Transfigurations of Hellenism: Aspects of Late Antique Art in Egypt, AD 250-700 (Probleme der Ägyptologie)

537 Pages·2005·15.81 MB·English

by  László Török

fi
Trans gurations of Hellenism
Probleme der Ägyptologie
Herausgegeben von
Wolfgang Schenkel
und
Antonio Loprieno
23. Band
fi
Trans gurations of
Hellenism
Aspects of Late Antique Art in Egypt
AD 250–700
by
László Török
BRILL
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2005
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Török, László, 1941–
Transfigurations of Hellenism : aspects of late antique art in Egypt, A.D. 250–700/
by László Török.
p. cm. — (Probleme der Ägyptologie, ISSN 0169–9601; 23. Bd.)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 90–04–14332–7 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Art, Coptic. 2. Art, Hellenistic—Egypt. I. Title. II. Series.
N7382.T67 2005
709’.32’09015—dc22
2004062868
ISSN 0169–9601
ISBN 90 04 143327
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printed in the netherlands
*
For
Tomas Hägg • Bente Kiilerich • Per Jonas Nordhagen
Hjalmar Torp
the Bergen masters of Late Antiquity
with friendship and gratitude
*

CONTENTS
List of figures ............................................................................ xi
List of plates .............................................................................. xix
Acknowledgements .................................................................... xxiii
A note on the terminology ...................................................... xxv
I. Introduction: A visit to the Coptic Museum in
Old Cairo ............................................................................ 1
II. Images of late antique Egypt in twentieth-century
art history ........................................................................ 9
1. The Ahnas pitfall ............................................................ 9
2. The myth of anti-Hellenism .......................................... 12
3. Pharaonic revival: myth and reality .............................. 17
4. The myth of Volkskunst and the contribution of
forgery to Coptic art history ........................................ 20
5. From Ernst Kitzinger’s “Notes on Early Coptic
Sculpture” to Hjalmar Torp’s “Leda Christiana” ...... 31
III. On methods ........................................................................ 37
1. Function, chronology, and style .................................... 37
2. Chronology and the stratification of artistic
production ........................................................................ 40
3. The limits of the investigation ...................................... 44
IV. History, society, and art in late Roman and early
Byzantine Egypt .................................................................. 51
1. Images of social identity ................................................ 51
2. History and society in late antique and early
Byzantine Egypt .............................................................. 58
2.1. The conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt ........................ 58
2.2. Roman Egypt from Augustus to the late third
century .................................................................... 64
2.3. Late Roman Egypt ................................................ 73
2.4. Christians and polytheists ...................................... 86
2.5. Early Byzantine Egypt ............................................ 97
viii contents
V. Continuity and change 1: The survival of forms of
Alexandrian Hellenistic architecture .............................. 113
1. The limits of the evidence ........................................ 113
2. Hellenistic and late antique illusionism: the niche
pediments and their architectural and cult context 115
3. Further glimpses of late antique Alexandria ............ 130
VI. Continuity and change 2: New patterns of
monumentality ................................................................ 139
1. The imperial cult sanctuary of the Tetrarchs in
the Amûn temple of Luxor ........................................ 139
2. Modernity and archaizing in Shenoute’s
“White Monastery” at Sohag .................................... 153
3. The episcopal complex at Hermopolis Magna ........ 165
4. Uses of the past .......................................................... 178
VII. Images for mortuary display .......................................... 183
1. Sculptors, workshops and modes of representation 183
1.1. Porphyry sculpture and the workshop at
Heracleopolis Magna .......................................... 183
1.2. The masters of acanthus foliage ........................ 193
1.3. Sculptors’ workshops at Oxyrhynchos in the
fourth and early fifth centuries .......................... 205
1.4. The end of late antique illusionism in
architectural sculpture ........................................ 211
VIII. Images of the good life: display and style .................... 217
1. Iconography of wealth ................................................ 217
2. Styles of wealth .......................................................... 221
2.1. Praise to the glorious house. The tapestry of
the Erotes and its circle .................................... 221
2.2. From narrative to symbol. The great
Dionysiac tapestry in Riggisberg ........................ 233
3. Ornaments for the patrician house and the
church .......................................................................... 236
4. Images and ideals. Creating an Egyptian style ........ 245
5. Decline or transformation? Art for the less
wealthy ........................................................................ 259
contents ix
IX. The Christianization of art in late antique Egypt .......... 269
1. Classical tradition: from pagan to Christian ................ 269
1.1. Double readings ...................................................... 269
1.2. Creating new narratives ........................................ 275
1.3. Portraying the holy ................................................ 288
2. Ecclesiastical display and delight in the good
things .............................................................................. 302
2.1. The city of St Menas ............................................ 302
2.2. Sculpture in the early Byzantine period .............. 310
2.3. Images for higher contemplation .......................... 334
Epilogue: Perennial Hellenism? ................................................ 351
Abbreviations .............................................................................. 359
Index of names .......................................................................... 385
Index of places and monuments .............................................. 390
Museum index .......................................................................... 395
Illustrations ................................................................................ 403