Giacobbe Giusti, Rabbula Gospels, Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana, Florence

Giacobbe Giusti, Rabbula Gospels, Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana, Florence

Giacobbe Giusti, Rabbula Gospels, Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana, Florence

Giacobbe Giusti, Rabbula Gospels, Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana, Florence

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Rabbula Gospels, Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana, Florence

Folio 13v of the Rabbula Gospels contains a miniature of the Ascension.

The Rabbula Gospels, or Rabula Gospels, (Florence, Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana, cod. Plut. I, 56) is a 6th-century illuminatedSyriac Gospel Book. One of the finest Byzantine works produced in Asia, and one of the earliest Christian manuscripts with large miniatures, it is distinguished by the miniaturist’s predilection for bright colours, movement, drama, and expressionism. Coming from a period from which little art survives, and which saw great development in Christian iconography, the manuscript has a significant place in art history, and is very often referred to.

Recent scholarship has suggested that the manuscript completed in 586 was later partly overpainted by restorers and bound together with miniatures from other sources in the 15th or 16th century.^[1]

 

Description

The earliest crucifixion in an illuminated manuscript, from the Rabbula Gospels.

The Gospel was completed in 586 at Monastery of St. John of Zagba (Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܙܓܒܐ, Bēṯ Zaḡbā), which, although traditionally thought to have been in Northern Mesopotamia, is now thought to have been in the hinterland between Antioch and Apameain modern Syria. It was signed by its scribe, Rabbula (ܪܒܘܠܐ, Rabbulā) about whom nothing else is known. In their current condition the folios are 34 cm (13.4 in) by 27 cm (10.6 in). Their original size is unknown because they were trimmed during previous rebindings. The text is written in black or dark brown ink in two columns of a variable number of lines. There are footnotes written in red ink at the bottom of many of the columns. The text is the Peshitta version of the Syriac translation of the Gospels.

The manuscript is illuminated, with the text framed in elaborate floral and architectural motifs. The Gospel canons are set in arcadesornamented with flowers and birds. The miniaturist obviously drew some of his inspiration from Hellenistic art (draped figures), but relied mainly on the ornamental traditions of Persia. The miniatures of the Rabbula Gospels, notably those representing the Crucifixion, the Ascension and Pentecost, are real pictures with a decorative frame formed of zigzags, curves, rainbows and so forth. The scene of the Crucifixion is the earliest to survive in an illuminated manuscript, and shows the Eastern form of the image at the time. There is a miniature of the Apostles choosing a new twelfth member (after the loss of Judas); this is not an event found in the Canonical Gospels (though it is mentioned in Chapter 1 of Acts) and is almost never seen in later art. The artist was trained in the classical illusionist tradition, and is a competent and practiced hand rather than an outstanding talent; but surviving images from this period are so rare that his are extremely valuable for showing the style and iconography of his age.

Folio 4v of the Rabbula Gospels showing the canon tables, harmonization of the four gospels, with marginal miniatures.

The French Orientalist Edgard Blochet (1870–1937) argued that some of the folios of the manuscript, including the pictorial series, were an interpolation no earlier than the 10th or 11th century. Since the original captionaccompanying the miniatures is of the same paleographic character as the main text of the manuscript, this theory was rejected by Giuseppe Furlani and by Carlo Cecchelli in the commentary of the facsimile edition of the miniatures published in 1959.^[2] But doubts as to the original unity of the contents continued.^[3] More recently, scholars have proposed that the text of 586 was only bound up together with the miniatures in the 15th century, and that the miniatures themselves were taken from at least one other original manuscript, and come from two different campaigns of work.^[1]

The history of the manuscript after it was written is vague until the 11th century when it was at (Maifuc -Jbeil/Byblos Lebanon). In the late 13th or early 14th century it came to Quannubin. In the late 15th or early 16th century, the manuscript was taken by the Maronite Patriarch to the Laurentian Library in Florence, where it is today.

The Manuscript has served during Medieval Age as register of Maronites Patriarches (Elias Kattar) ^[4],

Large miniatures

• fol. 1a Election of the Apostle Mathias by the Eleven
• fol. 1b Theotokos (Virgin Mary) with the infant Jesus
• fol. 2a Christ receives a book from two monks (dedication) / The saints Eusebius of Caesarea and Ammonius of Alexandria
• fol. 3b-12b The canon tables of Eusebius with smaller marginal miniatures
• fol. 9b Matthew and John
• fol. 13a Crucifixion of Christ / Three Marys at the tomb
• fol. 14a Ascension of Christ / Christ with four monks
• fol. 14b Gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

• Bible portal

• Syriac versions of the Bible
• Codex Phillipps 1388
• Garima Gospels
• Nestorian Evangelion

References

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b Peers, Glenn, Review of Bernabò (see Further reading)
2. Jump up^ Miniatures from the Rabbula Gospels ms.
3. Jump up^ Wright, David H. « The Date and Arrangement of the Illustrations in the Rabbula Gospels. » Dumbarton Oaks Papers 27 (1973): 197-208. Web., JSTOR
4. Jump up^ « Holy Spirit University of Kaslik | لبنان الوسيط عهد السلاطين المماليك ». http://www.usek.edu.lb. Retrieved 2017-11-23.

• Walther, Ingo F.; Wolf, Norbert (2005), Codices Illustres: The world’s most famous illuminated manuscripts, 400 to 1600, Köln: Taschen.
• Weitzmann, Kurt (1977), Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination, New York: George Braziller.

Further reading

• Bernabò, Massimo, ed., Il Tetravangelo di Rabbula. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, plut. 1.56: L’illustrazione del Nuovo Testamento nella Siria del VI secolo, Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2008.
• Weitzmann, Kurt, ed., Age of spirituality : late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century, no. 445, 1979, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ISBN 9780870991790; full text available online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries

Rabbula Gospels.

• The manuscript page-by-page online
• Blog with up-to-date bibliography
• Grove Dictionary of Art (Rabbula Gospels)
• Homepage des Bistums Speyer (mit Kommentaren zu einzelnen Bildern)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbula_Gospels

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Sol Invictus, Roman empire

Giacobbe Giusti, Sol Invictus, Roman empire

Giacobbe Giusti, Sol Invictus, Roman empire

Giacobbe Giusti, Sol Invictus, Roman empire

Giacobbe Giusti, Sol Invictus, Roman empire

Mosaic of Sol in Mausoleum M in the Vatican Necropolis^[1]

Sol Invictus (« Unconquered Sun ») was the official sun godof the later Roman Empireand a patron of soldiers. On 25 December 274 AD the Roman emperor Aurelianmade it an official cultalongside the traditional Roman cults.^[2] Scholars disagree about whether the new deity was a refoundation of the ancient Latin cult of Sol,^[3] a revival of the cult of Elagabalus,^[4] or completely new.^[5] The god was favored by emperors after Aurelian and appeared on their coins until Constantine I.^[6] The last inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to AD 387,^[7] and there were enough devotees in the fifth century that the Christian theologian Augustine found it necessary to preach against them.^[8]

Invictus as epithet

Giacobbe Giusti, Sol Invictus, Roman empire

Dedication made by a priest of Jupiter Dolichenus on behalf of the well-being (salus) of the emperors, to Sol Invictus and the Genius of the military unit equites singulares Augusti^[9]

Invictus(« unconquered, invincible ») was an epithet utilized for several Roman deities, including Jupiter, Mars, Hercules, Apollo, and Silvanus.^[10] It had been in use from the 3rd century BC.^[11] The Roman cult to Sol is continuous from the « earliest history » of the city until the institution of Christianity as the exclusive state religion. Scholars have sometimes regarded the traditional Sol and Sol Invictus as two separate deities, but the rejection of this view by S. E. Hijmans has found supporters.^[12]

An inscription of AD 102 records a restoration of a portico of Sol in what is now the Trastevere area of Rome by a certain Gaius Iulius Anicetus.^[13] While he may perhaps have had in mind an allusion to his own cognomen, which is the Latinized form of the Greek equivalent of invictus, ἀνίκητος (aniketos),^[14] the earliest extant dated inscription that uses invictus as an epithet of Sol is from AD 158.^[15] Another, stylistically dated to the 2nd century, is inscribed on a Roman phalera(ornamental disk): inventori lucis soli invicto augusto (« to the contriver of light, sol invictus augustus »).^{[dubious – discuss][16][17]} Augustus is a regular epithet linking deities to the Imperial cult.^{[citation needed]}

Sol Invictus played a prominent role in the Mithraic mysteries, and was equated with Mithras.^[18][19][20] The relation of the Mithraic Sol Invictus to the public cult of the deity with the same name is unclear and perhaps non-existent.^[21]

Elagabalus

According to the Historia Augusta, Elagabalus, the teenaged Severan heir, adopted the name of his deity and brought his cult image from Emesa to Rome. Once installed as emperor, he neglected Rome’s traditional State deities and promoted his own as Rome’s most powerful deity. This ended with his murder in 222. The Historia Augusta refers to the deity Elagabalus as « also called Jupiter and Sol » (fuit autem Heliogabali vel Iovis vel Solis).^[22] While this has been seen as an attempt to import the Syrian sun god to Rome,^[23] the Roman cult of Sol had existed in Rome in the earlier Republic.^[24]

Aurelian

Roman Imperial repoussé silverdisc of Sol Invictus (3rd century), found at Pessinus (British Museum)

The Roman gens Aurelia was associated with the cult of Sol.^[25] After his victories in the East, the Emperor Aurelian thoroughly reformed the Roman cult of Sol, elevating the sun-god to one of the premier divinities of the Empire. Where previously priests of Sol had been simply sacerdotes and tended to belong to lower ranks of Roman society,^[26] they were now pontifices and members of the new college of pontifices instituted by Aurelian. Every pontifex of Sol was a member of the senatorial elite, indicating that the priesthood of Sol was now highly prestigious. Almost all these senators held other priesthoods as well, however, and some of these other priesthoods take precedence in the inscriptions in which they are listed, suggesting that they were considered more prestigious than the priesthood of Sol.^[27] Aurelian also built a new temple for Sol, which was dedicated on December 25, 274,^[2] and brought the total number of temples for the god in Rome to (at least) four.^[28] He also instituted games in honor of the sun god, held every four years from a.d. 274 onwards.

The identity of Aurelian’s Sol Invictus has long been a subject of scholarly debate. Based on the Augustan History, some scholars have argued that it was based on Sol Elagablus (or Elagabla) of Emesa. Others, basing their argument on Zosimus, suggest that it was based on the Šams, the solar god of Palmyra on the grounds that Aurelian placed and consecrated a cult statue of the sun god looted from Palmyra in the temple of Sol Invictus.^[29] Professor Gary Forsythe discusses these arguments and adds a third more recent one based on the work of Steven Hijmans. Hijmans argues that Aurelian’s solar deity was simply the traditional Greco-Roman Sol Invictus.^[30]

Constantine

Coin of Emperor Constantine Idepicting Sol Invictus with the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, c. 315

Emperors portrayed Sol Invictus on their official coinage, with a wide range of legends, only a few of which incorporated the epithet invictus, such as the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, claiming the Unconquered Sun as a companion to the Emperor, used with particular frequency by Constantine.^[31] Statuettes of Sol Invictus, carried by the standard-bearers, appear in three places in reliefs on the Arch of Constantine. Constantine’s official coinage continues to bear images of Sol until 325/6. A solidus of Constantine as well as a gold medallion from his reign depict the Emperor’s bust in profile twinned (jugate) with Sol Invictus, with the legend INVICTUS CONSTANTINUS^[32]

Constantine decreed (March 7, 321) dies Solis—day of the Sun, « Sunday« —as the Roman day of rest (Codex Justinianus 3.12.2):

On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.^[33]

Constantine’s triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with the colossal statue of Sol by the Colosseum, so that Sol formed the dominant backdrop when seen from the direction of the main approach towards the arch.^[34]

Sol and the other Roman Emperors

Berrens^[35] deals with coin-evidence of Imperial connection to the Solar cult. Sol is depicted sporadically on imperial coins in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, then more frequently from Septimius Severusonwards until AD 325/6. Sol invictus appears on coin legends from AD 261, well before the reign of Aurelian.^[36]

Identical reverse as the coin of Constantine I but with Emperor Liciniuson head

Coin of Emperor Probus, c. 280, with Sol Invictus riding a quadriga, with legend SOLI INVICTO, « to the Unconquered Sun »: the Emperor (at left) wears a radiated solar crown, worn also by the god on the obverse

Aurelian in his radiate crown, on a silvered bronze coin struck at Rome, 274–275

Connections between the imperial radiate crown and the cult of Sol are postulated. Augustus was posthumously depicted with radiate crown, as were living emperors from Nero (after AD 65) to Constantine. Some modern scholarship interprets the imperial radiate crown as a divine, solar association rather than an overt symbol of Sol; Bergmann calls it a pseudo-object designed to disguise the divine and solar connotations that would otherwise be politically controversial^[37][38] but there is broad agreement that coin-images showing the imperial radiate crown are stylistically distinct from those of the solar crown of rays; the imperial radiate crown is depicted as a real object rather than as symbolic light.^[39] Hijmans argues that the Imperial radiate crown represents the honorary wreath awarded to Augustus, perhaps posthumously, to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Actium; he points out that henceforth, living emperors were depicted with radiate crowns, but state divi were not. To Hijmans this implies the radiate crown of living emperors as a link to Augustus. His successors automatically inherited (or sometimes acquired) the same offices and honours due to Octavian as « saviour of the Republic » through his victory at Actium, piously attributed to Apollo-Helios. Wreaths awarded to victors at the Actian Games were radiate.^[40]

Festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti

The Philocalian calendar of AD 354 gives a festival of « Natalis Invicti » on 25 December. There is limited evidence that this festival was celebrated before the mid-4th century.^[41][42] Whether this date was intended to celebrate solstice is doubtful; one scholar writes that « the cult of the Sun in pagan Rome ironically did not celebrate the winter solstice nor any of the other quarter-tense days, as one might expect. »^[43]« .

Since the 12th century^[44] there have been speculations that the near-solstice date of 25 December for Christmas was selected because it was the date of the festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, but this has been contested by The Calculation Hypothesis through the writings of the Early Christian Fathers. For example, Hippolytus of Rome, between 202 and 211 AD, said in his commentary of the Book of Daniel that the Birth of Jesus is December 25th^[45], though this passage is generally considered a late interpolation^{[by whom?]}. The manuscript includes another passage, one that is more likely to be authentic, that gives the passion as March 25.^[46]

Legacy

Christianity

The halo of Jesus has similarities to a parhelion or a sun cross.

According to one hypothesis about Christmas, it was set to 25 December because it was the date of the festival of Sol Invictus. This idea became popular especially in the 18th^[47][48] and 19th centuries.^[49][50][51]

The charioteer in the mosaic of Mausoleum M has been interpreted by some as Christ. Clement of Alexandria had spoken of Christ driving his chariot across the sky.^[52]This interpretation is doubted by others: « Only the cross-shapednimbus makes the Christian significance apparent. »^[53] and the figure is seen by some simply as a representation of the Sun with no explicit religious reference whatever, pagan or Christian.^[54]

Judaism

Mosaic in the Beth Alphasynagogue, with the Sun in the centre, surrounded by the twelve zodiac constellations and with the four seasons associated inaccurately with the constellations

The traditional image of the Sun has also been used in early Jewish art. A mosaic floor in Hamat Tiberiaspresents David as Helios surrounded by a ring with the signs of the zodiac.^[55] As well as in Hamat Tiberias, figures of Helios or Sol Invictus also appear in several of the very few surviving schemes of decoration surviving from Late Antique synagogues, including Beth Alpha, Husefa, all now in Israel, and Naaranin the West Bank. He is shown in floor mosaics, with the usual radiate halo, and sometimes in a quadriga, in the central roundel of a circular representation of the zodiac or the seasons. These combinations « may have represented to an agricultural Jewish community the perpetuation of the annual cycle of the universe or … the central part of a calendar ».^[56]

• Astrological age
• Christ myth theory
• Christian views on astrology
• Christianity and Paganism
• Esoteric Christianity
• Jesus in comparative mythology
• Saturnalia

Notes

1. Jump up^ « Archived copy ». Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b Manfred Clauss, Die römischen Kaiser – 55 historische Portraits von Caesar bis Iustinian, ISBN 978-3-406-47288-6, p. 250
3. Jump up^ See S. E. Hijmans, « The sun that did not rise in the east », Babesch 71 (1996) p.115–150
4. Jump up^ See Gaston Halsberghe, « The cult of Sol Invictus », Leiden: Brill, 1972
5. Jump up^ As Hijmans states (p.115): « Scholars have consistently postulated a clear distinction between the Republican Sol Indiges and the Imperial Sol Invictus. » and p.116 « We should keep in mind, however, that most scholars agree that this cult [Sol Indiges] was never important, and that it had disappeared altogether by the beginning of the second century AD »
6. Jump up^ Halsberghe, « The cult of Sol Invictus », p.155: « Up to the conversion of Constantine the Great, the cult of Deus Sol Invictus received the full support of the emperors. The many coins showing the sun god that these emperors struck provide official evidence of this. » and p.169 « the custom of representing Deus Sol Invictus on coins came to an end in AD 323. »
7. Jump up^ Halsberghe, « The cult of Sol Invictus », p.170 n.3: « CIL VI, 1778, dates from AD 387, »
8. Jump up^ Halsberghe, p.170, n.4: « Augustine, Sermones, XII; also in Ennaratio in Psalmum XXV; Ennaratio II, 3. »
9. Jump up^ CIL VI.31181.
10. Jump up^ Hijmans, S. E. (2009). « The sun which did not rise in the east », p. 124.
11. Jump up^ Hijmans, Steven Ernst. (2009). Sol: The Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome (diss., University of Groningen 2009), p. 18, with citations from the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.
12. Jump up^ Hijmans (2009, pp. Chapter 1) (a reworking of Hijmans, 1996; Matern, 2001; Wallraff, 2002; and Berrens, 2004; all follow Hijmans.
13. Jump up^ (Hijmans 2009, pp. 483–508 (Chapter 5))
14. Jump up^ (Hijmans, 2009, 486, footnote 22)
15. Jump up^ CIL VI, 715: Soli Invicto deo / ex voto suscepto / accepta missione / honesta ex nume/ro eq(uitum) sing(ularium) Aug(usti) P(ublius) / Aelius Amandus / d(e)d(icavit) Tertullo et / Sacerdoti co(n)s(ulibus)« Archived copy ». Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-11-12. (Publius Aelius Amandus dedicated this to the god Sol Invictus in accordance with the vow he had made, upon his honorable discharge from the equestrian guard of the emperor, during the consulship of Tertullus and Sacerdos); see: Campbell, J. (1994). The Roman army, 31 BC–AD 337: a sourcebook, p. 43; Halsberghe 1972, p. 45.[1]
16. Jump up^ Guarducci, M. (1957/1959). Sol invictus Augustus. Rendiconti della Pont, 3rd series 30/31, pp. 161 ff. Accademia Romana di Archeologia
17. Jump up^ An illustration is provided in Kantorowicz, E. H. (1961). Gods in Uniform, 368–393, 383, fig. 34 Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 105(4), (August 1961).
18. Jump up^ Ulansey, David. (1989). The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries, p. 107. Oxford University Press.
19. Jump up^ Salzman, Michele Renee. (2004). Pagan and Christian Notions of the Week in the 4th Century CE Western Roman Empire In Time and Temporality in the Ancient World, p. 192. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
20. Jump up^ Alvar, Jaime, tr. Gordon, Richard (2008). Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras, p. 100. Brill.
21. Jump up^ (Alvar, 2008, p. 203)
22. Jump up^ Historia Augusta, 1, 5: English translation (Loeb) from Thayer [2] & Latin text [3]
23. Jump up^ See in particular Halsberghe 1972.
24. Jump up^ Hijmans 1996, Matern 2001, Wallraff 2002, Berrens 2004, Hijmans (2009)).
25. Jump up^ J.C. Richard, « Le culte de Sol et les Aurelii: À propos de Paul Fest. p. 22 L. », in Mélanges offerts à Jacques Heurgon: L’Italie préromaine et la Rome républicaine (Rome, 1976), 915–925.
26. Jump up^ (Hijmans 2009, pp. 504–5)
27. Jump up^ For a full list of the pontifices of Sol see J. Rupke (ed.), Fasti Sacerdotum (2005), p. 606. Memmius Vitrasius Orfitus lists his priesthoods as pontifex of Vesta, one of the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, and pontifex of Sol, in that order (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum vol. 6, 1739–1742). In a list of eight priesthoods, Vettius Agorius Praetextatus puts Pontifex Solis in third place (CIL VI, 1779).
28. Jump up^ The other three were in the Circus Maximus, on the Quirinal, and in Trastevere. (Hijmans 2009, chapter 5)
29. Jump up^ Dirven, Lucinda (1999). The Palmyrenes of Dura-Europos: A Study of Religious Interaction in Roman Syria. BRILL. p. 169. ISBN 978-9004115897. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08.
30. Jump up^ Forsythe, Gary (2012). Time in Roman Religion: One Thousand Years of Religious History. Routledge. pp. 142–143. ISBN 978-0415522175.
31. Jump up^ A comprehensive discussion of all sol-coinage and sol-legends per emperor from Septimius Severus to Constantine can be found in Berrens (2004).
32. Jump up^ The medal is illustrated in Jocelyn M.C. Toynbee, Roman Medallions(1944, reprinted 1987) plate xvii, no. 11; the solidus is illustrated in J. Maurice, Numismatique Constantinienne vol. II, p. 236, plate vii, no. 14
33. Jump up^ Excellent discussion of this decree by Wallraff 2002, 96–102.
34. Jump up^ E. Marlowe, « Framing the sun. The Arch of Constantine and the Roman cityscape », Art Bulletin 88 (2006) 223–242.
35. Jump up^ S. Berrens, Sonnenkult und Kaisertum von den Severern bis zu Constantin I. (193–337 n. Chr.) Stuttgart: Steiner 2004 (Historia-Einzelschriften 185).
36. Jump up^ Berrens 2004, precise p. number to follow. The coinage Elagabalus does not use invictus for Roman Sol, nor the Emesan Solar deity Elagabalus.
37. Jump up^ Bergmann 1998, 121–123
38. Jump up^ S. Hijmans, « Metaphor, Symbol and Reality: the Polysemy of the Imperial Radiate Crown », in: C. C. Mattusch (ed.), Common ground. Archaeology, art, science, and humanities. Proceedings of the XVIth International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Boston, August 23–26, 2003, Oxford (2006), 440–443; (Hijmans 2009, pp. 80–84, 509–548)
39. Jump up^ Bergmann 1998, 116–117; Hijmans 2009, 82–83.
40. Jump up^ Hijmans 2009, 509–548. A mosaic floor in the Baths of the Porta Marina at Ostia depicts a radiate victory crown on a table as well as a victorious competitor wearing one.« Archived copy ». Archived from the original on 2008-11-09. Retrieved 2009-11-12.
41. Jump up^ Wallraff 2001: 174–177. Hoey (1939: 480) writes: « An inscription of unique interest from the reign of Licinius embodies the official prescription for the annual celebration by his army of a festival of Sol Invictus on December 19 ». The inscription (Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 8940) actually prescribes an annual offering to Sol on November 18 (die XIV Kal(endis) Decemb(ribus), i.e., on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of December).
42. Jump up^ Text at [4] Archived 2007-12-04 at the Wayback Machine. Parts 6 and 12 respectively.
43. Jump up^ Michael Alan Anderson, Symbols of Saints (ProQuest 2008 ISBN 978-0-54956551-2), pp. 45-46
44. Jump up^ Bishop Jacob Bar-Salabi (cited in Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries, Ramsay MacMullen. Yale:1997, p. 155)
45. Jump up^ http://www.dec25th.info/Textual^{[permanent dead link]} Tradition of Hippolytus Commentary on Daniel.html
46. Jump up^ Towards the Origins of Christmas, Roll, S. (1995), p. 87
47. Jump up^ Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, Researches Into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom, Volume 2, p. 270; John Murray, London, 1871; revised edition 1889.
48. Jump up^ Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Volume 3, 1885, T and T Clark, Edinburgh, page 396; see also Volume 4 in the 3rd edition, 1910 (Charles Scribner’s Sons, NY).
49. Jump up^ Anderson, Michael Alan (2008). Symbols of Saints. ProQuest. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-54956551-2.
50. Jump up^ « The Day God Took Flesh ». Melkite Eparchy of Newton of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. 25 March 2012. Archived from the original on 23 December 2014.
51. Jump up^  Martindale, Cyril (1913). « Christmas« . In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
52. Jump up^ Webb, Matilda (2001). The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome. Sussex Academic Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-90221058-2.
53. Jump up^ Kemp, Martin (2000). The Oxford History of Western Art. Oxford University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-19860012-1., emphasis added
54. Jump up^ Hijmans 2009, p. 567-578.
55. Jump up^ David R. Cartlidge, James Keith Elliott, The Art of Christian Legend(Routledge 2001 ISBN 978-0-41523392-7), p. 64
56. Jump up^ Weitzmann, pp. 370, 375

Bibliography

• Berrens, Stephan (2004), Sonnenkult und Kaisertum von den Severern bis zu Constantin I. (193–337 n. Chr.), Geschichte (Franz Steiner Verlag); Historia (Wiesbaden, Germany) (in German), F. Steiner, ISBN 978-3-515-08575-5
• Hijmans, S (2003), « Sol Invictus, the Winter Solstice, and the Origins of Christmas », Mouseion Calgary, 3.3: 377–398, ISSN 1496-9343, OCLC 202535001
• Hijmans, Steven E (2009), Sol : the sun in the art and religions of Rome (Thesis/dissertation), ISBN 90-367-3931-4
• Matern, Petra (2002), Helios und Sol : Kulte und Ikonographie des griechischen und römischen Sonnengottes (in German), Ege Yayınları, ISBN 978-975-8070-53-4
• Weitzmann, Kurt, ed., Age of spirituality : late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century, 1979, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; fully online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sol Invictus.

• Encyclopædia BritannicaOnline: Sol
• Probus and Sol, includes images of coins
• Roman-Emperors: Aurelian
• Gibbon’s Decline and Fall: Triumph of Aurelian
• Gibbon’s references for Aurelian’s Temple of Sol Invictus
• Clement A. Miles, Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan (1912): December 25 and the Natalis Invicti
• Catholic Encyclopedia (1908): Christmas
• Ancient sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Dura – Europos, Syria

Giacobbe Giusti, Dura – Europos, Syria

The Good Shepherd, Adam and Eve. Wall painting in the baptistry of the domus ecclesiae in Dura Europos.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Dura – Europos, Syria

Christ and Simon-Peter walking on water. Wall painting in the baptistry of the Domus ecclesiae in Dura Europos.

Giacobbe Giusti, Dura – Europos, Syria

The healing of the paralytic : wall painting in the baptistry of the domus ecclesiae in Dura Europos.

Giacobbe Giusti, Dura – Europos, Syria

The Samaritan at the well. Wall painting in the baptistry of the domus ecclesiae in Dura Europos.

Giacobbe Giusti, Dura – Europos, Syria

Dura – Europos, Syria – remains of the christian church with the western wall recently restored

Giacobbe Giusti, Dura – Europos, Syria

The Dura-Europos house church with chapel area on right.

The Dura-Europos church (also known as the Dura-Europos house church) is the earliest identified Christian house church.^[1]It is located in Dura-Europos in Syria. It is one of the earliest known Christian churches,^[2] and was apparently a normal domestic house converted for worship some time between 233 and 256, when the town was abandoned after conquest by the Persians.^[3] It is less famous, smaller, and more modestly decorated than the nearby Dura Europos synagogue, though there are many other similarities between them.

Although the fate of the church structure is unknown after occupation by ISIS, its famous frescos were removed after discovery and are now preserved at Yale University Art Gallery.^[4]

History

The site of Dura-Europos, a former city and walled fortification, was excavated largely in the 1920s and 1930s by French and American teams. Within the archaeological site, the house church is located by the 17th tower and preserved by the same defensive fill that saved the nearby Dura-Europos synagogue.

The building consists of a house conjoined to a separate hall-like room, which functioned as the meeting room for the church. The surviving frescoes of the room serving as the baptistry are probably the most ancient Christian paintings. The « Good Shepherd« , the « Healing of the paralytic » and « Christ and Peter walking on the water » are considered the earliest depictions of Jesus Christ.^[5]

A much larger fresco depicts three women (the third mostly lost) approaching a large sarcophagus. This most likely depicts the three Marys visiting Christ’s tomb.^[6] There were also frescoes of Adam and Eve as well as David and Goliath. The frescoes clearly followed the Hellenistic Jewish iconographic tradition, but they are more crudely done than the paintings of the nearby Dura-Europos synagogue.^[7]

Fragments of parchment scrolls with Hebrew texts have also been unearthed; they resisted meaningful translation until J.L. Teicher pointed out that they were Christian Eucharistic prayers, so closely connected with the prayers in Didache that he was able to fill lacunae in the light of the Didache text.^[8]

In 1933, among fragments of text recovered from the town dump outside the Palmyrene Gate, a fragmentary text from an unknown Greek gospel harmonyaccount was unearthed. It was comparable to Tatian‘s Diatessaron, but independent of it.

Gallery

Frescoes of the baptistry

• 

  The Good Shepherd

• 

  Healing of the paralytic

• 

  Christ and Peter walking on water

• 

  Women at the tomb

• 

  The Samaritan Woman by the Well

See also

Dura Europos domus ecclesiae.

• Oldest churches in the world
• Dura-Europos
• Lullingstone Roman Villa, another rare house-church from Roman Britain

References

1. Jump up^ Snyder, Graydon F. (2003). Ante Pacem: Archaeological Evidence of Church Life Before Constantine. Mercer University Press. p. 128.
2. Jump up^ The people are holy: the history and theology of Free Church worship by Graydon F. Snyder, Doreen M. McFarlane 2005 ISBN 0-86554-952-4 page 30
3. Jump up^ Floyd V. Filson (June 1939). « The Significance of the Early House Churches ». Journal of Biblical Literature. 58 (2): 105–112. doi:10.2307/3259855. JSTOR 3259855.
4. Jump up^ Yale University
5. Jump up^ Graydon F. Snyder, Ante pacem: archaeological evidence of church life before Constantine, pp. 129-134, (Mercer University Press, 2003) google books
6. Jump up^ Yale: « Unearthing the Christian building », p.4
7. Jump up^ F. Snyder, Ante pacem: archaeological evidence of church life before Constantine, pp. 129-134, Mercer University Press, 2003
8. Jump up^ J.L. Teicher, « Ancient Eucharistic Prayers in Hebrew (Dura-Europos Parchment D. Pg. 25) », The Jewish Quarterly Review New Series 54.2 (October 1963), pp. 99-109

Further reading

• Weitzmann, Kurt, ed., Age of spirituality : late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century, nos. 360 (fresco) and 580 (architecture), 1979, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ISBN 9780870991790; full text available online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
• C H Kraeling, The Christian Building, 1967, Yale University Press
• Clark Hopkins, The Discovery of Dura-Europos, Yale University Press, 1979
• Penny Young, Dura Europos A City for Everyman, Twopenny Press, 2014

External links

• Photo of Baptistery
• Diagram of Church
• « 7 vs. 8: The Battle Over the Holy Day at Dura-Europos » Bible Review, Aug. 1996

Categories:

• Churches in Syria
• Fresco paintings
• 3rd-century churches
• Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Syria
• Roman Empire art
• Dura-Europos
• Buildings and structures in Deir ez-Zor Governorate
• Early Christian art

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dura-Europos_church

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

 

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

 

Baptistère des Orthodoxes Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon
Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon Matthias Holländer Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon
Présentation
Nom local	Battistero Neoniano
Culte	Catholique romain
Type	Baptistère
Début de la construction	vers 400
Fin des travaux	450
Style dominant	Byzantin
Protection	patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCOen 1996
Site web	www.ravennamosaici.it [archive]
Géographie
Pays	Italie
Région	Émilie-Romagne
Ville	Ravenne
Géolocalisation sur la carte : Italie

Le baptistère des Orthodoxes ou Baptistère de Néon, à Ravenneen Italie, est le plus ancien édifice de cette ville. Ce nom le distingue du baptistère des Ariens, également à Ravenne, construit par le roi des Ostrogoths, Théodoric l’Amale. Les deux édifices, dont la destination est identique, étaient propres aux deux communautés chrétiennes qui coexistaient alors à Ravenne.

Cet édifice paléochrétien est connu pour avoir conservé la plus grande partie de son décor intérieur datant du v^e siècle (Bas Empire romain), dont des marqueteries de marbres (opus sectile), des stucs, des fresques, mais surtout un superbe ensemble de mosaïques.

Il est inscrit, avec d’autres monuments de Ravenne, sur la liste du patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco.

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

Intérieur du baptistère, cuve monumentale au premier plan

Histoire

Le baptistère fut construit par l’évêque Ursus à la fin du iv^e ou au début du v^e siècle, comme bâtiment annexe d’une grande basilique, détruite en 1734. Il fut terminé par l’évêque Néon, vers la fin du v^e siècle ; c’est de cette époque que date la décoration de mosaïques. Le pavement du bâtiment est à présent à 3 mètres au-dessous du niveau du sol, ce qui change l’aspect visible du monument.

Description

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

Vue de l’élévation intérieure avec les mosaïques

Le plan est octogonal, comme au baptistère du Latran à Rome, plan qu’on retrouve pour de nombreux édifices paléochrétiens puis plus tard pour des monuments byzantins (comme la basilique Saint-Vital dans la même ville) ou d’inspiration byzantine (comme le Dôme du Rocher à Jérusalem). Il a une signification symbolique : il figure les sept jours de la semaine (et de la Création du monde) plus le jour de la Résurrection et de la Vie Éternelle.

L’édifice a été remanié au x^e ou xi^e siècle par l’ajout de quatre petites absidioles, faisant disparaitre une partie des opus sectile. Il y a un contraste important entre la richesse de l’intérieur du bâtiment et la sobriété épurée du parement en brique de l’extérieur, ce qui est fréquent dans l’art paléochrétien et en particulier à Ravenne. Ce baptistère dégage une aura particulière due à son architecture monumentale. Les trois arcs (symbole de la Trinité) reposant sur des colonnes comme fermeture pour les fenêtres de l’intérieur ne se distinguent pas de l’extérieur.

Le baptistère possède en son centre des fonts baptismaux, constitués par une vasque monumentale et octogonale en marbre pour baptiser les fidèles par immersion presque totale.

Mosaïques

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

Mosaïque de la coupole.

Le centre de la coupole est occupé par une mosaïque qui représente le baptême du Christ dans les eaux du Jourdainpar saint Jean-Baptiste. Ainsi le fidèle peut identifier son baptême à celui du Christ. On remarque dans cette scène une allégorie curieusement païenne du Jourdain.

Plus bas et entourant la scène du baptême du Christ est représentée une procession des douze apôtres derrière saint Pierre et saint Paul avec une sorte de hiérarchie :

• premier niveau : la cuve du baptême où le fidèle est baptisé,
• deuxième niveau : bas-reliefs représentant des prophètes avec des codex en main,
• troisième niveau : les douze apôtres,
• quatrième niveau: le Christ et la colombe du Saint-Esprit.

Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

• 

  Vue partielle des trois niveaux.

  Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

   

• 

  Au premier niveau: marqueterie de marbre (à gauche), chapiteau, mosaïque.

  Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

   

• 

  Premier niveau, un des personnages dans le décor de rinceauxd’or

  Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

   

• 

  Les mosaïques de la coupole.

  Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

   

• 

  Détail du bas de la coupole.

  Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

   

• 

  Quelques-uns des douze apôtres sur la coupole

  Giacobbe Giusti, Baptistère de Néon

   

• 

  Sommet de la coupole: le baptême du Christ avec la colombe du Saint Esprit.

   

   

Baptistery of Neon (Italian: Battistero Neoniano) is a religious building in Ravenna, central Italy. The most ancient monument remaining in the city, it was partly erected on the site of a Roman bath. It is also called the Orthodox Baptistery to distinguish it from the Arian Baptistery constructed on behest of Ostrogothic King Theodoric some 50 years later.

The octagonal brick structure was erected by Bishop Ursus at the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century, as part of his great Basilica (destroyed in 1734). The baptistery was finished by Bishop Neon at the end of the 5th century, at which time the mosaic decorations were added. The original floor is now some 3 meters underground, so the proper structure and extent of the building can no longer be seen. The octagonal design of the building, employed in virtually all Early Christian baptisteries, symbolizes the seven days of the week plus the Day of the Resurrection and Eternal Life.

The ceiling mosaic depicts John the Baptist baptizing Jesus (depicted with beard) standing waist high in the Jordan River. To one side stands the personification of the Jordan river, with a reed in one hand and a garment in the other. A procession of the twelve apostles proceeds around the center mosaic in two directions, ending with Saint Peter meeting Saint Paul.

The ceiling mosaic in the Baptistry of Neon
The Baptistry is one of the eight structures in Ravenna registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. According to the ICOMOS evaluation of this patrimony, « this is the finest and most complete surviving example of the early Christian baptistery » which « retains the fluidity in representation of the human figure derived from Greco-Roman art »

Further reading

• Weitzmann, Kurt, ed., Age of spirituality: late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century, no. 588, 1979, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ISBN 9780870991790

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Baptistry_of_Neon_(Ravenna)?uselang=it

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com