Perceptions of the Body and Sacred Space in Late Antiquity and Byzantium

258 Pages·2018·11.98 MB·English

by  Jelena Bogdanović

Perceptions of the Body and Sacred
Space in Late Antiquity
and Byzantium
Perceptions of the Body and Sacred Space in Late Antiquity and Byzantium seeks
to reveal Christian understanding of the body and sacred space in the medieval
Mediterranean. Case studies examine encounters with the holy through the
perspective of the human body and sensory dimensions of sacred space, and
discuss the dynamics of perception when experiencing what was constructed,
represented, and understood as sacred. The comparative analysis investigates
viewers’ recognitions of the sacred in specific locations or segments of space
with an emphasis on the experiential and conceptual relationships between
sacred spaces and human bodies. This volume thus reassesses the empowering
aspects of space, time, and human agency in religious contexts. By focusing on
investigations of human endeavors towards experiential and visual expressions
that shape perceptions of holiness, this study ultimately aims to present a better
understanding of the corporeality of sacred art and architecture. The research
points to how early Christians and Byzantines teleologically viewed the divine
source of the sacred in terms of its ability to bring together – but never fully
dissolve – the distinctions between the human and divine realms. The revealed
mechanisms of iconic perception and noetic contemplation have the potential
to shape knowledge of the meanings of the sacred as well as to improve our
understanding of the liminality of the profane and the sacred.
Jelena Bogdanović is Associate Professor of Architecture at Iowa State
University, USA. Trained as an architect and an historian of art and architecture,
she specializes in the architectural history of Byzantine, Slavic, Western European,
and Islamic cultures in the Balkans and the Mediterranean.

Perceptions of the Body and
Sacred Space in Late Antiquity
and Byzantium
Edited by
Jelena Bogdanović
First published 2018
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Jelena Bogdanović; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Jelena Bogdanović to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bogdanoviâc, Jelena, 1973– editor.
Title: Perceptions of the body and sacred space in late antiquity
and Byzantium / edited by Jelena Bogdanoviâc.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017049923 | ISBN 9781138561045
(hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780203711170 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Sacred space—Byzantine Empire. |
Space perception—Byzantine Empire. | Human body—
Religious aspects—Christianity—History of doctrines—
Middle Ages, 600-1500.
Classification: LCC BV896.B97 P47 2018 | DDC 263/.042—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017049923
ISBN: 978-1-138-56104-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-71117-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
ContentsFigures
List of figures vii
List of contributors xiii
Acknowledgments xvi
List of abbreviations xviii
Introduction: encounters with the holy 1
JELENA BOGDANOVIĆ
PART I
The immaterial and placeless sacred 9
1 Images of invisible beauty in the aesthetic cosmology
of Dionysius the Areopagite 11
FILIP IVANOVIĆ
PART II
The sacred made palpable 23
2 Monumental icons and their bodies in early
Christian Rome and Byzantium 25
MARIA LIDOVA
3 Imperial bodies and sacred space? Imperial family images
between monumental decoration and space definition
in Late Antiquity and Byzantium 59
MARIA CRISTINA CARILE
4 The influence of icons on the perception of living
holy persons 87
KATHERINE MARSENGILL
vi Contents
PART III
The sacred delivered 105
5 Delivering the sacred: Representing Translatio
on the Trier Ivory 107
LJUBOMIR MILANOVIĆ
6 Bodies in motion: Visualizing Trinitarian space
in the Albenga baptistery 124
NATHAN S. DENNIS
7 A mobile dialogue of an immobile saint: St. Symeon the
Younger, Divine Liturgy, and the architectural setting 149
AYŞE BELGIN-HENRY
8 Framing glorious spaces in the monastery
of Hosios Loukas 166
JELENA BOGDANOVIĆ
9 Conclusions: Iconic perception and noetic
contemplation of the sacred 190
JELENA BOGDANOVIĆ WITH KATHERINE MARSENGILL
Bibliography 202
Index 235
Figures
FiguresFigures
Cover page
View of the mosaic of the Hermit Hosios Loukas in the lunette on the west
wall of the north cross-arm of the katholikon and vaulted ceiling above seen
across an arch. Byzantine monastery Hosios Loukas, eleventh century. Photo:
Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
2.1 Half-length portrait of a bearded man (Christ or philosopher?),
Porta Marina house, Ostia, opus sectile, late fourth century,
National Museum of Early Middle Ages, Rome.
Photo: Maria Lidova. 29
2.2 Oratory of John VII, Old St. Peter’s, Rome. Three-dimensional
reconstruction of the Oratory of John VII (706) made by M.
Carpiceci and G. Dibenedetto, with A. Ballardini and
P. Pogliani. Drawing: Courtesy Antonella Ballardini and
Paola Pogliani. 31
2.3 The Virgin orans and Christological cycle, Oratory of John VII,
Old St. Peter’s, Rome, mosaic. Seventeenth-century drawing
made on the eve of demolition (B.A.V. Barb. lat. 2733), 89v,
Vatican library. From: Raffaele Garrucci, Storia dell’arte
cristiana nei primi otto secoli della chiesa, 6 vols. (Prato:
G. Guasti, 1872–1881), vol. 4, Tav. 279. 33
2.4 Maria Regina, central image from the Oratory of John VII,
Old St. Peter’s, Rome, surrounded by seventeenth-century
painting, imitating the mosaic technique and representing
two Dominican saints (St. Dominic and St. Raymond), Ricci
chapel, San Marco basilica, Florence. Photo: Maria Lidova. 34
2.5 Virgin enthroned with Christ Child and narrative scenes,
five-part ivory cover of Etchmiadzin Gospels, Matenadaran
Institute Library (Ms. 2374), sixth century, Yerevan, Armenia.
Photo: © “Matenadaran” Mesrop Mashtots Insitute of Ancient
Manuscripts. 36
2.6 Icon of Santa Maria in Trastevere, encaustic, late sixth to early
eighth century, Altemps chapel, Santa Maria in Trastevere,
Rome. Photo: Maria Lidova. 38
viii Figures
2.7 The decoration of the altar wall of Sts Quiricus and Julitta (or
Theodotus) chapel, Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome, middle of the
eighth century. From: Wladimir de Grüneisen, Sainte-Marie-
Antique: le caractère et le style des peintures du VIe au XIIIe
siècle (Rome: M. Bretschneider, 1911), 121. 40
2.8 Crucifixion, monumental icon. Sts Quiricus and Julitta (or
Theodotus) chapel, Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome, middle of the
eighth century. Photo: Maria Lidova. 41
2.9 Crucifixion, icon, eighth century, St. Catherine’s monastery,
Sinai. From: Holy Image. Hallowed Ground. Icons from Sinai,
ed. Robert S. Nelson and Kristen M. Collins (Los Angeles,
CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2006; © courtesy St. Catherine’s
Monastery at Sinai). 42
2.10 Mother of God with Christ, mural, monumental icon, northwest
pillar, Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome, early eighth century. Photo:
Maria Lidova. 43
2.11 St. Anne, mural, presbytery, Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome, late
sixth century. Photo: Maria Lidova. 45
2.12 St. Panteleimon, monumental icon, St. Panteleimon church at
Nerezi, Republic of Macedonia, 1164. Photo: Maria Lidova. 46
2.13 Virgin and Christ Child in the niche, the pillar flanking the
altar, monumental icon, Tokali kilise, Cappadocia, Turkey,
eleventh century. Photo: Alexei Lidov. 47
2.14 Mother of God, house D of Kom el-Dikka in Alexandria.
Drawing: Maria Lidova after Mieczysław Rodziewicz, Les
habitations romaines tardives d’Alexandrie: à la lumière
des fouilles polonaises à Kôm el-Dikka (Warsaw: Editions
scientifiques de Pologne, 1984), 203, Figure.236. 48
2.15 Veronica holding the image of Christ, Master of St. Veronica,
oil on wood, National Gallery, London, ca. 1420. Photo: © The
National Gallery, London. 49
3.1 Fourteenth-century miniature showing Galla Placidia,
her children, and St. John during the sea storm.
Ravenna, Biblioteca Classense, Cod. 406, f. 11v.
Photo: Under concession of the Istituzione Biblioteca
Classense. 61
3.2 Ravenna, church of San Vitale, sixth-century mosaic panel
showing Emperor Justinian, Bishop Maximian, and their
respective courts. Photo: Maria Cristina Carile. 63
3.3 Ravenna, church of San Vitale, sixth-century mosaic panel
showing Empress Theodora and her court. Photo: Maria
Cristina Carile. 64
3.4 Ravenna, church of San Vitale, sixth century, interior. Photo:
Maria Cristina Carile. 65
Figures ix
3.5 Seventh-century mosaic panel with Constantine IV granting
privileges to the bishop. Ravenna, basilica of Sant’Apollinare
in Classe. Photo: Walter Borghini. 66
3.6 Istanbul, Hagia Sophia, Constantine IX (1042–1055) and Zoe.
Photo: Image in the public domain, licensed under Creative
Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. 69
3.7 Istanbul, Hagia Sophia, John II Komnenos (1118–1143) and his
wife Irene. Photo: Image in the public domain, licensed under
Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. 70
4.1 Theodore Apseudes, Neophytos with Angels, 1182, fresco in
the bema. Enkleistra of Saint Neophytes, Paphos. Photo: ©
Svetlana Tomeković. 91
4.2 Theodore Apseudes, Christ the Door, 1182, fresco in the bema.
Enkleistra of Saint Neophytos, Paphos. Photo: © Svetlana
Tomeković. 92
4.3 View of the oculus in the naos with scene of Christ’s
Ascension, 1182. Photo: © Svetlana Tomeković. 93
5.1 The translation of relics, ivory, fifth to tenth century. Owner:
Hohe Domkirche Trier, Domschatz, Germany. Photo: Ljubomir
Milanović. 108
5.2 The translation of relics, detail, ivory, fifth to tenth century.
Owner: Hohe Domkirche Trier, Domschatz, Germany. Photo:
Ljubomir Milanović. 111
5.3 The translation of relics, detail, ivory, fifth to tenth century.
Owner: Hohe Domkirche Trier, Domschatz, Germany. Photo:
Ljubomir Milanović. 112
5.4 The translation of relics, ivory, fifth to tenth century. Owner:
Hohe Domkirche Trier, Domschatz, Germany. Photo: Ljubomir
Milanović. 113
5.5 Spoils of Jerusalem, relief from the Arch of Titus, 82 CE,
Rome, Italy. Photo: Ljubomir Milanović. 116
5.6 The translation of relics, detail, ivory, fifth to tenth century.
Owner: Hohe Domkirche Trier, Domschatz, Germany. Photo:
Ljubomir Milanović. 117
6.1 Barrel-vault mosaic from the northeastern niche of the Albenga
baptistery, sixth century. Photo: Nathan Dennis. 125
6.2 Detail of the barrel-vault mosaic from the Albenga baptistery,
sixth century. Photo: Nathan Dennis. 125
6.3 Detail of the mosaic inscription from the outer wall of the
Albenga baptistery niche, sixth century. Photo: Nathan Dennis. 126
6.4 Detail of the cupola mosaic from the baptistery of San
Giovanni in fonte, Naples, early fifth century. Photo: Nathan Dennis. 128
6.5 Cupola mosaic over the altar of Santa Maria della Croce,
Casarano, fifth century. Photo: Nathan Dennis. 129