.seindal.dk/photo/8014,s955f.html Put two of those side by side and you'd have an acceptable outline of the tablets of the Law. I wouldn't rule out Christian inspiration here. But, in view of earlier Roman instances of this form where a Christian connection seems unlikely, I wouldn't rule it in automatically either. <snip> Risa: >A mixed bag, like those cited above (and snipped out below) doesn't tell us >anything more than it's a mixed collection originating from various places. >IF we have a collection of, for instance, all pedimented, and IF we put all >the pedimented ones with a,b,c together and know that one came from X, THEN >when we see exactly the same pedimented one with a,b,c, we know in advance >that it came from X. If it has exactly the same pediment and a, but not b or >c, it's from someplace else. Otherwise, we're mixing peaches and plums and >roses... same class model, different and culturally decided details. This refers to the page of edicole (mostly wall-mounted) from Bronte: http://www.bronteinsieme.it/BrIns_en/1mo_en/ce_sto3_en.html The adjacent English-language text makes it clear that they're all _from_ Bronte. They're all modern and they're of varying date; most of them, both pedimented and arched, are from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Within that relatively short space of time, some Bronteans chose pedimented edicole while contemporaries or near-contemporaries did not. Risa: >It's not a matter of aesthetics. It's not that straight forward. There are >choices made from among possibilities for any component -- shape, size, >format, script, limit system, punctuation system, etc., and they come >in hierarchies. There are choices to be made within each hierarchy. Choices >are cultural -- and the combination of choices identifies a specific culture. >Further, choices are constrained by affiliation... sacred and secular; still >are. Look how paleographers can examine two MSS written in Roman uncials and >instantly say this one is English, that one is Italian... but the uncial >is the same, isn't it? Yes and no; the class model is the same, but there >are small differences in design that distinguish one from another. English >uncials, for instance, incorporate ligatures and the uncials from Wearmouth- >Jarrow form their join to the minim at the lobe differently. Tiny differences, >but they are by choice and identify a culture. In this case it does seem largely a matter of aesthetics, as the people who put these up were all living in the same small city and probably made individual choices (or small collective ones) much as we do today in selecting a grave monument. Yes, those choices may have involved cultural factors at which we can't even guess. But to rule out aesthetics altogether seems implausible. Best again, John PS: Here's another early Julio-Claudian monument showing what I would take to be the tabular arch: http://www.villes.enprovence.com/photos/monuments/mausole.jpg Dated to ca. 30 BCE, this is the so-called Mausoleum of the Julii (actually, a cenotaph) at "Les Antiques" on the north side of Glanum, the Roman town replaced medievally by Saint-Remy de Provence. According to the Thais "Roman Architecture" page, http://www.thais.it/architettura/Romana/indicecronologico/INDICE1.html it's an adaptation of "Hellenized tower-tombs of the Semitic East". Rochelle, can you pinpoint regional influence more closely than that? ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join 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: leave 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/lists/medieval-religion.html