2015 Eastern Christian Art

The swinging of thuribles in which incense is burned to produce a sweet smelling smoke is a familiar scene in Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. The use of incense in religious worship predates Christianity by thousands of years, and the Old Testament contains numerous references to it. As early as the 4th century AD, literary sources describe the practice of burning incense during church services in the Holy Land. Several bronze thuribles suspended from three chains have been discovered in Early Byzantine churches in the Eastern Mediterranean. Mosaics of contemporaneous churches depict a thurifer holding in his right hand a thurible similar to those found in excavations of churches. There are a few variants in shape but they all consist of a small container, usually made of bronze, three chains, and no lid. Wall paintings in churches at Novgorod show that swinging thuribles without a lid, very similar to those from Early Byzantine churches, continued to be used for many centuries in Russian Orthodox churches.

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The so-called “gesture of blessing” — the raised right hand with the palm turned outward — is open to a number of interpretations, depending on the cultural and religious context in which it occurs. It is very ancient and persists until the present day in the visual arts. When excavating at Dura Europos Franz Cumont described it as the ‘ritual gesture of the ancient Semites’; most scholars refer to the gesture of blessing while others define it as gesture of omnipotence, prayer, reverence, plea and wish for protection. Different interpretations will arise from the archaeological evidence with regard to religion and cult, ethnicity, social status and target group.
The areas I shall focus on are Syria, the Nabatean realm, the Parthian Empire, the Byzantine Empire, Egypt and South Arabia. At first glance, it is primarily the Roman political koine and later Christian art which ties these areas together. Stone sculpture and reliefs, sarcophagi, mosaics and wall paintings, clay and bronze figurines, cosmetic containers and coins will be presented and discussed. Male and female divinities, their worshipers, priests, saints, royal and high ranking personalities as well as common people and the deceased are represented within diverse ethnic, religious and social groups in sacral, funerary and domestic contexts. Roman and Christian emperors are often depicted with the raised right hand well into the Middle Ages. The place of this gesture in Christian iconography is well-­documented; it became a predominant gesture as sign of blessing of the Roman Catholic, Greek and Russian Orthodox churches.

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The practice of the secondary use of the Graeco-Roman details is well known in plenty of churches of the Late Antique period in Rome, Constantinople, Asia Minor and the Near East. Although it had its prehistory in the art of the Ancient world, it was mostly popular during the Early Byzantine period, as never before. The problem of spolia adaptation in ecclesiastical architecture is well studied, which cannot be said about the research on synagogues. Yet, there were some particular principles and meanings in this parallel branch of architecture. The difference between the two traditions is shown on the basis of the analysis of architectural and decorative features of several churches (Cathedral in Hippos-Sussita, Heptapegon) and several synagogues (Capernaum, Horazim, Baram, Umm-Qanatir). I propose new theories concerning the direct sources, wherefrom Christian builders took the parts for their buildings (columns, capitals, slabs). As soon as the churches are concerned, in aesthetical interpretation of spolia I completely agree with two main ideas of Deichmann and Krautheimer, though they are different (economic reasons and the “rennaissance of antiquity”). As far as the synogagues are concerned, the situation was different: the use of spolia was forbidden, with the exception of the deserted synagogues. Whenever inspite of the ban this practice was used, Graeco-Roman details served as a camerton for the whole architectural ensemble and its decoration. In my view, this phenomenon was formed for several historical and religious reasons. I suppose that it emerged in the time of Julian the Apostate and was conditioned by the complicated self-identification as opposed to the dominating Christianity.

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This work aims at shedding light on excavating an ancient site and post excavation stage: how to restore, expose, and protect the site.
The ancient city of Ulpiana is located approximately 2 kilometres from Gracanica and 12 kilometres from Prishtina city center.
The first Turkish excavations in Europe under my supervision yielded enormous results for Ulpiana within three years between 2012–2014 . Discovery of the large Early Christian church (approximately 20 × 40 metres) with floor mosaics and baptistery were the biggest structures ever discovered in the history of Ulpiana. The church was most probably dedicated to Saints Florus and Laurus who were martyred here.
To excavate is one part of the work but the second part is how to protect the site and expose it. With a limited budget, provided by Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University of Istanbul, excavations were carried out. Locals, who are walking only twenty meters away from the excavation site as they go from one village to the other, are curious of the excavations. The major objective is to inform the locals about the work and its significance in order to have public support. It is impossible for a lay person to visualize how the structures originally looked. For that reason, original appearances of both the baptistery and the church have been made. Upon receiving approval of the local administrators they will be put on display. That may raise public awareness and once locals feel they are not kept out of the circle they may contribute to the site protection. Another important question is, what the significance of the excavated site is and why it needs to be protected. Because of financial difficulties, excavation sites generally do not have enough protection both from nature and from human activities. Ulpiana is not an exception. By excavating, we shed light on human history, on the other hand, disturb the order of current life. By unearthing the monuments and discovering small items enormous information is gathered, but what will happen to the site is the problem. Balance is the key issue. As long as the benefits are far more bigger than potential damages, excavations should be carried out. The most difficult questions are: how to judge before excavating if it is worth excavating and what benefits the excavations bring to the locals?

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This study attempts to examine the distinguishing iconographic features of the painting ensemble of the so-called Exodus Chapel in the Early Christian necropolis Al-Bagawat (Egypt). Some of the extant Early Christian funerary painting ensembles to be found in the late Roman Empire represent a basis for the comparative analysis.
The Exodus Chapel painting is dated to the second half of the 4th century AD. Its iconographic program represents an unusual phenomenon in the history of the Early Christian art. The Al-Bagawat necropolis is located in Kharga Oasis in South-West Egypt, far from the main routes of the Christian cultural expansion. The Exodus Chapel forms part of a very short list of the earliest extant Christian monuments in Egypt. Despite the poor quality of painting, the iconographic program of the Chapel is amazingly sophisticated and unconventional. It comprises generic visual symbols of the late antique vita felix; some Early Christian scenes ubiquitous in the Roman Empire; some regionally specific subjects and the rare scenes found in a few other Early Christian monuments culturally and geographically remote from Al-Bagawat.
The Exodus Chapel does not enjoy extensive scientific attention, the results of scanty studies being rather contradictory in terms of the interpretation of the symbolic scenes. Moreover, the painting ensemble is hardly regarded as such, and the analysis is usually focused on the comparison of the isolated scenes to their iconographic matches. No attempt has been made to compare the painting ensemble of the Exodus Chapel to other extant Early Christian painting ensembles. The present study attempts to address this particular gap in the previous researches and to compare the painting program of the former to the programs of such monuments as the synagogue and the baptistery of Dura Europos domus ecclesiae, the cubicula O and C in the Via Latina catacombs, the Chapel of Peace in Al-Bagawat.

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The 5th century Christian art is a particular artistic phenomenon which takes an intermediate position between the Antiquity and the Middle Ages. First of all, it is characterized by the coexistence and unique combination of antique and Christian art elements. During the 5th century an active research and scrupulous selection of the new modes of artistic expression, usually associated with the Christian Byzantine and West European art, took place. The absolutely new symbolic language suitable for the expression of the Christian theological concepts formed by the beginning of the 6th century.
The creation of distinctive Christian artistic language was a long and gradual process. The artists could not change the normal and habitual for them ancient models, to find and adopt the new symbolic forms immediately.
This report focuses on one special technical device, which the ancient artists used to create a spatial effect, and which transformed into a symbolic form of the halo used to underline the spiritual power of the saints in the 5th century Christian mosaics. We shall demonstrate this process on certain examples.

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The most important Byzantine sources on the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople are the famous ekphraseis by Procopius of Caesaria, Paul the Silentiary (6th century), Michael of Thessaloniki (12th century) and the 9th century legendary Account on the building of the Great Church included in the Patria Constantinopolitana. These texts were translated in full or in part into some modern languages and were used by scholars for the hypothetical reconstructions of those parts of the building that had been changed or lost. Moreover, these sources describing a rather well-preserved monument are precious for understanding how the Byzantines themselves experienced and interpreted the symbolic meaning and aesthetic appeal of the architectural forms. The latter aspect is of great interest. In our paper we would like to share some considerations produced during our work on the full translation into Russian of these sources which we are now preparing.
The texts are very different in their style: the text of Procopius is descriptive, that of Paul is poetic, that of Michael of Thessaloniki is scholarly rhetoric, the Account on the building of the Great Church is a folklore narrative. This makes it difficult to compare these texts and to evaluate each of them in the context of the classical and Byzantine tradition of ekphrasis.
One of the most important problems we are facing is the correlation of the descriptions with the preserved and especially not preserved parts of the building. However, the correct understanding of this correlation is essential not only for the theoretical reconstruction of the lost architectural and decorative elements, but also for a fuller comprehension of the artistic conception of the building.
Another important issue is the correct understanding of special technical terms and names of materials and their correlation with surviving details.
Yet another problem is an adequate translation of the descriptions into Russian, which requires finding a balance between the clearness of meaning and literary qualities of style. In this respect it is the poem of Paul the Silentiary that presents the major difficulties: written in sophisticated hexameters, it is hard to comprehend for the modern Russian reader.
In our paper all these aspects will be illustrated by certain examples.
The research has been carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Humanities, project № 14-04-00377.

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The monumental painting of early medieval Armenia is hardly mentioned in the studies on art history. It can be partly explained by the fact that the monumental painting on the territory of historical Armenia is mostly lost. An opinion has been accepted among the scholars that monumental painting was not typical for medieval Armenia. However, the study of the remains of the monumental complexes, as well as archival photographs and notes of the first researchers show that in the 7th century monumental painting in Armenia had unprecedented development and reached its high peak. Another important conclusion is that the brightest moments in the history of Medieval Armenian monumental painting always corresponded with the periods of active contacts with the Byzantine cultural world.
According to the studies, about thirty churches in Central Armenia, in the historical Ayrarat region were decorated with monumental painting. The main churches of the country — the Cathedrals of Echmiadzin and Dvin — had mosaics, while others were decorated with frescoes, and only in the church of Zvartnots (the church of St. Gregory) mosaics were combined with frescoes. The surviving fragments of frescoes give us the ground to assert the existence of two artistic and iconographic trends in early medieval Armenia. One group of monuments reveals a certain affinity with the artistic traditions of the eastern provinces of Byzantine Empire, and the other with the metropolitan monuments. Despite the fact that figural and Christological images are not preserved, the apse compositions reveal a variety of iconographic solutions. We can see the Ascension of Christ, Christ giving the law (Traditio legis), Hetoimasia, Communion of the Apostles, as well as the image of the Virgin. In spite of the great loss and fragmentary state of the monumental painting in Armenia, these ensembles are of great importance for the study of East Christian art, as soon as they are an inseparable part of this culture. Moreover, they partly make up for non-surviving early Byzantine examples.

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There are a number of themes in the Late Antique and Early Christian art, that are also known in the art of Sasanian Iran. Among them is the scene of “grape harvest”. The study and comparative analysis of this theme in the context of the three above mentioned cultural traditions have not been paid necessary attention by the researchers and need a special investigation. Such a study can be very useful in the interpretation of symbolic and iconographic features of the composition.
Scenes of “grape harvest” first appeared in ancient art and were connected with the cult of Dionysus. In the Late Antique and Early Christian periods similar scenes were often depicted on the pavement and wall mosaics of Rome and East Roman provinces, as well as on the marble sarcophagi. In the Christian tradition the scenes of “grape harvest” were reinterpreted according to the Christian symbolic traditions, where wine became the symbol of the Atonoment and the sacrament of the Eucharist.
In the Early Medieval Armenian art the theme of “grape harvest” is known in the 6th–7th century relief from Dvin, where crop collecting women with baskets on their back are represented in the bushes of vineyard. In the context of Christian art such a composition expressed the idea of Salvation through Christ and eternal life in Paradise. The theme of “vineyard” is developed on the facade of the temple of Zvartnots (7th century), and later on the facade of the church of St. Cross in Akhtamar (10th century).
In the art of Sasanian Iran the scene of “grape harvest” is widely known on the silver vessels and dishes of the 6th–7th centuries. Here the “gatherers” of grapes are youths and girls and various animals — rabbits, foxes, bears, birds and others. In these scenes, as well as in Early Christian mosaics, the brunches of grapes have huge sizes, they are often the half height of human and animal figures. This iconographic detail, common both for Sasanian Iran and for Christian artworks, underlines the allegorical character of scenes, which was based on the symbolic image of the Heavenly Paradise.

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The paper focuses on the study of sources and schemes of formation of Byzantine and Slavic mini­atures, depicting the epoch of Pecheneg invasions to Byzantium and Rus’. We examine the miniatures from the unique Byzantine illuminated chronicle — Codex Matritensis Ioannis Skyllitzes, 12th century, and a number of Slavic illuminated manuscripts, in which the images go back to earlier originals, including Byzantine, — the Sylvester Collection, 14th century, the Radziwill (Konigsberg) Chro­nicle, 15th century, the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible, 16th century.
In the scientific literature these miniatures are traditionally considered from two points of view. Art critics are focusing on the analysis of style and semantics of miniatures, contents and typology of images, illustrative and compositional techniques of medieval artists. Historians often perceive these miniatures literally, ignoring their art nature, and often use them as illustrations of real history of Byzantine and Rus’ relations with Pechenegs, on their basis of various historical conclusions, including reconstruction of ethnographic shape and military tactics of Pechenegs, are drawn. But, as shown by special studies, the ethno-cultural differences, which are manifested in appearance, dress, weapons of “Others” (Rus’, Bulgarians, Pechenegs, “Scythians”, Tartars), were not significant for the creators of these miniatures; in most cases soldiers of the opposing sides are identical to each other. In addition, the images of Pechenegs in miniatures are deprived of opposition «Rhomaioi/Barbaroi» or “Rus’/Steppe”, which the illustrated texts contain.
On this basis, and also considering that these images are not synchronous to depicted events and reflect the vision of artists of a later period, the question of sources and process of formation of these miniatures in conjunction with the accompanying texts and the historical context is raised. On the example of Cod. Matritensis we would like to show that textual and illustrative series of battle scenes involving the Pechenegs and “Scythians” goes back to the oral tradition. It is suggested that creating “dynamic” iconographic composition of these episodes (see, e.g., Biblioteca Nacional, Vitr. 26–2, fol. 161–161v, 162b), the Byzantine artist of Cod. Matritensis relied on heroic songs or novels of epic nature, which were widely circulated in the Byzantine Empire during its entire history.

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