Academic literature on the topic 'Early Christian Art objects'

Abstract In this wide-ranging conversation, David Serlin (University of California, San Diego) and Roland Betancourt (University of California, Irvine) discuss questions of sexual consent and sexual violence in the visual culture of early Christian art as inspired by Betancourt’s recent book, Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (2020). Drawing on rare manuscripts and other objects of worship from institutional archives, Betancourt analyzes and contextualizes numerous Byzantine visual texts featuring often confounding representations of sexual acts or gendered behavior that later Christian interpreters would treat as conventional or settled. For Betancourt, early Christian authors and artists were far more open to troubling and experimenting with depictions of sexual and gendered narratives than many medievalists (and, importantly, non-medievalists) have been trained to see.

Although the sarcophagus No. 1957, 1011.1 is investigated in detail, to this day there are many questions in its study. In addition to the main problems facing the researcher in the study of early monuments the item has a unique iconographic solution: unlike other objects of this kind (3rd c.), the prophet Jonah, reproduced on the front wall, is represented awake. The authors put forward a number of hypotheses explaining this feature, but none of them is comprehensive. These aspects justify the choice of the monument as an object of study.A review of texts (2nd-4th cc.) and objects (3rd-5th cc.) showed that, probably, the Old Testament prophet is not literally represented in the relief, but rather an allegorical transmission of the theology of bodily Resurrection is presented. Although the early texts were only trying to comprehend the relationship between the image (εἰκών) and the Prototype (ἀρχέτυπον), nevertheless, perhaps understanding the images at that time could be more complicated and led to the formation of the theology of the image.

To elucidate some of the origins of what Martin Marty has called “America’s Iconic Book,” this article analyzes early Christian rituals in which the Bible functions as an icon, that is, as a material object that invokes the presence of the divine. After an introductory discussion of icons, it shows that early Christian communal rituals of Gospel procession and display as well as popular and private ritual uses of scripture as a miracle-working object parallel the uses and functions of Orthodox portrait icons while circumventing issues of idolatry. Examples come from a survey of early Christian liturgies, conciliar and legal records, the physical appearance of Bibles and Gospel books, the representations of books in art, and written arguments from the iconoclastic controversies of the eighth and ninth centuries.

Abstract Dan Flavin’s fluorescent light installations have long served art historians by marking the turn from the late modernist illusionist space of painting to the new immanence of specific objects. In the narration of this genealogy, the crux of minimalism, as Hal Foster calls it, rests on a nominal approach that proclaims metaphysical relations as an obstacle and calls out to evade any notion of meaning. By contrast, this essay asserts the primacy of metaphysics in Flavin’s [en]lighted work. By tracing the artist’s scholastic education, his contemporary theo-political stance, and his rejection of objecthood, I argue that Flavin was continuously preoccupied with Catholic theology and that his work is imbued with Christian iconography. Thinking alongside the fourteenth-century philosopher William of Ockham and the twentieth-century post-Husserlian phenomenology of Jean-Luc Marion, the evolution of Flavin’s light constructions proves relevant to the quandary of metaphysics and the role of theology in radical immanence. To bracket his metaphysics is to ignore the full implications of his art.

A collection of objects with images of characters, whose arms are folded crosswise on their chest, has been collected over many years of research into the medieval urban culture of Semirechye and South Kazakhstan. These objects are made of terracotta, clay, bronze. Considering the total number of finds dated to the 6th—10th centuries, the popularity of these images can be noted. Their appearance is associated with the influence exerted by the Sogdians. The images correlate with the cult of ancestors, ideas about the afterlife, the posthumous existence and the subsequent resurrection of the dead. An early find is a fragment of a terracotta Christian icon of the 5th—6th centuries with a Syrian inscription, which probably got to the city of Taraz along the Great Silk Road. The article presents the version that the scene “Resurrection” is reproduced on the icon. The ossuaries, decorative clay columns, bronze amulets supposedly depict Avestan fravashi. The origins of the gesture can be traced in the art of Ancient Egypt, Etruscans, Iran, Byzantium, Sogd. The prayer gesture with folded hands has been preserved in ritual practice and religious art to this day.

ABSTRACT From their king’s decision to embrace Catholicism at the turn of the sixteenth century to the advent of imperial colonialism in the late eighteen hundreds, the men and women of the central African kingdom of Kongo creatively mixed, merged, and redefined local and foreign visual forms, religious thought, and political concepts into the novel, coherent, but also constantly evolving worldview of Kongo Christianity. Sartorial practices and regalia in particular showcased the artful conversion of the realm under the impetus of its monarchs and aristocrats. In their clothing and insignia, the kingdom’s elite combined and recast foreign and local, old and new, material and emblems into heralds of Kongo Christian power, wealth, and, eventually history. I propose to use the concept of the space of correlation as a key to analyze these elaborate, and constantly evolving religious, political, and material transformations through an attentive focus on cultural objects such as clothing, hats, swords, and saint figures.

The article describes the goals, principles and different forms of the presentation of the cult of saints in the exhibitions of anti-religious and local history museums in the context of the ideological and cultural tasks of museum construction in the early 1930s. The issue of the presentation of icons and objects of church worship for anti-religious purposes was extremely acute: on the one hand, it was impossible to create an exposition about religion without exhibiting artifacts related to it, on the other, these artifacts were supposed to expose religion. After the campaign to uncover the “relics”, they were often exhibited in museums for anti-religious purposes, but this demonstration most often had the opposite effect. The article analyzes the materials of the discussion on the possibility of using icons and religious objects in anti-religious exhibitions. The author shows that during the period under study, the contradictions between the “anti-religious”, who considered interest in religious art as “grave aestheticism” that strengthened religion, and representatives of the so-called “culturalism” who tried to preserve and exhibit items of religious culture in museums. Particular attention is paid to studying the search for a “third way” in resolving the existing conflict between the classical principles of exhibiting religious art and the new so-called an “anti-religious” approach, which was based on the comparative study of religions and field anthropological research on popular religiosity. The main principles of this “third way”, focused on the preservation and display of items of religious culture, were the rejection of their pietistic interpretation, attention to formal art analysis, as well as Marxist historical, cultural and sociological analysis.

Abstract This essay presents a case study from Erfurt (Germany) concerning the production of shofarot (i.e., animal horns blown for ritual purposes, primarily on the Jewish New Year). By the early 1420s, Jews from all over the Holy Roman Empire had been purchasing shofarot from one Christian workshop in Erfurt that produced these ritual Jewish objects in cooperation with an unnamed Jewish craftsman. At the same time, two Jews from Erfurt were training in this craft, and started to produce shofarot of their own making. One of these Jewish craftsmen claimed that the Christian workshop had been deceiving the Jews for decades by providing improper shofarot made with materials unsuitable for Jewish ritual use. The local rabbi, Yomtov Lipman, exposed this as a scandal, writing letters to the German Jewish communities about the Christian workshop’s fraud and urging them all to buy new shofarot from the new Jewish craftsmen in Erfurt instead. This article will first examine the fraud attributed to the Christian workshop. Then, after analyzing the historical context of Yomtov Lipman’s letter, it will explore the underlying motivations of this rabbi to expose the Christian workshop’s fraud throughout German Jewish communities at this time. I will argue that, while Yomtov Lipman uses halakhic explanations in his letter, his chief motivation in exposing this fraud was to discredit the Christian workshop, create an artificial demand for shofarot, and promote the new Jewish workshop in Erfurt, whose craftsmen the rabbi himself had likely trained in the art of shofar making.

We are privileged to offer a summary of the massive campaign of excavation and survey conducted by the author and his team from Japan in northern Egypt and the neighbouring coast of Sinai. Over the last few years they have excavated a large sector of al-Fustat (the early Islamic settlement on the outskirts of modern Cairo), mapped the early Christian monastery at Wadi al-Tur (sixth–twelfth century AD), recorded early Islamic rock inscriptions on Mt Naqus eighth–twentieth century AD), mapped the port and mosque at Raya (originating in the sixth–twelfth or thirteenth century AD) and investigated on a large scale the fourteenth–twentieth-century sequence at al-Kilani (al-Tur). Among the objects unearthed at al-Kilani were 4000 fragments of manuscripts. The work is throwing new light on early Islam, its development of social and commercial networks, and its relation with Christian, Coptic and Byzantine cultures.

This note focuses on recent discussions on gemstone amulets from Late Antiquity through insights offered in two contributions to the volume Textual Amulets from Antiquity to Early Modern Times: The Shape of Words (Theis and Vitellozzi 2022). After a general presentation of the volume, I turn to the first two chapters, penned each by one of the volume’s editors. Paolo Vitellozzi’s paper examines the evolution of the textuality of magical gems in light of speech act theories and taxonomies elaborated in earlier secondary literature. Vitellozzi also analyses the complex interaction of medium (the gemstone), text and image in the course of this evolutionary process, showing how writing progressively assumed magical efficacy. In the following paper, Christoffer Theis analyses a specific category of magical gems, namely those which represent divinities with multiple heads. Theis’ observations implicitly complement Vitellozzi’s conclusions on the textuality of gemstone amulets. In the final paragraphs of this note, I briefly comment on Christian amulets and isopsephisms.

Between the fourth and the seventh centuries CE, Christian patrons erected thousands of churches, chapels, and monasteries in cities and villages across the Mediterranean, decorating the apses, walls and floors of many of these structures with figural and geometric mosaics. These late antique Christian mosaics have been studied for their iconography, their Graeco-Roman components, and as evidence for the religious beliefs of newly-Christian patrons. However, art historians largely have ignored the ways that texts, inscribed within the visual field and composed of the same mosaic material, functioned as images in Christian spaces. For the first time, this thesis assembles the foundations of a comprehensive catalogue of early Christian mosaic inscriptions, places them back into the physical spaces in which they were meant to be read, and analyzes how these texts functioned both verbally and visually for the late antique reader/viewer, against the backdrop of Graeco-Roman traditions. I first examine the ekphrastic components of Christian inscriptions and look more closely at the different ways in which texts work with and against images and spaces, encouraging the viewer to react physically and mentally. Second, I study the language of light used by the inscriptions, and argue that this language linked text to the material of mosaic and enabled patrons to make complex statements about their cultural erudition and religious affiliation. Third, I investigate the functions and visual forms of short tituli which label scenes or name figures to simplify, authenticate or transform static images into narratives in motion. Finally, I turn to the frames of the inscriptions and contend that different forms conveyed powerful visual arguments. By writing these texts back into their mosaics, this thesis argues that texts and images were inseparable in the period, and that text written into images performed and played in more complex ways than has been previously thought.

Art History
M.A.
The genesis of the early Roman Christian basilica occurred at a moment of historical transition as the emperor and the empire began the process of converting to the Christian religion. Typically, this era has received scholarly treatment either as the end of a time in which the emperor held supremacy or the beginning of one dominated by bishops. The exact moment of `redefinition,' however, has rarely attracted attention because of the assertive oligarchies that bookended this transitional period, the Roman emperor and the Christian pontificate. Richard Krautheimer, who focused much of his attention on the historical figure of Constantine, promoted the idea that the basilica was Constantine's way of imbuing the Christian church with imperial authority and connotations; effectively, Constantine forever changed the shape of Christian churches. This explanation of the pivotal moment of genesis has been generally accepted and the moment of transition has not received much attention from scholars since. In my thesis I will focus primarily on this moment of transition. I will explore the political climate of the government, the authoritative hierarchy of the church, and the precedents of the very first early Roman Christian basilica, at the Lateran. The method that I will employ is the theory of etiquette, operating under the assumption that in every historical period, there is a general understanding of what is `fitting' and `appropriate.' Because of the paucity of material evidence and the unreliability of surviving primary sources, it is generally impossible to make incontestable statements about who was responsible for the early Roman Christian basilica, what they intended to convey to the Roman population, and how appropriate it would have been given the social decorum of the time. Thus, conclusions of this nature are not the primary focus of this thesis. Instead I will concentrate on reconstructing who the most appropriate agent of authority is, and how suitable the early Roman Christian basilica might have seemed.
Temple University--Theses

This thesis considers the evolution of narrative art in Judaism and early Christianity, and deals in particular with narrative figure scenes in which Moses is the principal figure. Current theories, espoused by the late Kurt Weitzmann, posit the existence of a Jewish illustrated manuscript tradition dating back to the Hellenistic period, which could have been the source for Old Testament scenes in art. In the light of these proposals and taking into account more recent narrative theory, this study of early Moses scenes in art takes up the suggestion that a large range of visual narrative scenes, closely following a given text and with a tendency for these scenes to be arranged in narrative sequence, might indicate the presence of a lost illustrated manuscript which artists are using as their model. Stories about Moses originate from within Judaism, and are mentioned also in Christian texts for the first three centuries AD, when Moses is regarded as the forerunner of Christ. While earlier Jewish art largely conformed to the proscription against figural art, narrative figure scenes illustrating Old Testament stories are known from the late second century AD. In the synagogue at Dura Europos (AD c.250), the range of biblical imagery includes five or six scenes illustrating stories from Exodus and Numbers, although Weitzmann�s criteria are only partially fulfilled. During the third century AD, when the earliest Christian art is found, Christians use Old Testament imagery as well, including a cycle of scenes illustrating the story of Jonah. The decoration in the baptistery in the Christian house at Dura, like that in the synagogue there, shows some interest in visual narrative, although in this case no Moses scenes are involved. At this time there is only one Moses story certainly illustrated in Christian art, The miracle of the spring (based on Exodus 17), which occurs in funerary art in Rome. The iconography for this scene is used "emblematically" to promote ideas rather than stories about Moses. If at this time Christian artists know of a narrative cycle involving Moses, they show very little interest in reflecting this.

Representations of the Holy Trinity have increasingly come under scrutiny, exposing two competing paradigms at opposite ends of the theological spectrum: the legitimacy and the illegitimacy of imaging the Triune God with focus on the invisible Father who was imaged as an individual from Late Antiquity and beyond. An overview of these two conflicting views has unveiled a number of inconsistencies in how the Early Christian iconography of God the Father and the Trinity has been interpreted. This thesis provides a unique re-evaluation of the surviving Trinitarian visual material between c.300 to c.730. Primarily, this study collates pictorial evidence preserved in the mediums of sarcophagi, catacomb frescoes, mosaics, illuminated manuscripts and an icon that depicts Divinity. It proceeds to critique modern misconceptions of the identity, form, meaning, function and reception of the depictions. The thesis traces the visual shift amid overt and covert images of Divinity by decoding important artworks such as the Ashburnham Pentateuch and the Codex Amiatinus; Christians visualised explicitly the ' invisibility' of God but created an unprecedented invention, the depiction of the Father through Christ's image. The innovative depiction heralded future visual formulas of Divinity echoing the complexities of Trinitarian material culture of the Mediterranean world.

Midrash is a genre of rabbinic Bible exegesis, composed by various authors and compiled in anthologies during the first seven centuries of the Common Era. This thesis explores the reading of Midrash and its possible influence on early artistic activity. Examples of early Jewish and Christian biblical representations that display some degree of midrashic impact, are presented in order to establish the existence of a relationship between Midrash and art. Finally, by a systematic reading of the corpus of midrashic literature found in Midrash Rabbah, Midrashim that suggest graphic representation, but which have not yet to been found among early art forms, are categorized and analyzed.

One of the central theoretical tenets of linear perspective is that it is based upon the idea of a monocular observer. Our lived perception, also referred to in the Renaissance as perspectiva naturalis, is always rooted in binocular vision, however, the guidelines for perspectiva artificialis often imply a single peeping eye as a starting point. In the early modern period, a number of rare art forms and instruments follow the prescriptive character of linear perspective to ludic ends. By focusing on this special class of what I would call 'monocular art forms', I will analyse the extent to which the perspectival method has been successfully applied in material form beyond the classic two-dimensional paintings. This special class of objects include: anamorphosis, peep-boxes, catoptrics, dioptric perspective tubes, and perspective instruments. It is my intention to draw attention to the different ways traditional perspectival paintings, exceptional cases such as perspective boxes and anamorphoses, and optical devices were encountered in the early modern period. In this thesis I will be examining the specific sites of each case study in depth so as to describe the various contexts - aristocratic, intellectual, religious - in which these items circulated. In Chapter 1 I illustrate a special class of perspective and anamorphic designs that confined their illusions to a peepshow. Chapter 2 examines one of the most consummate applications of the monocular principle of perspective: seventeenth-century Dutch perspective boxes. In Chapter 3, monocular catoptric designs are studied in light of the vogue for mirror cabinets in the seventeenth century. Chapter 4 examines the innovative techniques of drawing machines and their collection in early modern courts through close study of the 'perspectograph'.

This study addresses the question of formative early Christian preaching and teaching. Unlike previous approaches, I eschew synthesis across a broad range and focus instead on the earliest extant Christian source: the letters of Paul. My method draws on ancient communication practices, primarily represented in ancient rhetoric, wherein communicators rely on knowledge they presume their interlocutors to possess. Passages are analyzed according to the type of appeal to Paul's initial teaching: (1) explicit reminders of previous teaching, (2) direct appeals to knowledge not explicitly linked to previous teaching, and (3) indirect appeals to knowledge about practices, beliefs, conventions, etc. The reconstruction focuses on 1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians and Romans. 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians represent neophyte and well-established Pauline communities, respectively, while Romans is of interest because it represents non-Pauline believers. I proceed with a comparative analysis of 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians. Chapter 4 lays out the rhetorical situation for these letters while chapters 5-7 investigate the three types of appeal respectively, each closing with a comparison of similar material in each letter. Chapter 8 summarizes and concludes this discussion, providing the basis for my subsequent analysis of Romans. Finally, I compare the picture from the Thessalonian and Corinthian communities with Paul's letter to the Romans (chapter 9). Topics he expects his Roman audience to know indicate points of expected congruence between Paul's own teaching and that of others. By contrast, topics that receive significant expansion in Romans suggest perceived potential for conflict. In this dissertation I identify consistent elements of early Christian instruction, ranging from Christology to apocalyptic cosmology, while also noting possible conflict. My approach places the reconstruction of early Christian teaching on firmer methodological footing than previous attempts have done and offers a rhetorically sensitive account of the teaching and how it was used.

This thesis discusses the notion of amicitia in early Christian literature. By examining letters and normative texts ranging from the third to the early fifth century, the study illuminates not only how contemporary authors shaped friendship conceptually but also how these concepts relate to the actual social practice. Typically, scholars confine their reading of Christian friendship to the late antique period. In so doing, they approach amicitia either as a particular kind of relationship performing crucial social functions or as a subject for theorization that followed the example of a longstanding ancient philosophical tradition. Particularly influential has been the view that links amicitia with affection and love. Hence, scholars tend to stress the inclusiveness of friendship. By contrast, my own study focuses on the aspect of exclusion as the necessary by-product of social inclusion processes. Along these lines, amicita is described as existing in a dialectical opposition with its antonym, inimicitia. This approach yielded a number of insights. First, as the study moves into uncharted territory, the examination of third century texts highlights a tradition of amicitia-related thought that reached further back than has previously been assumed. From this, a more nuanced picture of friendship emerges that is not constrained by scholarly established boundaries between different fields of study. Second, the principle of inclusion and exclusion, dividing the world into amici and inimici, has been revealed as a powerful tool in church politics and religious controversy that established sharp boundaries between competing Christian factions. This view, which posits the truth of faith as the necessary prerequisite for friendship, is set off against other contemporary voices that did not make amicitia dependent on a particular religious group affiliation. Third, while disentangling friendship from the question of love, the character of Christian amicitia is viewed against the backdrop of the divine household. Though the conceptual overlap between friendship and kinship is not unique to the Christian tradition, such thinking ties in with an idea of community that builds on the paternity of God. These findings have implications for both the study of ancient friendship and the history of the early church. They improve our understanding of the relation between the conceptualization of amicitia and the actual social practice and moreover offer a deep insight into the social dynamics of contemporary religious controversies.

The presented thesis examines dining practices associated with ancient funerary rites, and representations of meals that decorated Roman tombs. Evidence for dining, and its significance in mortuary rites, comes from various sources: from pagan, Christian and Jewish literary examples that describe funerary and commemorative events, and archaeological material of food remains and dining installations at the cemeteries, to pictures of meals depicted on different media: cinerary urns and altars, gravestones, frescoes, mosaics and sarcophagi. The aim of this thesis is to investigate available sources, focusing mainly on pictorial representations of late Roman and early Christian dining in order to assess the purpose of decorating the tombs with convivial images. The thesis begins with a discussion of how the Roman catacombs were used by early Christians, and how they were perceived by the post-sixteenth-century explorers and researchers. As our understanding of the development of the subterranean cemeteries has changed over the past centuries, so has our view of the late ancient societies and their funerary practices. Chapter 1 investigates both written and archaeological evidence for Roman funerary meals (silicernium and novemdiale) and commemorative rites during several festivals for the dead (e.g. parentalia0or0rosalia) performed by families and members of collegia. This Chapter also presents the development of the funerary Eucharist, and discusses evidence for early Christian funerary prayer. Chapter 2 focuses on memorials decorated with diners reclining on klinai, which were intended to represent the status of the deceased. Chapter 3 discusses painted collective meal scenes represented on stibadia, which are differentiated according to their interpretation: Elysian picnic scenes, images representing status of the deceased, or refrigeria (commemorative events) held by family and collegia. This section also includes an investigation into early Christian convivial images, which portray biblical stories and refrigeria. Chapter 4 presents convivial images from the catacomb of SS. Pietro e Marcellino, which provide evidence of a group of foreigners who migrated to Rome. Chapter 5, the final chapter, presents collective meal scenes on sarcophagi, which depict mythological events and picnic scenes reflecting elite villa life style. However, a small group of early Christian examples were also designed to portray honorary meals. In conclusion, the thesis provides evidence for shared funerary practices amongst different religious communities in the Roman world. Additionally, in the majority of cases the dining scenes focus on the representations of the deceased (their status or profession) rather than any particular religious affiliation; while both pagan and Christian images of refrigeria were designed to strengthen, or substituted for, actual commemorative rites.

During the early modern period, objects of maritime material culture were removed from their places of origin and traded, collected and displayed worldwide. Focusing on shells and pearls exchanged within local and global networks, this monograph compares and connects Asian, in particular Chinese, and European practices of oceanic exploitation in the framework of a transcultural history of art with an understanding of maritime material culture as gendered. Perceiving the ocean as mother of all things, as womb and birthplace, Chinese and European artists and collectors exoticized and eroticized shells’ shapes and surfaces. Defining China and Europe as spaces entangled with South and Southeast Asian sites of knowledge production, source and supply between 1500 and 1700, the book understands oceanic goods and maritime networks as transcending and subverting territorial and topographical boundaries. It also links the study of globally connected port cities to local ecologies of oceanic exploitation and creative practices.

Крайняя малочисленность связанных с христианством находок и их неравномерное распределение во времени создает значительные трудности при восстановлении истории Фанагорийской христианской общины. Восполнить лакуны до некоторой степени помогают имеющиеся сведения об истории христианства в других центрах Северо-Восточного Причерноморья, неотъемлемой частью которого являлась Фанагория. Несомненно, новая религия проникает в Фанагорию, как и в другие центры Боспорского царства, в последней четверти 3 в. из Малой Азии, откуда готы, возвращаясь из своих пиратских набегов, привозили пленных христиан. Именно к периоду после морских походов варваров относятся первые зафиксированные на Боспоре признаки христианства: различные вещи с христианскими символами, христианские участки на некрополе в Керчи. Незначительное количество раннехристианских памятников говорит о том, что в этот период распространение религии в регионе происходило, главным образом, благодаря деятельности миссионеров, и число приверженцев христианства было невелико. С включением Боспора в сферу влияния Византийской империи церковь и государство предпринимают совместные усилия по христианизации региона: скорее всего, именно в это время по обе стороны Керченского пролива строятся церкви, в Фанагории учреждается епископская кафедра и строится христианский храм, внутреннему убранству которого, скорее всего, принадлежали два мраморных резервуара для воды, сигмовидный стол и рельеф с изображением Орфея, найденные при раскопках на «Нижнем городе». Форма и материал, из которого изготовлен один из найденных резервуаров, позво ляет интерпретировать его как крещальную купель. Причем небольшая глубина найден ной емкости не означает, что в ней крестили только детей, поскольку в большинстве случаев крещение совершалось без полного погружения: стоявшего в купели крещаемого просто обливали водой. Однако уже с 4 в. при крещении начали использовать стоячую воду, а наполнять купель предписывалось вручную. Поэтому объяснить назначение двух отверстий в фанагорийском резервуаре в случае его использования в качестве купели трудно. Лучше объясняет наличие двух отверстий другой возможный вариант использования резервуара: в качестве реликвария, в котором хранились мощи, их частицы или какие-то другие реликвии. Через верхнее отверстие в реликварий на хранящиеся в нем мощи наливали масло, которое выливалось через отверстие в нижней части. Что касается чаши с ручками-выступами вдоль края, то подобные емкости, как правило, определяют либо как купели для крещения детей, либо, чаще, как чаши для освященной воды, которую в раннехристианское время использовали для ритуального омовения рук перед входом в храм. Известные автору точные аналогии фанагорийскому сосуду происходят исключительно с территории провинций Мезия Секунда и Фракия. Не исключено, что именно оттуда фанагорийская емкость была привезена войсками, присланными на Боспор Юстинианом для подавления восстания против ставленника Византии Грода. Мраморный сигмовидной стол с арочной каймой также мог входить в состав инвентаря христианского храма. В церковном обиходе использование таких столов было вторичным, взятым из светской жизни и идет от раннехристианской традиции совместных поминальных трапез, совершавшихся над могилами мучеников. Позже их использовали в храмах в качестве престолов и столов для приношений, а также в трапезных монастырей. Несмотря на то, что сигмовидные столы, в частности столы с арочной каймой, использовали как в светском, так и христианском обиходе, их находки вне контекста обычно связывают с христианскими храмами. Однако в подобных случаях нельзя исключать возможность их использования и в качестве обычного обеденного стола. Наконец, с христианством может быть связана мраморная плитка с изображением Орфея, образ которого перешел в христианскую иконографию из языческого искусства. Незначительные размеры и сильная потертость фанагорийского фрагмента, к сожалению, не позволяют уверенно определить религиозный статус изображения, который, как правило устанавливают по составу «слушателей» и контексту. Строго говоря, из перечисленных находок только одну, мраморную чашу с вырезанным крестом, можно отнести к предметам интерьера христианского храмового комплекса безусловно. Сигмовидный стол могли использовать и в христианском культе, и по его прямому назначению – в качестве обеденного стола. Образ Орфея одинаково использовался как язычниками, так и христианами. Разным целям мог служить и мраморный резервуар. Но среди аргументов за и против их использования в христианском культе, все же превалируют первые. Кроме того, обнаружение всех предметов на довольно небольшом участке «Нижнего города» позволяет надеяться на то, что в ходе будущих раскопок здесь будет открыт христианский храм, и таким образом подтвердится предложенная интерпретация найденных предметов. Храм, к которому, возможно, относились перечисленные находки, по-видимому, был разрушен в середине 6 в. Тогда же, скорее всего, прекратила существование и Фанагорийская епархия. Какие-либо сведения о фанагорийских христианах более позднего времени полностью отсутствуют, но, судя по информации о христианских общинах, имевшихся в других центрах региона, а также в городах Хазарского каганата, были они и в Фанагории, которая в этот период, скорее всего, входила в состав Зихийской епархии. У нас нет сви детельств о притеснениях христиан в городах Хазарского каганата. Наоборот, согласно сведениям, содержащимся в письменных источниках, жизнь христиан там протекала до вольно спокойно. О благосклонном отношении хазарской элиты к христианству говорят и браки с византийским императорским домом, в частности брак Юстиниана II и сестры кагана Феодоры, после заключения которого он «уехал в Фанагорию и жил там с Феодорой» (Theoph. Chron. 704–705; пер. И.С. Чичурова). 2 Что же касается археологических свидетельств, то число связанных с христианством находок 8–10 вв. чрезвычайно мало, и их невозможно связать непосредственно с христианским населением Фанагории. Extremely low amounts of finds related to Christianity and their uneven distribution over time presents difficulties in reconstructing the history of the Phanagorian Christian community. The information on the history of Christianity in other centres of the North-Eastern Black Sea, a region where Phanagoria played a crucial part, can help fill the blanks to a certain extent. Without any doubt, the new religion arrived to Phanagoria, as well as to the other centres of the Bosporan kingdom, in the last quarter of the third century AD from Asia Minor, when the Goths brought Christians as captives from their pirate raids. The first recorded signs of Christianity in the Bosporos belong to the period after the sea campaigns of the “barbarians”. These include personal possessions with Christian symbols and Christian burial plots in the necropolis in Kerch. A small number of early Christian monuments points to the fact that during this period the spread of Christianity in the region heavily relied on the activities of missionaries, while the number of christians was still small. Later, after the inclusion of the Bosporos in the sphere of influence of the Byzantine Empire, the church and the state were making joint efforts to Christianize the region: most likely, it was at this time that Christian churches were built on both sides of the Kerch Strait, an episcopal chair was established in Phanagoria and a Christian church was built, decorated with two marble water tanks, a sigmoid table and a relief depicting Orpheus. All this was found during the excavations in the “Lower City” trench. 2 Чичуров 1980, 62. Христианство в Фанагории. Археологические свидетельства 71 The shape and material from which one of the found tanks is made allows for its interpreta tion as a baptistery. The small depth of the found container does not necessarily mean that only children were baptised in it, since in most cases baptism was performed without complete immersion. The baptised stood in the font and water was poured over him. However, from the fourth century AD stagnant water was used for baptism, and the font had to be filled manually. It is, therefore, difficult to explain the purpose of the two holes in the Phanagorean reservoir if it was used as a font. Their presence is better explained by another possible use of the tank – as a reliquary. Oil was poured into the reliquary through the upper opening to cover the relics stored in it, and then came out through the opening in the lower part. Regarding the bowls with protruding handles along the edge, such vessels are considered to serve either as fonts for child baptism, or, more often, as bowls for consecrated water, which, during the early Christian times, were used to wash hands before entering the temple. Their exact analogies, known to the author, come exclusively from the provinces of Moesia Secunda and Thrace. It is possible that it was from there that the Phanagorian container was brought by the troops, which were sent to the Bosporos by Justinian to suppress the uprising against the Byzantine ruler named Grod. A marble sigmoid table with an arched border could also be part of the inventory of a Christian church. In church life, the use of such tables was secondary. It comes from secular life, from the early Christian tradition of communal meals served on the graves of martyrs. Later they were used in temples and monasteries as thrones and tables for offerings. Despite the fact that sigmoid tables, particularly those with an arched border, were used both in secular and Christian everyday life, they are usually associated with Christian churches when found out of context. However, one cannot exclude the possibility of them being used as a regular dining table. Finally, a marble tile with the image of Orpheus, which came to the Christian iconography from pagan art, can also be associated with Christianity. Unfortunately, due to its insignificant size and severe damage, this fragment does not allow us to determine the religious status of the image with any degree of certainty. Usually such assumptions can be made based on the amount of depicted listeners and the find’s context. Strictly speaking, only one of the listed finds, a marble bowl with a carved cross, can be attributed to the items from the interior of the Christian temple. The sigmoid table could be used both in the Christian cult and for its original purpose, as a dining table. The image of Orpheus was used by both pagans and Christians. A marble tank could possibly also serve different purposes. However, between the arguments “for” and “against” its use in a Christian context, the former prevail. In addition, the discovery of all the objects together in a rather small area of the “Lower City” excavation site allows us to hope that, during future excavations, a Christian church will be discovered here, confirming our interpretations. The temple to which the finds may have belonged was apparently destroyed in the middle of the sixth century AD. At the same time, most likely, the Phanagorian diocese also ceased to exist. There is no information on Phanagorian Christians during later periods, but, judging by the information about the Christian communities that existed in other centres of the region, as well as in the cities of the Khazar Khaganate, Christians were present in Phanagoria, which, during this period was likely a part of the Zikhia diocese. So far, we have no evidence of the oppression of Christians in the cities of the Khazar Khaganate. On the contrary, according to the information from written sources, the life of Christians there was a rather calm one. The favourable attitude of the Khazar elite towards Christianity is also evidenced by marriages with the Byzantine imperial family. Of particular interest is the marriage of Justinian II and the sister of the Khagan, Theodora, after which he “left for Phanagoria and lived there with Theodora”. As for archaeological evidence, the number of finds associated with Christianity from the 8th to 10th centuries AD is extremely low, and it is impossible to connect them directly with the Christian population of Phanagoria.

The article presents examples for the table metaphor (the table spiritual) in the Didactic Gospels by Constantinе of Preslav (Učitelno evangelie). Its prototype can be found in two homilies by Gregory of Nazianzus and Hexameron by John Chrysostom, but gradually it is widely spread and used as an art motive in the Christian homiletic literature. To follow strictly the set example of the early Christian Great Fathers in the compilations of sermons is proclaimed, established and put into effect according to the Rule 19 of the decisions of The Sixth Ecumenical Council (The Trullan Council). Archbishop Constantinе “incrustrates” in the Didactic Gospels the metaphor for the spiritual table, following the art examples of the oratory eloquence of the fathers of the Church.

Professors from different studies such as fine arts, engineering in industrial design and digital graphic design and from different universities (Politécnica de Madrid, Complutense de Madrid and Internacional de La Rioja) have participated in an educational innovation project dealing with sketching as a starting point to creation. Teachers from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid proposed to their students exchange experiences. Students from industrial design went to classes to the Fine Art Faculty and fine art students had to deal with an industrial design proposal. The aim of the experience is to know how students from different studies manage drawing tools to start their work; drawings to finally paint a still life, drawings to understand volume in a sculpture plaster model to reproduce it with clay, and sketches to propose a Christmas ornament made with wood. After the experience, drawings from exercises from the three universities have been analyzed to establish similarities and differences in the use of visual language (points, lines, planes, surfaces, and color, between others). Fine art students use the lines with ease, hints, light with the inclusion of color spots as part of the approach to the solution. Industrial design students, on the other hand, consider the line as an essential element in their drawings, well-marked, clearly delimiting the edges of the object, integrating color as an addition rather than as an integrating element. And finally, but not last, students from digital graphic design use lines as a language to propose fast schematic approaches, lines as added texts, and generally a lack of color. Even though each field of knowledge has some particularities, we think that the drawing approach is essential to face creations no matter their essence. Sketches in early stages mean to face problems, to think and to translate ideas into a two-dimensional surface.

In addition to their undeniable aesthetic value, ornaments are the element that may differentiate the various social groups or individuals belonging to certain groups. More specifically, body decoration is closely related to social identity. The ornament, as a form of communication, has a certain advantage over other means of communication because, once displayed, perhaps even more than language itself, the individual wearing it need not make any effort to deliver his/her message, social sta-tus, their belonging to a group etc. The first adornments used during the Paleolithic are beads, while perforated shells are among the earliest examples of this sort. In a few cases, the perforated shells come from species rarely used in the Paleolithic, brought from long distances, in terms of the settlements in which they were found so, apart from individualizing and characterizing a certain group, they may represent important documents regarding migrations over wide areas and even regarding the origin of a culture. This is shown by new discoveries made in an early Gravettian layer at the Poiana Cireului site (Piatra Neam, north-eastern Romania), dated between 30 ka and 31 ka BP (Niu et al., 2019). The ornaments discovered here include a unique association of perforat-ed shells represented by three species of mollusks: Lithoglyphus naticoide, Litho-glyphus apertus and Homalopoma sanguineum (an exclusively Mediterranean spe-cies). This occupation differs from Central and Eastern European Gravettian tradi-tions through the symbolic behavior of the communities, defined by the use of perfo-rated shells of freshwater and marine (Mediterranean origin) mollusk belonging to species very rarely used in the Palaeolithic. Poiana Cireului is one of the very few Gravettian sites where perforated Homalopoma sanguineum shells were found and is the only Gravettian settlement where Lithoglyphus naticoides shells were used. We present the ornaments discovered and the results of analysis performed to identify the perforation methods and the use-wear traces. The presence of a Mediterranean species at the Poiana Cireului settlement located more than 900 km from the nearest source suggests the connection of communities here with the Mediterranean area. In the light of these new findings, the origin and diffusion of the Gravettian from the Mediterranean to the east of the Carpathians are a hypothesis that should be considered. Niu, E.-C., Crciumaru, M., Nicolae, A., Crstina, O., Lupu, F. I., Leu, M. (2019). Mobility and social identity in the Early Upper Palaeolithic: new personal ornaments from Poiana Cireului site (Piatra Neam, Romania). PLOS ONE, 14 (4), e0214932. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214932

Gabriel Millet was one of the first university-educated researchers that studied Serbian medieval monuments in the early 20th century. Thanks to this French Byzantinist, those monuments were included in broader overviews of Christian art early on. Millet’s work primarily set solid academic foundations for the research of Serbian medieval architecture. The endowments of King Milutin, above all Staro Nagoričino and Gračanica, had a prominent place in those studies both in terms of their painted program and architecture. This paper aims to present and valorize Gabriel Millet’s contribution to their research and to draw attention to Millet’s significant body of photo documentation and field notes, which still remain largely uninvestigated.

In the Paleolithic around 100,000 to 10,000 years ago, abstract motives also referred to as signs, patterns, or marks are abundant in parietal art as well as on mobile objects. In the case of parietal art, several studies have been dealing with such abstract signs. However, studies scrutinizing signs on mobile objects, such as figurines, tools, or personal ornaments, are rare and mostly limited to either single objects, or to particular assemblages. Our project SignBase aims to enable large-scale comparisons by collecting abstract motives on mobile objects from all over the European Paleolithic, the African Middle Stone Age, as well as further finds of the Near East and South East Asia. In contrast to the chronological difficulties of dating parietal art, abstract motives on mobile objects are usually well dated, at least with reference to the given techno-complexes. Our project ultimately aims to enable quantitative comparative studies on the development of abstract graphical expressions before the emergence of writing systems. This includes the application of classification algorithms allowing us to study the signs in geographical and chronological dimensions. Furthermore, while any inference about their meaning is inevitably speculative, information-theoretic analyses can shed light on the evolution of their information encoding potential and compare it to later graphical behavior such as early written language.

В статье обобщаются результаты исследований курганов раннего железного века в Туве с применением аэрофотосъемки для поиска курганов начала I тыс. до н. э., близких по конструкции кургану Аржан-1. Был выявлен курган Аржан-5, находящийся вблизи кургана Аржан-1. Курганная каменная насыпь сильно повреждена, но сохранилась каменно-деревянная конструкция, как и в Аржане-1, и предметы упряжи в зверином стиле. После проведения анализа проб деревянных конструкций, состава бронз и антропологических определений удалось сделать вывод, что Аржан-5 принадлежит к кругу Аржана-1, формирует с ним единую группу курганов и связан общей историей. Выделяется хронологический горизонт археологической культуры Аржана-1, когда уже создаются шедевры древнего искусства архаичного звериного стиля. The paper summarizes the results of the study of the Early Iron Age burial mounds in Tuva using aerial photography for searching constructions from the beginning of the first millennium BC, which are similar in design to the Arzhan-1 mound. The Arzhan-5 mound was revealed, located near the Arzhan-1. It was badly damaged, but the stone-wooden structure has survived and the harness in the animal style was preserved, just like in Arzhan-1. Due to analysis of the samples from wooden structures, of the composition of bronzes and to the anthropological identification, it become possible to conclude that Arzhan-5 belongs to the Arzhan-1 circle they form a single group of mounds and have a common history. The chronological horizon of the archaeological culture of Arzhan-1 is highlighted, when masterpieces of the ancient art of the archaic animal style are already being created.

The sources for studying the demographic situation in the Romanian area, especially those from Moldova Principality and neighboring territories, increase quantitatively with the expansion of Russia towards South-Eastern Europe. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812, as well as during the conflagrations of the late XVIIIth century, the Russian Empire preferred to establish its own administration of occupation, which for the most efficient record of resources was used not only by its own apparatus, but also by the local administrative and ecclesiastical institutions of the Romanian Principalities, introducing several statistical tools for population records. Among the statistical instruments introduced during this period (e.g. forms, registers, etc.) that followed the record of the population at all stages of life, through civil status registers, in which births, marriages and deaths were recorded; confession registers of Orthodox believers; the forms of the churches and the service records of the clergy, where, in addition to the information about the status of the churches and the situation of the parish clergy, there was also information about the number of the population according to ethnic and gender composition, the latter are the object of our intervention. In the framework of this study, a series of information was exposed about the process of introducing Church Forms and clergy service statuses, a process initiated in December 1809, as a result of insufficient data presented by diocesan bishops and other church structures during the same year. Taking into account the value of the information contained in these sources, here we focused on the selection and accounting of the data regarding the numerical situation of the Christian-Orthodox population in the Pruto-Nistrian area in 1812. As a result of comparing the fiscal data contained in the Evideces of the Moldovan Treasury from 1808 and other statistical data known from the era with those contained in the Forms,we find that the data from the sources we considered, although they were used to clarify some information regarding the history of the Orthodox Church in Bessarabia. However, they were not used at their fair value to clarify those contradictions that continue to hover over the issue of the numerical composition of the population in the region newly annexed to Russia in 1812. Thus, following the analysis of the statistical data provided by several registers with the Forms that have reached us, it can be concluded that the population of the region not only approached the number of 300,000 people, but even exceeded it. Therefore, it would be recommended that researchers concerned with the study of demographic issues in the region not only refer to the records of a fiscal nature, which, although they are recognized to be of particular value. Nevertheless the information provided by the Forms allows verification of the veracity/correctness of the premiums, detailing some aspects, such as the ratio between churched and non-churched localities, the ratio between the male and female population, as well as other indicators that tax statistics from the early XIXth century do not record.

In recent years much has been written and exhibited regarding Lina Bo Bardi, the Italian/Brazilian architect (1914-1992). This paper aims to look at the phenomenon of cultural displacement and the dissemination of her design thinking as a major female figure in a male dominated profession. This investigation is distinguished from others in that it addresses the importance of regional and cultural influences that formed Lina’s design philosophy in her early years in Italy. Cultural displacement has long played a significant role in the creative process for artists. Often major innovators in literature are immigrants as elements of strangeness, distance, and alienation all contribute to their creativity. The premise is that critical distance is paramount for reflection as a change of context unfolds unforeseen possibilities. Displacement was a consistent element throughout the trajectory of Lina’s architectural career as she moved from Rome to Milan, from Milan to Sao Paolo from Sao Paolo to Bahia and back to Sao Paolo. Viewing this form of detachment and dislocation permits insight into her career and body of work as displacement mediates the paradoxical relationship between time and space. The paper will examine three distinct periods in her career. The first period is set in Rome, where she assimilated the city, showed artistic aptitude and spent her university years studying under Piacentiniand Giovannoni. The second period is set in Milan, where she developed impressive editorial and layout skills in publications work with Gio Ponti and BrunoZevi. and was influenced by Antonio Gramsci’s writings. The third is set in Brazil, where she builds and evolves as an architect via what she absorbed in Rome, wrote in Milan, and finally realized in Brazil. After Italy’s collapse in WWII Lina writes, draws, edits, critiques the plight of the Italians in need of better housing and circumstances. She leaves Milan with her new husband, PM Bardi (a prominent journalist, art critic) for Brazil. In Sao Paolo she absorbs the optimism and positive direction of Brazil. Her early design work in Brazil echoes European modernism, but when she travels to Bahia and becomes aware of the social conditions, she draws from her Italian experiences of and ideas of transforming lives through craft. Her architectural projects become directly responsive to the culture of Bahia and the politics of poverty. Lina’s design thinking evolves and parallels George Kubler’s study, The Shape of Time, and the history of man-made objects by bridging the divide between art and material culture.

The invention of flying boats in the early twentieth century prompted architects and urbanists to adapt to a new hybrid transport technology. Flying boats’ ability to take off and land on the water made the water an endless runway with airport terminals positioned on coastlines. The miracle of flying boats and, more broadly, aeroplanes in the air struck a chord in the popular imagination of ordinary tourists, avant-garde architects and urban designers. The Art Deco style expressed their excitement for the new modern transport technology, with smooth, streamlined aesthetics based on the curved, aerodynamic surface of aeroplane bodies. Design professionals internalised aerial themes when shaping places where the sea meets the sky. Taking full advantage of aircraft technology with the ability to take off from the water, Qantas built Australia’s first international airport and maintenance facilities at Rose Bay in 1938 for easy access to the waters of Sydney Harbour. To serve further increases in the popularity of international air travel, a second international airport was proposed for the waters at Newport in Sydney’s Pittwater. The airport buildings at Rose Bay and Newport are examples of airport architecture at a local level, their stories providing tangible and material insights into the broader history of Australian aviation heritage. This paper’s archaeology of Rose Bay’s and Newport’s terminal buildings as obsolescent objects will uncover glimpses into how architects networked innovative transport technologies into the modern cities of the past.

29 paintings and 1 sculpture by artists (including two women) from the early to late modern period of the 20th century, and 36 contemporary folk objects form this exhibition which juxtaposes the art of two different sectors of society ­the formally trained and the spontaneous, reflecting the circumstances and the social environments of each, but making all part of the national memory. The works come from the National Collection, the Julia Díaz Foundation-Museo Forma, and the INAR Foundation collection.