Of the Byzantine Civilization
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SERIES BYZANTINA TOWARDS REWRITING? SERIES BYZANTINA Studies on Byzantine and Post -Byzantine Art VOLUME VIII TOWARDS REWRITING? New Approaches to Byzantine Archaeology and Art PROCEEDINGS OF THE SYMPOSIUM ON BYZANTINE ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY CRACOW, SEPTEMBER 8–10, 2008 Edited by Piotr Ł. Grotowski and Sławomir Skrzyniarz THE POLISH SOCIETY OF ORIENTAL ART CARDINAL STEFAN WYSZYŃSKI UNIVERSITY JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY THE PONTIFICAL UNIVERSITY OF JOHN PAUL II IN CRACOW Warsaw 2010 SERIES BYZANTINA GENERAL EDITORS: Waldemar Deluga Michał Janocha EDITORS OF THE VOULME: Piotr Ł. Grotowski Sławomir Skrzyniarz EDITORIAL ADDRESS: Institut of History of Art Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University ul. Wóycickiego 1/3 PL 01-938 Warszawa [email protected] Cover design, typhographic project, illustrations editing and typesetting by Paweł Wróblewski Continuation of the series published by the NERITON Publishing House Cover Illustration: Virgin Mary; glassware decoration, from catacombs in Rome, 4th c. AD; N. P. Kondakov, Ikonografi a Bogomateri, St. Petersburg 1914, p. 77 Title Page Illustration: Female pendant (kolt), gold with enamels. Kievan Rus’, late 11th-early 12th c. AD, National Museum, Cracow © Copyright by Waldemar Deluga, Piotr Ł. Grotowski, Sławomir Skrzyniarz ISBN 978-83-928399-2-7 Printed by Sowa - Druk na Życzenie www.sowadruk.pl tel. (48 22) 431 81 40 Contents Preface (Piotr Ł. Grotowski) ......................................................................................................... 7 PART I: ATTITUDE Alexander Musin, Russian Medieval Culture as an “Area of Preservation” of the Byzantine Civilization ........................................................................................................ 11 Athanassios Semoglou, L’éloquence au service d’archéologie. Les « enfants aimés » de Theodore Métochite et sa bibliothèque dans le monastère de Chora ................................... 45 Liliya M. Evseeva , Liturgical Drama as a Source of Monreale Mosaics ................................... 67 Alexei Lidov, Spatial Icons. A Hierotopic Approach to Byzantine Art History ......................... 85 PART II: INTERPRETATIONS Andreas Rhoby, On the Interaction of Word and Image in Byzantium: The Case of the Epigrams on the Florence Reliquary ............................................................... 101 Tassos Papacostas, Byzantine Rite in a Gothic Setting: Aspects of Cultural Appropriation in Late Medieval Cyprus .................................................... 117 Piotr Ł. Grotowski, Defi ning the Byzantine Saint – Creating a Message in Orthodox Art ......... 133 Angeliki Lymberopoulou, Fourteenth-century Regional Cretan Church Decoration: the Case of the Painter Pagomenos and his Clientele ............................................................... 159 Maja Kominko, Constantine’s Eastern Looks: The Elevation of the Cross in a Medieval Syriac Lectionary ..................................................... 177 PART III: DISCOVERIES Maja Petrinec, Metal Objects of Byzantine Origin in Medieval Graves from Croatia ............ 197 Kristina Lavysh, Finds of Byzantine Glass and Ceramics on the Territory of Belarus: Well-Known and New Facts ...................................................................................................... 213 Mirosław P. Kruk, On some Objects in the National Museum in Krakow and Question of their Origin: Athos or other Monasteries?...................................................... 231 Nils Stadje, Die byzantinische und osmanische Keramik von Agios Elias und Palaiochori Zaverdas auf der Plaghia-Halbinsel in Nordwestgriechenland. Ein Vorbericht ...................... 251 PART IV:CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDIES ON BYZANTINE ART – – PAST AND FUTURE Waldemar Deluga, Die Lemberger Forschung zur Kunst der orthodoxen Kirche ................. 267 Michał Janocha, Serge Averintsev. Byzantinologie dans la perspective humaniste .............. 283 Anna Michalowska, Matthew Savage, Daniel Terkl, DiFaB - Digital Research Archive for Byzantium ........................................................................................................................... 293 Preface In his dialogues Timaeus (23b–25d) and Critias (108e–109c, 113c–121c), Plato retells the sto- ry told by priests from the temple of Neith in Sais to Solon when he visited Lower Egypt. Accord- ing to the legend, the rich and prospering Kingdom located on the island of Atlantis ('Atlant ˆ j nÁsoj) that nine thousands years before the time of Solon had ruled over the western part of the Mediterranean was destroyed in a series of catastrophes. While attacked by brave Athenians, the island was sunk during one day and night after numerous earthquakes and fl oods. Already ancient writers could not decide whether Plato’s words should be read as an historical account or as an allegorical fi gure1. Despite the never-ending discussion con- cerning the real or imaginative character of the island, Atlantis became an important myth connecting popular culture with Mediterranean antiquity. Therefore, to use it as metaphor in relation to Byzantium may not seem improper. Byzantium, like Atlantis – a once-great civilization with fabulous culture created in its capi- tal surrounded by colorful walls and washed by the waves of the sea – disappeared half a millen- nium ago. Its traces, monuments, precious vessels, books or icons appear from time to time, just like fragments of the buildings of the city covered by the Ocean are washed ashore. A modern scholar involved in the matters of its culture is similar to a man walking along the shore trying to reconstruct the shape of a real building on the basis of its collected pieces. On the one hand, there is a chance that he may fi nd additional evidence if he keeps walking far enough, but on the other, there is a risk that already known objects may disappear, taken by the waves of the time. The seashore where the “Byzantine island” was once erected is especially rough even in modern times. Wars, riots, and revolutions still take away memories of the past, unattended treasures disappear in the pockets of thieves and merchants. New generations of researchers appear on the shore. Some of them follow the paths set by their antecessors; the others give prevalence to the arising questions over traditional methods of interpretation. There is a rule that every generation of historians write their own history, focusing on problems different from those dealt with by the past generations and leaving aside ques- 1 Plato’s story was treated as historically valuable for example by Crantor, who visited the temple in Sais. A moderate attitude is presented by Olimpiodorus, Gorg. 46,6 (ed. Westerink, p. 240) and Proclus (76.1–195), whereas, according to Strabo, Geographika II 102 (ed. Radt, p. 248, 250), Aristotle rejected the account as a Plato’s invention, see NESSELRATH 2005, 161–171 and Introduction to Proclus, Commentary, 60–84. 8 Preface tions their antecessor deemed crucial. They try to use new methods, new tools and new approaches – they try to look directly at the ruins of Atlantis, through the surface of the Ocean. What will they manage to see? An outline of the battlements and colourful walls of the underwater city or merely a refl ection of themselves and their own times? *** In order to give an answer to the question how Byzantine Art History will look in the future, we will have to wait. However, what we can do now is to put before the audience the collected papers presented at the International Symposium Towards Rewriting? New Approaches to Byzantine Art and Archaeology, organized by the Faculty of Church History of the Pontifi cal Academy of Theology in Cracow and the Institute of Art History, Jagiellonian University in Cracow, held on September, 8–10, 2008, and attended mostly by scholars of the younger gen- eration. We decided not to divide texts on art history and archeology into separate sections as we deeply believe that close cooperation between the two disciplines is inevitable and modern Byzantine scholars should use as much evidence delivered by their colleagues as possible. The volume was instead divided – just like the conference itself – into three parts: Attitudes, Inter- pretations and Discoveries. The authors of the papers included into the fi rst two sections tried to look under a different angle (sometimes using new methods or assumptions) in order to fi nd out answers for issues still unresolved. It is on the reader to assess whether they managed to do it and whether their theories appear verifi able. The third part focuses on the objects unknown to the broader audience – not only new archaeological fi nds, but also unpublished artifacts stored in museums. At the end of the volume we added three texts under headline Contribution to the Studies on Byzantine Art – Past & Future, presenting issues connected with the history of Byz- antine Art History and a project recently undertaken by a group of art historians from Vienna. P. Ł. Grotowski Olympiodorus, Gorg.: Olympiodori, In Platonis Gorgiam Commentaria, ed. L. G. Westerink, (Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana) Leipzig 1970. Plato, Critias. Timaeus: Plato, Timaeus. Critias. Cleitophon, translation R. G. Bury, (Loeb Classical Library) Harvard 1929. Strabo, Geographica: Strabons, Geographika, ed. S. Radt, Bd. 1. “Porlegomena, Buch I–IV: Text und Übersetzung”, Götingen 2002. Proclus, Commentary: Proclus, Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus, vol. 1. “Book 1: Proclus on the Spocratic State and Atlantis”, translated with an introduction