Gouden Hoorn 8,1: Contents
Contents
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Category Archives: Volume 8 issue 1 (Summer-Fall 2000)
Redactioneel – Editorial Gouden Hoorn Vol. 8, issue 1 (2000)
Gouden Hoorn 8,1: Redactioneel/Editorial
RedactioneelDit jaar vieren we de 1500ste verjaardag van Theodora, de vrouw van Justinianus. Het is niet zeker wanneer zij geboren is, rond 500, maar in de Koptische en Syrisch-Orthodoxe kerk is dit jaar een speciale viering uitgeroepen voor dit jubileum. In deze kerken wordt zij vereerd vanwege haar hulp aan Koptische en Syrische kerkvaders ten tijde van de christologische twisten. Ter ere van deze (controversiële) vrouw zetten wij haar portret op de voorkant van deze Gouden Hoorn. Dit nummer van Gouden Hoorn bevat verder een bijdrage van Peter Beatson over een Byzantijns museumstuk dat in Keulen te bezichtigen is. Ook aandacht voor de Syrische kerkvader Jacob van Sarug. In het volgende nummer hopen we aandacht te besteden aan het verhaal van Barlaam en Joasaph, en aan de Kopten. Ook bericht over de Armeense kerk, die dit jaar 1700 bestaat. EditorialThis year we celebrate the 1500th birthday of Theodora, the wife of Justinian. She was supposedly born around 500, and in the Coptic and Syriac churches this year has been declared as a feastyear for her. In these churches, Theodora is venerated for her help to Coptic and Syrian churchfathers in the christological dispute. Because of this (controversial) woman we have put her portrait on the cover of this issue. Peter Beatson discusses in this issue of Golden Horn a Byzantine piece of art from the museum Cologne. Also, a note on the Syriac churchfather Jacob of Sarug. In next issue we hope to focus on the story of Barlaam and Joasaph, and on the Copts. Also, the Armenian church celebrates its 1700th birthday this year. |
A warrior with a ‘Danish axe’ in a Byzantine ivory panel
Gouden Hoorn 8,1 (2000): Peter Beatson
by Peter Beatson *The Schnütgen Museum in the Romanesque church of St. Cäcilien houses the religious treasures of Cologne.1 It contains a small selection of Byzantine arts, including an ivory plaque dated to the tenth or eleventh century (Figure 1):  Figure 1. Ivory plaque, Byzantine 10-11th centuries. Schnütgen Museum, Cologne (inv. no. B-6). Actual size about 5 cm. Photo credit: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln. With thanks to the Schnütgen Museum.
The flat panel once decorated an object such as a casket, fastened by six pegs for which holes remain. The sturdy figure of a warrior, holding an axe and a sword, fills and partly intrudes onto the frame. A short inscription appears in the upper left corner, but is unfortunately illegible, even identifying it as Greek or Latin seems impossible. Though the semi-nude warrior seems inspired by an Antique model like so many similar ivories of the late tenth century, the armaments are contemporary to the creation of the piece. Most interestingly, they are alien to the eastern Mediterranean area. With its broad blade and man-high handle, the axe is very similar to a Scandinavian style of the late Viking age, the so-called ‘Dane-axe’ most familiarly rendered in the hands of Anglo-Saxon huscarls on the Bayeux ‘Tapestry’ – Petersen’s Type M.2 The sword is also of interest, with its short plain cross and heavy semicircular pommel (Petersen Type X)3, it is typical of widespread northwestern European styles around 1000 AD. Could a Constantinopolitan artist of this time have seen such a foreigner, and copied his distinctive weapons, and if so, why? Under treaties with the Kievan state dating as early as 911 AD4, Russian troops were allowed to enter the Byzantine army, and their presence is attested in strategic manuals after the mid-tenth century.5 The professional troops of the Princes of Kiev at this time were largely Scandinavian (in Rus’ they were known as Varangians). By the later eleventh century at least, the Varangians in Byzantium had become well known for their heavy iron axes (a common appellation was Greek pelekophori, ‘axe-bearers’).6 A large Russian force was stationed around Constantinople while Basil II was preparing to counter the rebel Bardas Phokas in 988-989 AD. Given that the Rus’ had besieged the capital itself twice,7 and their last raids into the Empire had occurred just less than twenty years before, their armed presence may have been of great interest and not a little apprehension to the inhabitants.8 The figure appears to be bare-chested, but lack of dress is not unusual among warrior ivories of this general type, so this factor need not be considered to bear on the possibilities outlined above. He wears loose drawers or possibly a ‘kilt’ gathered around the waist – underwear such as this is rarely depicted but may best be seen in images of the Forty Martyrs of Sebastea, such as an ivory icon held in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin.9 His thighs and knees are possibly also bare, his shins and feet clad in either puttees plus shoes, or high boots. In many ways Byzantine art was consciously backward looking, with a cultivated taste for ancient Hellenic and Roman styles. Warriors in Byzantine ivories are usually descended from two sets of Late Antique models – the Biblical story of Joshua, or the mythological war of Dionysus with India.10 These (especially the latter) can contain representations of naked or semi-naked warriors, but they normally wear only a chlamys (cloak), not pants or drawers, so the exact inspiration for this plaque remains obscure. In the conservative milieu of the metropolitan workshops artists drew on earlier archetypes, not current fashions.11 The ‘bare chest’ might therefore be a muscled cuirass in the Antique fashion, with a fancy petaled border at the waist, worn over a tunic with a flaring skirt.12 There are, however, no trace of markings at the neck, or at the shoulder or wrist to indicate upper body armour or clothing, though it might be that such extra details were painted in, as most, if not all, ivories were originally brightly coloured.13 There remains a possibility that the ivory itself was produced in the West, that is, by a carver of one of the Ottonian (Holy Roman Empire) schools. Can this piece be accepted as Byzantine? The clumsy posture, blocky musculature, and ill-proportioned limbs distinguish this plaque from the finest Byzantine ivories of the so-called “Macedonian Renaissance”, but may be recognised in other works, such as an icon of the Nativity in the British Museum,14 which also matches in the style in which the hair is rendered. Though the background is deeply cut, the figure is flatly modeled, this has been noted in some other casket panels of the period.15 Notes* Post Box 3003 Marrickville NSW 2204, Australia. Email – chrisandpeter[@]ozemail.com.au 1 Cäcilienstraße 29, D-50667 Köln (Cologne) Germany. Web site: http://www.museenkoeln.de 2 J. Petersen, De norske vikingesværd, Kristiania 1919. 3 Petersen, ibid. 4 Anon., Russian primary chronicle, translated S.H. Cross and O.P. Sherbowitz-Taylor, The Russian primary chronicle: Laurentian text, Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1973, p. 68. 5 For example, Anonymous book on tactics (De re militari), c. 995 AD, text and translation in: G.T. Dennis, Three Byzantine military treatises. Corpus fontium historiae Byzantinae, vol. 25, Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1985. 6 For example, Nikephoros Bryennios (late 11th c.), History, text and translation of P. Gautier, Nicéphore Bryennios: Histoire, Corpus fontium historiae Byzantinae, vol. 9, Brussels: Byzantion, 1975, p. 216-217 and others. 7 860 and 941AD. The Rus’ attack of 907, unrecorded in Greek sources, is probably fictional. S. Franklin and J. Shepard, The emergence of Rus: 750-1200, New York: Longman, 1996, p. 103-107. 8 A. Poppe, ‘The political background to the baptism of Rus: Byzantine-Russian relations between 986-989’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 30, 1976, p.197-242. For evidence of tension among the citizens, see particularly p. 216-217. 9 Dosogne (Ed.) Splendeur de Byzance, Brussels, 1982, p.110, where D. Gaborit-Chopin attributes it to a Constantinopolitan workshop, c. 1000 AD, but notes that others have dated this piece much later – 12th or 14th century. 10 According to Weitzmann. K. Weitzmann, Catalogue of the Byzantine and early mediaeval antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks collection, vol. 3: ivories and steatites, Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1972, p. 50-52. 11 Weaponry seems to be among the few items where art often reflects contemporary usage, perhaps because it had little effect on the ‘recognition value’ of the characters depicted. 12 For example, compare an ivory plaque of a standing warrior in Antique muscled cuirass, tenth century, in the Dumbarton Oaks collection, illustrated in Weitzmann, op. cit., cat. no. 21. pl. 22. 13 C.L. Connor, The color of ivory: polychromy on Byzantine ivories. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998. 14 British Museum, Dept. of Medieval and Later Antiquities, inv. no. 85,8-4,4 (tenth century). Illustrated in O.M. Dalton, Catalogue of the ivory carvings of the early Christian era, London, 1909, pl.12; and E. Kitzinger, Early medieval art, (2nd. ed.), Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983, fig. 24. 15 Weitzmann, op. cit., p. 49. Published in print in Golden Horn Vol. 8, issue 1 (2000) |
Boeken/Books-Golden Horn vol.8 issue 1
Gouden Hoorn 8,1: Boeken/Books
Boeken/BooksEuripidou Alkestis, tekeningen: Magda van Tilburg, Amsterdam: Panholzer, 1986. – LVI pp. – (Classica Signa IV – vernieuwde versie). De Solone et Croeso, tekst: O. Damsté en A.B. Nederlof; tekeningen: Magda van Tilburg, Amsterdam: Panholzer, 1974. – XXXII pp. – (Classica Signa I). Deze twee stripboekjes zijn nog verkrijgbaar bij het Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. Introduction to Syriac. An Elementary Grammar with Readings from Syriac literature, Wheeler M. Thackston. – Bethesda, Maryland: IBEX Publishers, 1999. – xxvii, 228 pp. With index and Syriac-English vocabulary. This book also has exercises to help you learn Syriac. |
Byzniz Vol. 8, issue 1 (Summer-fall 2000)
Gouden Hoorn 8,1: Byz-Niz
Conferenties/Conferences20008-10 December. “Ancient Studies & New Technology: The World Wide Web and Scholarly Research, Communication, and Publication in Ancient, Byzantine, and Medieval Studies”. Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island, USA. Conveners: Michael DiMaio, Ralph Mathisen, Thomas Martin. 20018-11 March. Fourth Conference on Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity. “Travel, Communication and Geography in Late Antiquity”. To be held at the Downtown Centre of San Francisco State University, San Francisco, USA. Enquiries re program to Prof. Linda Ellis: ellisl@sfsu.edu; all other enquiries to Prof. Frank Kidner: fkidner@sfsu.edu. 28 March-2 April. Byzantine Spring Symposium. Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, Exeter College, Oxford. Theme: “Rhetoric”. Convenor: Elizabeth Jeffreys. Call for papers to be announced shortly. 30 March-1 April. “Conference on Byzantine Monasticisms”. Faculty of Theology, University of St Michael’s College, Toronto, Canada. An interdisciplinary conference on the varieties of ascetical life in the Byzantine empire (6th-13th century), with emphasis on the current state of scholarly research and areas in needs of further study. For registration and other details see the faculty web site: http://www.utoronto.ca/stmikes/theology 20-22 April. “Byzantium and the West”. Twelfth Conference of the Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, University of Western Australia. Conf. Organiser: John Melville-Jones. Deadline for submission of Abstracts: 29 January 20001. For registration details check the web site (late November): http://www.mcauley.acu.edu.au/AABS/. 4-7 May. Dumbarton Oaks Symposium: “Late Byzantine Thessalonike”. Check out the web site for details: http://www.doaks.org Tentoonstellingen/ExhibitionsThe Mother of God: Representations of the Virgin in Byzantine Art, Benaki Musum, Athens, 15th october 2000 – 15th january 2001. This will be the high point in the celebrations of the anniversary of the Birth of Christ. Exhibited works of art in all media, dating from the 6th to the 15th centuries are included. Tijdschriften/JournalsNew Byzantine Web JournalSettegiorni, appearing quarterly, containing articles about art, culture, religion, litterature and other subjects concerning the ‘Second Rome’. Neue Zeitschrift GöttingenEin Bericht von: Alexander Sideras und Brita Bayer (Herausgeber) Holger Gutschmidt und Carsten Peust (Verleger): Wir freuen uns, Ihnen hiermit die neue Zeitschrift Göttinger Beiträge zur Byzantinischen und Neugriechischen Philologie (GBBNP) ankündigen zu dürfen. Eine wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift, die auf die Philologie der byzantinischen und neugriechischen Zeit spezialisiert ist, fehlte bislang. Diese Lücke sollen die Göttinger Beiträge zur Byzantinischen und Neugriechischen Philologie füllen, die im Peust & Gutschmidt Verlag, Göttingen, erscheinen werden. Dabei sollen beide Teilbereiche, die byzantinische und neugriechische Sprachwissenschaft sowie die byzantinische und neugriechische Literaturwissenschaft, gleichermassen berücksichtigt werden. More information about lay out of articles for can be received at: Seminar fuer Klassische Philologie New online tool Italian Medieval periodWe introduce a new site that will become a new research tool for the study of the medieval period in Italy: Rassegna storica on line. This web site is part of a larger project that the editor of Medioevo Italiano has been developing for some time now. Medioevo Italiano and its daughter project are electronic ‘magic boxes’, where scholars may send their articles, reviews or opinions about Italian history in the Middle Ages and beyond. Accepted contributions will be published ‘on line’ or in electronic format as CD-ROMS. Rassegna storica on line is a biannual journal. Articles and contributions that are submitted to the editor in the first part of the year will be published in the spring issue, while the others will appear in autumn. At present we will publish contributions individually, but at the end of the semester we will publish a revised and corrected volume. http://www.medioevoitaliano.org Angelo Gambella HugoyeThe July 2000 issue of Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies is available at http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye. The issue contains 4 papers delivered at the special conference on Michael the Syrian, held at Maarat Saydnaya, the headquarters of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Damascus. Provinciae Byzantinae anno 2000Op 24 april 2000 werd de 85ste gedenkdag gevierd van de Armeense Genocide van 1915. Twee miljoen Armeense burgers werden toen door de Ottomaanse overheid systematisch vermoord. Tot op heden wordt deze volkerenmoord door de Turkse regering ontkend. Dit jaar bezocht de Israelische minister van onderwijs, Yossi Sarid, de gedenkdag in Jerusalem, waarbij hij zijn aanwezigheid onderstreepte door te verklaren dat hij ernaar streefde om de Armeense Genocide in de geschiedenislessen op scholen in Israel op te nemen, hetgeen voorheen gedwarsboomd werd door het Israelische ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, dat repercussies vreest van de Turkse regering. (Via suryoyo online, http://f16.parsimony.net/forum26093/messages/1705.htm) Op 19 oktober heeft de senaat van de Verenigde Staten een resolutie verworpen om de genocide op Armeniërs te veroordelen op strategische gronden: House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) issued a statement this evening pulling the Armenian Genocide resolution (HR 596) from the agenda of the House of Representatives for the remainder of the 106th Congress, thus killing the resolution. In his statement, the Speaker cited “national security concerns” brought forth by President Clinton relating to the ongoing Middle East Peace process. “I have asked the Majoirty Leader to take H.Res. 596 off the schedule for the remainder of the 106th Congress,” said Hasterst in the statement. Both Speaker Hastert and President Clinton failed to use the word Genocide when characterizing the 1915 systematic and planned murder of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks. For updates on this and other breaking news, please visit our website at http://www.asbarez.com. (From: Asbarez daily, 19-10-2000) De Volkskrant en Metro berichtten op 9-11-2000 dat de Franse Senaat en Assemblée de genocide erkend hebben. De Assemblée moet nogmaals stemmen. OntvangenSalsus Books Catalogue 37: Liturgy, Biblical Studies, Theology, Patristics, Church History. See also: http://www.books93.freeserve.co.uk/ Newsletter, Society for Armenian Studies, vol. 24, no. 2 (56), Spring 2000. Overleden – DeceasedMarie-Hélène Congourdeau reported this to a Byzantium discussionlist, via bit.listserv.hellas: Highly acclaimed Byzantinist Nikos Economides, president of the Hellenic Institute of Culture, died in hospital on Wednesday at the age of 66 due to an inflammation of the lungs. Economides was a professor at Athens University and until recently director of the Byzantine Studies Institute at the National Institute for Research (EIE). Born in 1934, Economides studied history and archaeology at Athens University and did post-graduate studies in Paris, where he received his doctorate in 1961. After working as a researcher at the Byzantine Studies Centre in Athens until 1969, he accepted a post teaching Byzantine history at Montreal University in Canada, where he stayed until 1989. During that time, as well as having a distinguished academic career, he was also highly active in opposing the 1967-1974 junta in Greece. In 1987 he was elected professor of Byzantine history at Athens University’s department of history and archaeology. In 1995 he was appointed director of the EIE’s Byzantine Studies Centre for five years, while in May 1997 he was elected vice-president and acting president of the EIE’s board of directors. A highly regarded researcher and teacher, Economides’ work on Byzantium had been published in the most respected periodicals in his field and he had received many international distinctions. He had acted as visiting teacher at many universities and research institutes, including Washington’s famous Dumbarton-Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, where he was a consultant on Byzantine seals. |
St Jacob van Sarug, Warburg (D)
Gouden Hoorn 8,1: St. Jacob van Sarug
door Annabelle Parker1English text belowOp 27 Augustus 2000 is in het Duitse Warburg een nieuw Syrisch-Orthodox klooster ingewijd door de patriarch van de Syrisch-Orthodoxe Kerk van Antiochië, Moran Mor Ignatius Zakkai I Iwas. Het klooster, dat vanaf de twaalfde eeuw dienst deed als een klooster van de Dominikanen, is gewijd aan St. Jacob van Sarug. Wie was St Jacob van Sarug? Hij werd in 449 geboren in Kurtam (Kurtah) aan de Eufraat, in het district Sarug. Hij stierf 521 in Batna, Sarug, waar hij ook begraven is op 29 November. Op deze dag wordt zijn feest gevierd in de Syrische kerk. Hij bezocht de school van Edessa rond 470, en werd priester, terwijl hij een reputatie opbouwde in welsprekendheid en kennis. In 502 werd hij benoemd tot chorepiscopos (‘periodeutos’) in Haura. In 518 werd hij tot bisschop van Batnan gewijd door Severius, die kort daarna in ballingschap moest. Er is niet echt sprake van een ‘doctrine’ die Jacob van Sarug uitdroeg. Hij was voor alles priester en daarmee helper van de gelovigen in zijn kerk. Hij schreef in het Syrisch. Hij heeft veel memre, of metrische homilieën geschreven (ongeveer 760), waarvan er ongeveer 300 bewaard zijn, en 212 daarvan uitgegeven door Paul Bedjan.2 Deze lange ritmische gedichten (van 300 tot 400 verzen) werden gelezen (of gezongen) bij diensten om de gelovigen te stichten, volgens de traditie van St Ephrem. De verzen hebben twaalf voeten, verdeeld in drie maal vier. Dit soort 12-voetige vers staat bekend als het ‘vers van St Jacob van Sarug’. Ook zijn er 43 brieven van Jacob van Sarug bewaard gebleven3, evenals 8 feesthomilieën (turgamè)4, een heiligenleven5, en enkele liturgische en liturgisch-poëtische werken.6 Alhoewel de vraag of St Jacob van Sarug een monofysitische geloofsleer aanhangt, sinds de achttiende eeuw rondwaart (sinds 1716, Eusèbe Renaudot), is deze vraag niet opgelost, en misschien is het ook geen eerlijke vraag, omdat die duidt op de opzet deze kerkvader in een hokje in te delen, en te ‘claimen’. Jacob van Sarug’s werk wordt gekenmerkt door symbolisme, liefde en hieruit voortspruitend, een neiging tot ‘anti-intellectualisme’, in die zin, dat hij een onmatig gebruik van de rede, het willen doorgronden van het mysterie Gods, niet goedkeurt: ‘Beschouw de Schrift, daarin vind je de Zoon Gods’.7 St Jacob of Sarug, Warburg (D)8
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Medewerkers/Contributors Volume 8, issue 1 (summer-fall 2000)
Gouden Hoorn 8,1: Medewerkers/Contributors
Medewerkers/ContributorsPeter Beatson, Ph.D. (Microbiology) is a ‘living history’ enthusiast from Sydney, Australia. He has written several reviews on archaeological and historical matters for his fellow hobbyists, and he reconstructs historical artefacts for a living. His main interest in Byzantine Studies is the everyday life of Byzantines around the turn of the 10-11th centuries. Annabelle Parker is a Byzantinist, who works on a thesis involving a critical edition of the Vita Syncleticae. Currently she is translating the Wisdom of St Isaac into Dutch. |
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