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OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 26/02/18, SPi
OX F O R D S T U D I E S I N M E D I E VA L
E U RO P E A N H I S TO RY
General Editors
joh n h . a rn old pat r i c k j . ge a ry
and
joh n wat ts
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 26/02/18, SPi
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 26/02/18, SPi
Graphic Signs of
Authority in Late
Antiquity and the Early
Middle Ages, 300–900
I L D A R G A R I P Z A N OV
1
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 26/02/18, SPi
1
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
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© Ildar Garipzanov 2018
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First Edition published in 2018
Impression: 1
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OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 26/02/18, SPi
Acknowledgements
During my childhood, the first thing I saw waking up every day was a Central Asian
carpet hanging on the wall beside my bed. It was replete with various geometric
shapes and aniconic forms that were very distinct from the natural world and
saturated with colours absent in my immediate surroundings. Every morning, my
eyes browsed through this visual labyrinth and occasionally discovered new patterns
and discerned silhouettes of unfamiliar things. This wall carpet with its interlacing
lines and curves captivated my awakened imagination, and seemed infinite in the
number of shapes and figures it revealed to my contemplative gaze. These early
experiences of visual thinking no doubt contributed to my fascination with late
antique and early medieval aniconic graphic devices, which constitute the main
subject of this study.
The vast amount of surviving visual graphic evidence, most of which remains
unknown outside highly specialized disciplines and some of which has not been
studied at all, meant that it took much effort and external support to complete this
book. The generous funding of the Research Council of Norway (grant no. 217925
for 2012–17) financially supported my research and writing throughout, whilst
the highly supportive academic environment at the Department of Archaeology,
Conservation, and History at the University of Oslo, which I joined in 2012, made
my work on this project a highly productive process. My special thanks to my
departmental fellow historians Klaus Nathaus and Veronique Pouillard for helping
me to see my book project within a much broader perspective, and to Knut
Ødegård and Alf Storrud for their genial assistance during my research trips to
Rome and Istanbul. I also truly enjoyed the cordial atmosphere at the Norwegian
Institute in Rome, my research base during various Italian trips, and I am grateful
to Siri Sande, Anne Nicolaysen, and Manuela Michelloni for their unwavering
support on those occasions.
Visiting fellowships at Balliol College, Oxford and at Clare Hall, Cambridge as
well as a visiting membership at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton
have greatly contributed to the successful completion of this book, by allowing me
to write its various parts in vibrant and highly stimulating scholarly settings. I am
filled with sincere gratitude to Lesley Abrams, Jonathan Shepard, Rosamond
McKitterick, Anna Muthesius, Patrick Geary, Nicola di Cosmo, and Alan Stahl for
their generous support and hospitality during those academic stays. I am also
appreciative of companionship with other visiting historians and medievalists at
the Institute for Advanced Study in the autumn of 2016; social interactions and
conversations with most of them made my research stay there quite a unique
experience. The latter membership provided me with access to visual resources at
the Index of Christian Arts at Princeton University, and I am thankful to Catherine
Fernandez for her expert guidance through its card database, which has yet to be
fully digitized.
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 26/02/18, SPi
viii Acknowledgements
Writing a book navigating through the worlds of late antiquity, early Byzantium,
and the early Middle Ages is a challenging task for a single author, and I have learnt
many positive lessons from scholarly collaboration and the productive exchange
of ideas within the Early Graphicacy network and during its conferences in Oslo,
Rome, and Istanbul. I would like to express special thanks to Caroline Goodson,
Henry Maguire, Patrick Geary, David Ganz, Larry Hurtado, Leslie Brubaker,
Michelle Brown, Ben Tilghman, Michael Squire, Brigitte Bedos-Rezak, Beatrice
Kitzinger, Richard Abdy, Jim Crow, and Chris Entwistle. I have also benefited
from presenting preliminary thoughts and some sections of this book at the Earlier
Middle Ages Seminar at the Institute of Historical Research in London, at the
Oliver Smithies Lecture Series at Oxford University, the Materialität und Medialität
des Geschriebenen Seminar at Heidelberg University, the Late Antique and Medieval
Seminars at Cambridge University, the Making a Mark Conference at Brown
University, and the Medieval Seminar at the Institute for Advanced Study at
Princeton. I am further greatly indebted to John Arnold for his valuable feedback
on the book’s original design and to Henry Maguire, Michelle Brown, Celia Chazelle,
Jinty Nelson, Rosamond McKitterick, Christoph Eger, Caroline Goodson, and
anonymous readers at Oxford University Press for casting an expert eye on its
earlier drafts or selected chapters and providing me with encouraging comments
and constructive criticism.
This book relies on a substantial number of images to make its narrative accessible
to readers, which necessitated the demanding task of acquiring relevant image
permissions from different institutions in Europe and North America, and I am
appreciative of the friendly efforts that Manuela Michelloni, Romy Wyche, and Alf
Storrud invested in communicating on my behalf with relevant collections and
authorities in Italy, France, and Turkey. I am also grateful to Svein Gullbekk and
Alan Stahl for their cordial support and assistance in providing this book with the
photos of relevant coins from their numismatic collections at the University of
Oslo and Princeton University. Furthermore, I am beholden to those museums
and libraries, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York, the Walters
Art Museum in Baltimore, and the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel—to
name just a few—that facilitate current visual and material turns in humanities by
sharing images of their artefacts and manuscripts with researchers and the general
public under unlimited Creative Commons licenses. I hope that more museums
and libraries will choose this path of public service in the future.
Last but not least, I would like to thank Alice Hicklin and Albert Fenton for
their assistance in styling my text in British English and checking its various
technical aspects, as well as the editorial staff at Oxford University Press for their
sterling work in bringing my manuscript to its final form.
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 26/02/18, SPi
Contents
List of Figures xiii
List of Charts xxi
List of Diagrams xxiii
List of Abbreviations xxv
Introduction 1
0.1 Graphic Signs, Graphic Visualization, and Early Graphicacy 3
0.2 Graphic Signs of Authority and Political Culture 8
0.3 Graphic Signs of Authority: Historiographic Trends 13
0.4 Cultural History of Graphic Signs of Authority 19
I . G R A P H I C S I G N S O F D I V I N E AU T H O R I T Y
I N L AT E A N T I Q U I T Y
1. The Origins of Early Christian Graphic Signs 27
1.1 The nomina sacra, Staurogram, and Chi-Rho 27
1.2 Early Christian Authors on Symbolic Meanings of Letters and
Christian Graphic Signs 31
1.3 Protective Seals and the Bruce Codex 35
1.4 ‘Magical’ Characters and their Early Christian Critics 41
1.5 Apotropaic Graphic Devices as a Symptomatic Feature of
Late Antique Culture 47
x Contents
I I . M O N O G R A M M AT I C C U LT U R E I N L AT E A N T I Q U I T Y
4. Monograms, Early Christians, and Late Antique Culture 109
4.1 Late Antique Epigraphic Culture and Monograms
as Epigraphic Devices 112
4.2 The Calendar of 354 and Fourth-Century Roman Aristocratic Culture 118
4.3 Monograms as Protective and Intercessory Devices 124
4.4 The Contemplative Process Involved in Understanding
Monograms and Late Antique Neoplatonism 127
I I I . G R A P H I C S I G N S O F AU T H O R I T Y
I N E A R LY M E D I E VA L E U RO P E
7. Monogrammatic Culture in Pre-Carolingian Europe 199
7.1 Monograms as Royal Signs of Authority 199
7.2 Monograms as Signs of Social Status and Episcopal Authority
in Pre-Carolingian Europe 205
7.3 Invocational Graphic Devices in Pre-Carolingian Material and
Manuscript Culture 216
7.4 Christograms and the Sign of the Cross in Pre-Carolingian
Material and Manuscript Culture 223
7.5 Late Antique Monogrammatic Culture and the Origins of
Monogrammatic Lettering 235
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 26/02/18, SPi
Contents xi
Conclusion 313
List of Figures
1.1. Tau-rho and christograms: chi-rho, iota-eta, and iota-chi. 29
1.2. Christian graphic signs on third-century gems, based on Spier,
Late Antique and Early Christian Gems: a) the chi-rho (nos. 112–31);
b–c) the chi-tau (nos. 134–5); d) a monogram comprising
Χ, Ρ, Η, Τ, Υ (no. 133); e) a combination of a tau with an
eight-armed star (no. 137). 33
1.3. Jeu 5 diagram in the Bruce Codex. Oxford, Bodleian Library,
Bruce 96, p. 12 (above), and its graphic model (below). 37
1.4. Occult seals in the Bruce Codex, based on its edition in The Books of Jeu, ed.
Schmidt: a) for the fifty-fifth treasury (p. 39); b) for the fifty-seventh treasury
(p. 40); c) for the fifty-eighth treasury (p. 41); d) for the fifty-sixth treasury
(p. 40); e) for the sixtieth treasury (p. 43). 38
1.5. Baptismal seals in the Bruce Codex, based on its edition in The Books
of Jeu, ed. Schmidt: a) for baptism of water (p. 61); b) for baptism of fire
(p. 63); c) for the baptism of the Holy Spirit (p. 65). 38
1.6. Votive plaques from Water Newton, Cambridgeshire. London, BrM.
© The Trustees of the British Museum. 40
1.7. Magical text from Egypt, fourth century, P.Oslo I 1, c.7. Courtesy
of the University of Oslo Library Papyrus Collection. 43
1.8. Fifth- or sixth-century bronze amulet, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan,
Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, acc. no. 26119. 46
2.1. Obverse of Constantine I’s silver coin-medallion (Ticinum, 315).
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, inv. no. OH-A-ДР-15266.55
2.2. Dedication medallion in the basilica of Aquileia. 58
2.3. Optatianus, Poem 8, in Wolfenbüttel, HAB, Cod. Guelf. 9 Aug. 4,
fol. 11r. © HAB Wolfenbüttel <http://diglib.hab.de/mss/9-aug-4f/start.htm> 59
2.4. Optatianus, Poem 19, in Wolfenbüttel, HAB, Cod. Guelf. 9 Aug. 4, fol. 4r.
© HAB Wolfenbüttel <http://diglib.hab.de/mss/9-aug-4f/start.htm> 60
2.5. Copper coin of Constantine I (Constantinople, 327–8). London, BrM.
© The Trustees of the British Museum. 61
2.6. Silver coin of Constantine II (Siscia, 337–40). Oslo University, Museum
of Cultural History. 62
2.7. Gold glass with Sts Peter and Paul. New York, MMA, acc. no. 16.174.3. 64
2.8. Gold rings with chi-rhos, England, fourth century. London,
BrM, reg. nos. 1983,1003.1 and 1984,1001.1. © The Trustees of
the British Museum. 66
2.9. Mosaic from Hinton St Mary, England. London, BrM,
reg. no. 1965,0409.1. © The Trustees of the British Museum. 67
2.10. Copper coin of Magnentius (Lyons, 352–3). Oslo University, Museum
of Cultural History. 68
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 26/02/18, SPi
List of Figures xv
4.2. Latin and Greek monograms of the Early Imperial period: a) monogram
Vespasianus used as his countermark on the coins of Nero c.88–9; b)
monogram Aurelius on late second- or early third-century balsamaria; c)
on the second-century jasper gem from the Ashmolean Museum; d–g) Greek
monograms on third-century eastern gems, based on Spier, Late Antique and
Early Christian Gems, correspondingly nos. M12, M14, M1, M23. 110
4.3. Third- and fourth-century monograms from Roman catacombs:
a) TP (ICUR, vol. 4, no. 10579); b) Πρῖμα? (ICUR, vol. 4, no. 10579);
c) Ἀγάπη (ICUR, vol. 5, no. 15148.h); d) Avite (ICUR, vol. 5, no. 14752.c);
e) Constans or Constantius (ICUR, vol. 5, no. 13277); f ) Alethius
(ICUR, vol. 3, no. 8748); g) Gaudentia (ICUR, vol. 5, no. 14752.a);
h) Πάστωρ? (ICUR, vol. 1, no. 2058); i) Πρίσκος (ICUR, vol. 4, no. 10713.q). 112
4.4. Fourth- and fifth-century monograms from Roman catacombs:
a) Agape (ICUR, vol. 7, no. 19427.c); b) Petronia? (ICUR, vol. 7, no. 17995);
c) Rusticius and Rufilla (ICUR, vol. 9, no. 25792); d) Navira (ICUR, vol. 5,
no. 14751); e) Eufentine? (ICUR, vol. 2, no. 6060); f ) Annes (ICUR, vol. 9,
no. 24236.a); g) Petrus in pace (ICUR, vol. 2, no. 4516); h) Palma et laurus.114
4.5. Obverse of a late Roman contorniate with the Palma et laurus monogram
in the field. London, BrM, reg. no. R.4814. © The Trustees of the
British Museum. 116
4.6. Marble plaque with the Palma et laurus monogram and the symbol of
the palm leaf accompanying on the inscription of Clodius Ablabius
Reginus from the Flavian Amphitheatre in Rome, mid-fourth century. 117
4.7. Tabula of Eleuteria from Roman catacombs (a. 363). From ICUR,
vol. 1, no. 1426. 117
4.8. Dedication page in the Calendar of 354, in Vatican City, Codex
Vaticanus Barberini lat. 2154 (a. 1620). From Strzygowski,
Die Calenderbilder, fig. III. 119
4.9. Late antique monograms: a–b) from Roman catacombs, Bonifatius
(ICUR, vol. 3, no. 8332.e) and Leonis?, a. 386 (ICUR, vol. 8, no. 21609.c);
c) from silver plates in the Esquiline Treasure, Rome; d) νικᾷ ἡ τύχη τῶν
Πρασίνων monograms from Aphrodisias and Ephesos; e) monogram from
a marble tombstone in Villareggia. 121
4.10. Silver plate from the Esquiline Treasure. London, BrM,
reg. no. 1866,1229.14. © The Trustees of the British Museum. 122
4.11. Acclamatory monogram from Aphrodisias, νικᾷ ἡ τύχη τῶν Πρασίνων.
Photo by Ine Jacobs. 127
5.1. Consecratio panel, upper part. London, BrM, reg. no. 1857,1013.1.
© The Trustees of the British Museum. 132
5.2. Copper coin of Theodosius II, Ae4 (Nicomedia, c.445–50).
Oslo University, Museum of Cultural History. 134
5.3. Monogrammatic reverses of late Roman copper coins, Ae4:
a) of Marcian (450–7); b) of Leo I (457–74); c) of Zeno (474–91);
d) of Libius Severus (461–5). Oslo University, Museum of Cultural History,
and Princeton University Numismatic Collection, Department of Rare
Books and Special Collections, Firestone Library. 136
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 26/02/18, SPi
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