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 Wendy Watson: Candidate for Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) The Art of Personification in Late Antique Silver: Third to Sixth Century AD Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Sussex August 2012 VOLUME ONE Statement I hereby declare that this thesis has not been, and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another university for the award of any other degree: Signature: ………………………………………….. University of Sussex Wendy Watson: Candidate for Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) The Art of Personification in Late Antique Silver: Third to Sixth Century AD Summary This thesis examines the extent to which, in an artistic context, personifications, and allegorical figures and scenes, were embedded in the culture of Late Antiquity from AD 300 to 600. ‘Personification’ can be read both as a noun and a verb, and I explore it in both senses. My examination is carried out through a series of case studies of figurative imagery on contemporary silver plate. I make an empirical study of the primary objects within my thesis in relation to texts and other objects never considered in conjunction before. The representations on the silver plate discussed in my thesis are broadly divided into three categories: secular, imperial and cultic. In the secular grouping, I discuss their links to literature, the theatre, and their place in the dining room. Imperial imagery often featured personifications and in addition was circulated throughout the known world, and so I examine the power held by these particular, and predominantly female, figures. Although pagan cults were by this time dying out, a few surviving cultic objects such as the Parabiago Plate allow an examination of this form of personification. During this period there were huge changes as the Roman Empire divided into Eastern and Western Empires and adopted the Christian faith. The former became the Byzantine Empire and the latter went into a perceived decline, particularly after the sack of Rome in AD 410. I look at how pagan personifications and allegorical groups survived this transition, and assess the significance of this form of continuity. This thesis demonstrates that in Late Antiquity the art of personification functioned in all aspects of life. It was a subliminal language, accessible in varying degrees to contemporary viewers depending on their education and status. It was a potent propaganda tool, and in what was then a patriarchal society it provided images of strong, powerful females. Contents VOLUME ONE Acknowledgements 1 List of Illustrations 3 Introduction 25 Structure of the thesis 33 Chapter One: Setting the Scene: Aristocrats and Allegory 38 The Corbridge Lanx 38 The Muse Casket 47 Bucolic scenes 56 The Sevso Hunting Plate 59 Chapter Two: Dramatis Personae: Personification and the Theatre 68 The Sevso Meleager Plate 68 Bacchic masks 69 The figurative scenes on the Meleager Plate 73 Chapter Three: Drunk and Disorderly: Dionysiac Imagery on the Mildenhall Great Dish 95 The Mildenhall Great Dish 96 The God of wine 100 Dionysos and fertility 104 Herakles 106 Dionysos, Herakles and weddings 109 The Marine Thiasos 112 Life and death 116 Chapter Four: The Art of Dining 121 The Empress pepper pot 122 The Empress pepper pot as a person 123 The Empress pepper pot as a personification 125 The art of the dining room 134 Chapter Five: The Power behind the Throne: Personifications on Imperial Silver 138 Statuette of the genius of an emperor of the second tetrarchy 139 Representations of Nike 144 Ge 155 Changing styles and personifications 161 Chapter Six: City-Tyches: Official Personifications 165 The four City-Tyches of the Esquiline Treasure 166 City-Tyches as hallmarks 174 The Anastasios Plate 178 The Missorium of Ardabur Aspar 182 Postscript 188 Chapter Seven: The Parabiago Plate: Pagan Presence in a Christian Age 190 Provenance 192 Cybele and Attis 194 Aiôn group 196 The Four Seasons 199 Ge 202 Water personifications 206 Heavenly personifications 207 The cult of Cybele and Attis 209 Conclusion 214 Appendices 224 Appendix 1 224 Appendix 2 226 Appendix 3 228 Appendix 4 230 Bibliography 232 Primary sources 232 Secondary sources 238 VOLUME TWO Illustrations Plates 1 - 203 1 Acknowledgements My initial thanks go to my supervisor, Prof. Liz James, who was prepared to take me on in the first place, and who patiently guided me throughout, responding quickly to my emails, and reading and providing valuable feedback at all stages of writing. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Michelle O’Malley for reading and commenting on my final draft. I have had lots of support from friends and colleagues at the University of Sussex, including Dr. Dan Howells, Dr. Angelica Groom, Dr. Helen Ward, Dr. Bente Bjornholt, Gavin Osborne and Simon Lane. In particular, a resounding ‘thank you!’ goes to Becca and Steve. As DPhil students, Rebecca Raynor and I have worked alongside each other for three years and her constant optimism has carried me through tedious stages of writing, and made me laugh. Dr. Steve Wharton has acted as a mentor and another beacon of encouragement. I must also acknowledge the support I have received from Diane Flint, my study-buddy from undergrad days. Additionally, thanks to the staff at the Library, and in particular William Teague who tirelessly sourced inter-library loans on my behalf. Chris Entwistle at the British Museum has been very kind in arranging for me to handle Late Antique silver from their collection on several occasions, and his colleague Richard Hobbs provided answers to a couple of queries on the Mildenhall Treasure. I was very fortunate to be given a detailed tour of the workshop of Anton Pruden, a silversmith working in Ditchling, Sussex, who demonstrated methods and techniques which have changed very little in two thousand years. Thanks also to the Institute of Classical Studies, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Melissa Chumsky of Sotherby’s New York, Alex Croom, Annemarie Kaufmann-Heinimann, Shari Kenfield and Karen Richter at Princeton University, Dick Osseman, Helen Persson at the V&A, and Prof. Regine Schulz at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, all of whom have provided me with information and/or images. 2 Finally I have to thank my family. The reason I first went to university in 2004 was because of the conviction of my son, Dr. Alex Watson, who thought I could do it. I hope this proves I can. My daughter Lucy and her partner Ben have constantly encouraged me, and my husband James has had to put up with living with a student for the past eight years, something no-one should have to endure. Last but not least, FiFi the cat has been by my side, and often on my lap, for every keystroke of this thesis. 3 List of Illustrations Plate 1 Corbridge Lanx. Digital image kindly supplied by the British Museum, London. © Trustees of the British Museum. Plate 2 Plate with Artemis. Staatliche Museen, Berlin. Image downloaded: <http://library.artstor.org.ezproxy.webfeat.lib.ed.ac.uk/library/iv2.html?parent=true> [accessed 5 June, 2011]. Plate 3 Muse Casket. Digital image kindly supplied by the British Museum, London. © Trustees of the British Museum. Plate 4 Lid detail, Muse Casket. British Museum, London. Photo: Author, 2012. Plate 5 Border detail. Woman weaving garlands in garden. Constantinian Villa, Antioch. Hatay Archaeological Museum, Antakya, Turkey. Image taken from Fatih Cimok, Mosaics of Antioch (Istanbul: A Turizm Yayinlari, 2000), p. 216. Plate 6 Sarcophagus showing ‘Married Couple’ with Muses. Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican Museums, Rome. Image downloaded: <http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/musessarco_vatican.jpg> [accessed 4 January, 2012]. Plate 7 Detail, Projecta Casket. Photo: Author, 2011. Plate 8 Mosaic, Procession to the Bathhouse. Piazza Armerina, Sicily. Image taken from Luciano Catullo, The Ancient Roman Villa of Casale at Piazza Armerina: Past and Present (Messina, Sicily: Arione snc, 2000), p. 38. Plate 9 Panel with Virgil holding scroll of Aeneid between Clio and Melpomene. Bardo Museum, Tunis. Image taken from Aicha Ben Abed, Tunisian Mosaics (Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2006), p. 105. 4 Plate 10 Vichten Muse Mosaic. National Museum of History and Art, Luxembourg. Image downloaded: <http://rpmedia.ask.com/ts?u=/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Victen_Roman_muse_mosa ic.jpg/130px-Victen_Roman_muse_mosaic.jpg> [accessed 25 March, 2011]. Plate 11 Poet and Muses. Sfax Museum, Tunisia. Image taken from Katherine M. D. Dunbabin, The Mosaics of Roman North Africa (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), plate LII, fig. 132. Plate 12 Ivory diptych with Poet and Muse. Duomo di San Giovanni Battista, Monza. Image downloaded: <http://library.artstor.org.ezproxy.webfeat.lib.ed.ac.uk/library/iv2.html?parent=true> [accessed 7 June, 2011]. Plate 13 Two plaques with Poets and Muses. Louvre Museum, Paris. Image taken from Kurt Weitzmann, ed., Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979), p. 259. Plate 14 Diptych of Flavius Constantius. Now lost, formerly in the Antiquarium in Berlin. Image taken from Kathleen J. Shelton, ‘The Consular Muse of Flavius Constantinius’, Art Bulletin, 65.1 (1983), p.