View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Sussex Research Online A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX GAVIN OSBOURNE THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY MOSAICS OF POWER: SUPERSTITION, MAGIC AND CHRISTIAN POWER IN EARLY BYZANTINE FLOOR MOSAICS VOLUME 1 SEPTEMBER 2014 3 UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX GAVIN OSBOURNE THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY MOSAICS OF POWER: SUPERSTITION, MAGIC AND CHRISTIAN POWER IN EARLY BYZANTINE FLOOR MOSAICS SUMMARY This thesis argues that some Early Byzantine floor mosaics had, in addition to a practical and decorative role, a supernatural function. By this I mean the images and words depicted within the mosaic were perceived as devices to attract powers from a supernatural dimension, for the benefit of those that walked over the mosaic or the building that housed it. The thesis is ultimately a discussion of the Byzantines’ beliefs in the power of art and text, and how they were believed to intervene and affect everyday life. My examination is carried out with a focus on the floor mosaics produced between the fourth and seventh centuries in the Byzantine Empire. Using an iconographic methodological approach, the thesis explores how certain images and words incorporated within mosaic designs can be seen in supernatural terms. To do so, comparable material objects with clearer supernatural functions will be examined. Primary sources that indicate how certain motifs were perceived to bring about powers will also be analysed. In this thesis, I analyse the different kinds of devices that were depicted to attract supernatural powers and explore why those devices were believed to have the ability to generate powers. The thesis illustrates how power could be seen as being rooted in Christianity, magic or more unclear sources. Expanding on this discussion, I explore how a single mosaic could incorporate elements from several sources, dispelling scholarship that portrays the Early Byzantine period as predominately influenced by Christianity. The other key function of the thesis is to emphasise the fact that mosaics can be considered in terms of the conscious design process of their construction, placing them within the same category as gemstones and icons in terms of purposeful objects. 4 CONTENTS Volume 1 Acknowledgements 6 List of Abbreviations 7 List of Maps and a List of Illustrations 8 Note to the Reader 15 INTRODUCTION 16 The Aims of the Thesis 24 Approaching Mosaics of Power 28 The Power of Objects and Images in Early Byzantium 38 Beliefs and Multivalence of Powers 41 An Outline of the Thesis 54 CHAPTER ONE: THE POWER OF SYMBOLS 57 A Set of Symbols at Adeitha 58 Antioch: Symbols on the Threshold 71 Protective and Beneficial Symbols at Beit Mery 77 Zahrani: the Repetition of Motifs 82 CHAPTER TWO: THE POWER OF CREATURES 89 ‘Like when the Phoenix Renews its Burden Limbs’: The Phoenix at Antioch 91 ‘Immunity From Decay’: The Peacock at Carthage 97 Unusual Depictions: The Anguipede at Antigoneia 102 Good Fortune through Horses and Chariots at Thugga 107 5 CHAPTER THREE: THE POWER OF PERSONIFICATIONS 113 The Depiction of Humans in Floor Mosaics 113 The Lack of Christian Figures 117 Personifications; the New Saints 118 Ktisis’ Foundational Powers at Kourion 122 ‘The Fruitful Mother of All Things’: Ge at Antioch 128 Safety and Enjoyment at the Baths 133 ‘Smilingly You Have Watered the Land’: The Nile at Sepphoris 135 Good Fortune at Kos 138 CHAPTER FOUR: THE POWER OF WORDS: INSCRIPTIONS 145 Beneficial Powers at Kourion 146 ‘The Ghastly Example of the Perishing Envious’ 151 From Explicit to Implicit: The Christianisation of Supernatural Inscriptions 156 Literal and Rhetoric Interpretations 161 CONCLUSION 166 APPENDIX 174 BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources 188 Dictionaries and Lexicons 193 Secondary Sources 194 Volume 2 ILLUSTRATIONS 226 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). I thank them for their generosity and for placing faith in me; this project would not have been possible without them. With all my heart I thank my supervisor (and idol) Liz James, who patiently guided me through the past three years with wit, generosity, structure and kindness. I could not have wished for a better supervisor. I thank her for the ‘so whats?’ and for telling me to ‘get on with it’ when I should have been getting on with it. I owe a great amount of gratitude to friends, peers and faculty at the University of Sussex. My second supervisor, Flora Dennis, always made herself available for support and advice, most memorably on a particularly bad afternoon. Stephen Wharton kindly read drafts, offered advice and assurance. Rebecca Raynor and Wendy Watson were key PhD role models. Their feedback, friendship and assistance mean more than they will ever realise. I also owe a great deal of thanks to Michelle O’Malley, Francesco Ventrella, Maurice Howard, Simon Lane and Bente Bjørnholt, who have provided vital input along the way. I also thank several of the philosophy and SPT doctoral students, many of whom I shared an office with, in particular Elaine O’Connell, Jacob Berkson, Jana Elsen and Patrick Simon Moffett Levy. This thesis would not have been written without my two great friends Sally Johnson and Mike Davy. They have practically endured the PhD process with me. If it were not for their friendship, kindness, time and constructive criticism, this thesis would have been in a worse state. A ‘thank you’ cannot even get close to conveying my appreciation to them. I look forward to returning their generosity in whatever way I can. I am grateful to the Warburg Institute, the Institute of Classical Studies, the British Library and the National Art Library, all of whom kindly allowed me to use their invaluable libraries and resources. I also thank the library at the University of Sussex, especially William Teague in the interlibrary loan department who had to deal with what must have seemed an endless supply of requests. I thank Hazel Johannessen for teaching me ancient Greek and Fiona Haarer for providing me with a travel grant for that course. I also thank Carole Cox, Marilyn Chapman, Katherine Hegarty, James Clark and Jo Stoner. Lastly, I could not leave out my gratitude to my four-legged canine friend Shelley, whose love and affection carried me through many of the challenges of the thesis. I thank all of those that made the imperfections in this thesis less imperfect. Faults in this thesis are not a reflection on them; any faults are mine and mine alone. 7 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Betz Hans Dieter Betz (ed.), The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation: Including the Demotic Spells, 2nd edn (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992). DOP Dumbarton Oaks Papers Mommsen CT Theodosiani libri XVI, ed. Theodor Mommsen and Paul M. Meyer, Vol. 1 (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1954). MRNA Katherine M. D. Dunbabin, The Mosaics of Roman North Africa: Studies in Iconography and Patronage (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978). PDM Papyri demotica magicae PG Patrologiae Cursus Completus Series Graeca, ed. by Jacques- Paul Migne (Paris, 1857-66). PGM Papyri graecae magicae Pharr CT Clyde Pharr (ed.), The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1952). PL Patrologiae Cursus Completus Series Latina, ed. by Jacques-Paul Migne (Paris, 1844-55). Preisendanz Karl Preisendanz (ed.), Papyri graecae magicae: Die griechischen Zauberpapyri, 2 vols (Stuttgart: Verlag B. G. Teubner, 1974). 8 LIST OF MAPS Map 1. Map detailing the locations of the floor mosaics discussed in the thesis. Source: author. Map 2. Map detailing the mosaics that come from the Middle East area in the thesis. Source: author. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Floor mosaic at the church of St George, Adeitha. Jordan. Date 637. Source: Michele Piccirillo, The Mosaics of Jordan, ed. by Patricia M. Bikai and Thomas A. Dailey (Amman: American Center of Oriental Research, 1992), p. 306. Figure 2. Line drawing of the plan of the church of St George at Adeitha. Source: Michele Piccirillo, The Mosaics of Jordan, ed. by Patricia M. Bikai and Thomas A. Dailey (Amman: American Center of Oriental Research, 1992), p. 306. Figure 3. Sculpture with the head of a goddess, possibly Aphrodite. First or second century. Marble. Height: 0.40 m. National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece (Inventory number: EAM 1762). Image downloaded: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/- ISo9GIUCOCs/UnpqSD4sNZI/AAAAAAAA3Jg/xu6pKOBY9ts/s1600/ 3514-156.jpg [accessed 29 May 2014]. Figure 4. Crosses in the border at the east end of the Martyrium of Babylas outside of Antioch, Turkey (detail). Fourth or early-fifth century. Mosaic. Source: Ernst Kitzinger, ‘The Threshold of the Holy Shrine: Observations on Floor Mosaics at Antioch and Bethlehem’, in Kyriakon: Festschrift Johannes Quasten, Vol. 2, ed. by Patrick Granfield and Josef A. Jungmann (Münster Westf: Aschendorff, 1970), fig. 1. Figure 5. Detail of Solomon’s knot. Source: author. Figure 6. A Herakles knot on a fragment of a Coptic gravestone. Sixth century. Stone relief. Coptic Museum, Cairo, Egypt. Source: Eunice Dauterman Maguire et al., Art and Holy Powers in the Early Christian House (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989), p.