What did the sarcophagus of Symmachus look like?

Niels Hannestad

Description

This book concerns the chronology of Roman mythological sarcophagi. The traditional chronology assumes a peak in production during the reign of Gallienus (AD 259-268) that fades away in the reign of Constantine. This chronology has some obvious flaws. The supposed peak under the reign of Gallienus, when the empire was falling apart, can only be described as a mirage. Some very fine sarcophagi were indeed produced in this period, but the number is very limited. With the reign of Constantine (AD 306-337) came wealth, and the so-called 'villa boom' that also revived sculpture in the round. At that time, it is believed that production of pagan sarcophagi had ceased to be replaced by Christian sarcophagi. This raises a very simple question, however: how were pagans buried? No doubt production of pagan sarcophagi continued beyond the turn of the century and Symmachus, who died in AD 402, was buried in such a sarcophagus.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Archaeology
• Classical archaeology
• Ancient Rome
• Ancient history
• Rome
• Ancient
• History
• Classics

Informations

• Publié par: Aarhus University Press
• Date de parution: 11 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788771841565
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 19 Mo

Extrait

What did the Sarcophagus of Symmachus look like? Late AntIque Pagan SarcopagI

By NIes Hannestad ·Aarus UnIversIty Press

W HATDI DTHESARCOPHAGUS OF  S YMMACHUSL OOKLI KE ?

L ATE  A NTI QUEPAG ANSARCOPHAGI

Niels Hannestad

What did the sarcophagus of Symmachus look like? © Author and Aarhus University Press 2019 Cover: Jørgen Sparre Cover illustration: The Acilia Sarcophagus, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome. Photo by the author. Layout and typesetting: Ryevad Grafisk This book is typeset in ITC Legacy Serif Std E-book production by Narayana Press, Denmark

ISBN 978 87 7184 156 5 Aarhus University Press Finlandsgade 29 DK-8200 Aarhus N Denmark www.unipress.dk

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C ONTENTS

Page 7

Page 11

Page 15

Page 18

Page 21

Page 34

Page 43

Page 79

Page 88

Page 89

Page 97

Introduction

The revival of mythological sculpture

The question of pagan sarcophagi in Late Antiquity

The City of Rome

Luxury crafts

The Getty sarcophagus in the context of Late Antique mythological sculpture

Mythological marble sculpture of Late Antiquity – an overview Muse sarcophagi Dionysian/Season sarcophagi Sarcophagi with Nereids and sea centaurs Sarcophagi with mythological themes Hunting sarcophagi

Chronology – the end of production

Postscript

Bibliography

Credit of photographs

I NTRODUCTION

What did the sarcophagus of Symmachus look like? To my knowledge this hypothetical question has never been asked and by all likelihood it will never be answered. However, we can reasonably expect such a sarcophagus to have existed, and it may be possible to imagine the ap- pearance. Surely it must have been magnificent.  One of the most prominent figures in the pagan resistance against rising Christianity was the city prefect, politician and rhetor Q. Aurelius Symmachus (c. 345-402), descendent of an old aristocratic family that continued to be influential. The last Symmachus we really know about, Q. Aurelius Memmius Symmachus, was consul in 485. The circle around him were high ranking members of society, many of whom are well 1 known through literary sources . They were immensely rich but mentally in opposition to Constantinople and the emperor – which, however, did not influence their career. Not until the beginning of the 5th century did the imperial house and an aggressive church cause the disappearance of this pagan aristocracy. ‘Pagans’ formed a very varied group of cults and attitudes, contrary to the members of the church. In fact, it was the Christians that condescendingly labelled the non-Christians as pagans.  Despite dissimilarities of belief between Christians and pagans, mem- bers of the upper-class shared the same cultural heritage. The model of education and learning had changed little since the time of Cicero and would not do so for another two centuries. From the Moselle to the Levant, the upper classes read the same authors, discussed the clas- sic masterpiecesof sculpture (whether they had seen them or not) and

 1 On the pagan aristocracy in Late Antique Rome, not in fact a homogenous group: Cameron 2011; Gwynn 2011.

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adorned their stately homes in theold way with sculptures and mosaics deemed appropriate for such settings.  When it came to burials, only the Christians are supposed to have marked their graves while pagan burials supposedly were shrouded in darkness – which is hardly the case. A grandiose example of a huge and delicately carved Christian sarcophagus is that of the city prefect Junius Bassus, who died in 359. His son of the same name, also a Christian, built a basilica-like structure on the Esquiline decorated with a wall revetment in opus sectile featuring, among other themes, the myth of Hylas attacked by the nymphs, while rows of Egyptian gods spread over 2 the floor . To contemporary society, this presented no contradiction.  To approach the question asked in the title, it is necessary to take a closer look at the chronology of the later phase of Roman monumental sarcophagi. Sarcophagi, many of which were decorated with reliefs, came into fashion in the late Trajanic period initiated by the ‘Greek wave’. Not surprisingly, Rome was the centre of production with c. 6.000 specimens of all types registered. Sarcophagi with reliefs are categorized chrono- 3 logically in ten groups each favouring specific motifs.  The traditional chronology marks a peak in production and quality in the late Antonine period (c. 170-200). In the early and middle Severan period (c. 200-220/230) as well as the late Severan period (c. 220/250) were introduced new ways of sculpting details, such as eyes, which were to be introduced later in sculpture in the round. The Gallienic period (c. 253-268) hold the same standard and the following ten years (c. 270-280) still produced high quality pieces but in limited numbers, while the Tetrarchic period (c. 280-311/313) was a period of decline producing few sarcophagi. Production of pagan sarcophagi ended in the final period (c. 311/312 – end of the 4th century) with only a few attested beyond the reign of Constantine. Pagan motifs were vanishing but some ‘neu- tral’ sarcophagi were still produced depicting themes such as hunting in various versions. In this period new motifs were introduced—such as the good herdsman, a figure also carved in the round, which became

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Ensoli – La Rocca 2000, cat. no. 177. Koch 1993, 92-94.

W H At d i d t H E S A r c o P H A G u S o F S Y M M A c H u S L o o K L i K E ?

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favoured by Christians. The change of motifs paved the road for the Christian sarcophagi that would be the future.  Portraits of the deceased had a long tradition in Roman funerary art. When Greek style sarcophagi entered Rome mythological themes be- 4 came favoured. In the early period, the coffin was decorated with reliefs depicting various Greek myths without any portraits. Later the reliefs could be reinterpreted in the way that the head of the main figure(s) was transformed into a portrait, making the deceased part of the story. Among the many types is the kline sarcophagus featuring the married couple laying on the lid while the mythological scene is placed on the coffin.  For unknown reasons, however much discussed, many portraits on sarcophagi are unfinished. By contrast, the reliefs on hunting sarcoph- agi usually have finished portraits. When the portraits are missing or unfinished, we have to rely on typology and style alone.  The 3rd century is regarded as the culmination of Roman sarcophagi, representing a great variety of motifs. In this period were produced several large and high quality pieces, the so-called ‘Prunksarkophage’ – a group, however, vaguely defined. The basic work concerning these sarcophagi is a short article, published in 1977 by Bernard Andreae and Helmut Jung, in which they schematically present 250 Prunksarkophage from the 3rd 5 6 century . In the following article in the same volume by Jung alone he notes that the sarcophagi of the Gallienic period differ so much from sarcophagi of the previous periods that they cannot be attributed to specific workshops. This observation about the diversity of sarcophagi produced in this period (and later) creates a link to mythological sculp- ture of Late Antiquity.  The traditional chronology faces us with two serious problems: The supposed peak, during the reign of Gallienus, correlates with the military anarchy, when the Empire was falling apart. Sarcophagi were, indeed, still produced in Rome in this period—some of very high quality, such as the

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Koch 1993, 51-53. Andreae – Jung 1977, 432-436. Jung 1977, 436-444.

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