The Ambrosian Iliad as a Social Statement in the Late Antique Period

241 Pages·2015·7.43 MB·English

by  Ceil Parks Bare

Florida State University Libraries
Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School
2009
Achilles and the Roman Aristocrat: The
Ambrosian Iliad as a Social Statement in the
Late Antique Period
Ceil Parks Bare
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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS, THEATRE AND DANCE

ACHILLES AND THE ROMAN ARISTOCRAT: THE AMBROSIAN ILIAD AS A SOCIAL

STATEMENT IN THE LATE ANTIQUE PERIOD

By

CEIL PARKS BARE

A Dissertation submitted to the
Department of Art History
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Awarded:
Spring Semester, 2009
The members of the Committee approve the Dissertation of Ceil Parks Bare defended on
March 2, 2009.

__________________________
Paula Gerson
Professor Directing Dissertation

__________________________
Francis Cairns
Outside Committee Member

__________________________
Nancy T. de Grummond
Committee Member

__________________________
Rick Emmerson
Committee Member

Approved:

__________________________________________________________________________
Rick Emmerson, Chair, Department of Art History

__________________________________________________________________________
Sally McRorie, Dean, College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above named committee members.
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For my husband.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many people have supported and encouraged me during the past six years of this project.
Florida State University’s Department of Art History and its faculty have provided consistent
and invaluable training and guidance since my earliest days as an Undergraduate. In particular, I
would like to thank Jack Frieberg and Patricia Rose for their faith in me through all these years.
I would also like to thank the Department of Art History for research and writing grants
including the Penelope Mason Graduate Fellowship for Research, the Penelope Mason Graduate
Fellowship for Travel and various Graduate Assistantships. I am also appreciative of the
opportunity to teach in London in the Spring of 2005 through Florida State University’s
International Programs. This appointment enabled me to conduct invaluable research at the
British Library.
Each member of my dissertation committee has provided many hours of feedback and
support. My first directing professor, Cynthia Hahn, provided encouragement and assistance
during my Ph.D. coursework and the initial phases of my dissertation research. It is because of
her that I made the difficult leap from student to scholar. As my second directing professor,
Paula Gerson has provided the focused and insightful feedback throughout this process that has
been an important factor in the successful completion of this dissertation. Rounding out my
committee, Richard Emmerson and Francis Cairns have given me sound advice and information
from their own unique scholarly backgrounds, for which I am truly grateful. Finally, to Nancy
de Grummond, my sincere and heartfelt gratitude for her guidance, mentorship, and friendship.
Words cannot describe what she has meant to me during this adventure.
Many other people have helped me by looking at my manuscript and providing
invaluable feedback and support. In particular, I would like to thank Tanja Jones and Kyle Parks
for providing much appreciated initial editing advice. Also, I would like to acknowledge Lisa
Carlisle for her amazing editing service on the final draft of my dissertation. My thanks to Ken
Andino who spent many unselfish hours working on the Latin and Greek translations. I have
learned so much from all of you and I am sincerely grateful.
Lastly, I would like to thank my friends and family who have been there during the tears
and triumphs. For being there, in some cases just to listen, my gratitude to Elizabeth Heuer,
Tanja Jones, Lana Burgess, Teri Yoo, Nancy Gadberry, Storie Gadberry, Jean Hudson, Kathy
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Braun, and Joan Cassels. During the final stages of this project, the support and understanding
of my colleagues at Florida State University’s International Programs was greatly appreciated.
Thank you to my mother and father who raised me to believe that I could do anything. And,
finally to my dear husband, Thomas Bare, who has not minded (too much) sharing his life with
me and a man named Achilles.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures.......................................................................................................................viii
Abstract.................................................................................................................................xi

INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................1
Issues of Methodology..............................................................................................2
A New Way of Looking at the Ambrosian Iliad.......................................................5
Overview of Chapters................................................................................................7

1. THE AMBROSIAN ILIAD (ILIAS AMBROSIANA, CODEX 1019) ................................10
Description of the Ambrosian Iliad...........................................................................12
The Rediscovery of Late Roman Art........................................................................15
Historiography of the Ambrosian Iliad.....................................................................18
Conclusion.................................................................................................................35

2. THE ARISTOCRAT IN LATE ANTIQUITY.................................................................37
Nobilitas, the Roman Aristocrats..............................................................................37
Mos Maiorum............................................................................................................40
Virtus.........................................................................................................................42
Paideia......................................................................................................................48
Conclusion.................................................................................................................55

3. THE AMBROSIAN ILIAD AND ANTIQUARIAN ARISTOCRATIC IDENTITY.....57
The Ambrosian Iliad and the Antiquarian Movement..............................................58
The Roman Villa, Books, and Paideia......................................................................66
The Ambrosian Iliad, Mos Maiorum, and Antiquarian Interest................................70
Antiquarian Military Iconography in the Ambrosian Iliad...........................72
Pagan Sacrifice and Antiquarinism...............................................................77
Conclusion.................................................................................................................87

4. THE AMBROSIAN ILIAD AND ARISTOCRATIC IDENTITY –
CONFIRMING THE PRESENT.....................................................................................90
The Ambrosian Iliad’s Iconography – Defining the Present.....................................91
The Circus.....................................................................................................92
The Banquet..................................................................................................97
The Book.......................................................................................................103
The Aristocrat and the Emperor................................................................................107
An Imperial Environment..............................................................................108
The Cult of Achilles......................................................................................111
Imperial Iconography in the Ambrosian Iliad...............................................118
Conclusion.................................................................................................................121

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5. THE AMBROSIAN ILIAD AND ARISTOCRATIC IDENTITY F
ACHILLES’ FUTURE.....................................................................................................124
Christian Iconography in the Ambrosian Iliad..........................................................126
Achilles in the Fifth Century – Prototype for the Christian Hero?...........................133
Conclusion.................................................................................................................146

CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................148

APPENDIX A – FIGURES..................................................................................................156

APPENDIX B – COMPLETE LIST OF THE MINIATURES IN THE AMBROSIAN
ILIAD.........................................................................................................................193

APPENDIX C – COPYRIGHT PERMISSION LETTERS..................................................196

REFERENCES......................................................................................................................201

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH................................................................................................227
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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 The Ambrosian Iliad, “Achilles offers an augural sacrifice” .............................157

Figure 1.2 The Ambrosian Iliad, “Achilles offers an augural sacrifice,” (drawing)............157

Figure 1.3 The Ambrosian Iliad, “The wounded Aphrodite returns to Olympus”...............158

Figure 1.4 The Ambrosian Iliad, “Priam sets out for the Greek camp”...............................158

Figure 1.5 The Ambrosian Iliad, “Athena gives courage to Diomedes and Phegeus killed
by Diomedes” and “Pandarus draws his bow against Diomedes”.................................159

Figure 1.6 The Ambrosian Iliad, “Hector speaks to the Trojan troops and The feast
in the Trojan camp”........................................................................................................159

Figure 1.7 The Ambrosian Iliad, “Hector breaks open the gate of the wall”.......................160

Figure 2.1 A Roman boy, with papyrus roll and book box..................................................161

Figure 2.2 A teacher and his students..................................................................................161

Figure 2.3 Mosaic Panel with Kimbros and Paideia...........................................................162

Figure 2.4 Mosaic Panel with Kimbros and Paideia, det. ...................................................162

Figure 3.1 The Projecta Casket............................................................................................163

Figure 3.2 The Doria Bucket................................................................................................164

Figure 3.3 The Doria Bucket, det.........................................................................................164

Figure 3.4 Ludovisi Sarcophagus, lid..................................................................................165

Figure 3.5 The Ambrosian Iliad, “Idomeneus drags away the body of Othryoneus”..........166

Figure 3.6 The Ambrosian Iliad, “Idomeneus drags away the body of Othryoneus,”
(drawing).......................................................................................................................166

Figure 3.7 Roman Battle Sarcophagus.................................................................................167

Figure 3.8 AE of Constans with charging horseman pose...................................................167

Figure 3.9 AE of Constans with raised arm pose.................................................................168

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Figure 3.10 The Ambrosian Iliad, “Lustral Sacrifice”.........................................................169

Figure 3.11 The Ambrosian Iliad, “Lustral Sacrifice,” (drawing).......................................169

Figure 3.12 Trajan’s Column, “Suovetaurilia”....................................................................170

Figure 3.13 The Ambrosian Iliad, “Agamemnon Offers a Sacrifice”..................................171

Figure 3.14 The Ambrosian Iliad, “Agamemnon Offers a Sacrifice,” (drawing)................171

Figure 3.15 Altar of Manlius................................................................................................172

Figure 3.16 The Ambrosian Iliad, “The portent of Aulis”...................................................173

Figure 3.17 The Ambrosian Iliad, “The portent of Aulis,” (drawing).................................173

Figure 3.18 Leaf from the diptych of the consul Felix.........................................................174

Figure 3.19 Diptych of a Patrician.......................................................................................174

Figure 4.1 The Ambrosian Iliad, “The prizeFgiving for the chariot race”............................175

Figure 4.2 The Ambrosian Iliad, “The prizeFgiving for the chariot race,” (drawing)..........175

Figure 4.3 The Ambrosian Iliad, “The banquet of the gods”...............................................176

Figure 4.4 The Ambrosian Iliad, “The banquet of the gods,” (drawing).............................176

Figure 4.5 The Vergilius Romanus, “The Roman banquet”.................................................177

Figure 4.6 Reconstruction Drawing of the Villa at Contionacum.......................................178

Figure 4.7 Floor Plan of the Villa at Contionacum..............................................................178

Figure 4.8 Floor Plan of the Villa at Bulla Regia.................................................................179

Figure 4.9 Consular Diptych of Rufius Probianus...............................................................180

Figure 4.10 Kaiseraugst Missorium.....................................................................................181

Figure 4.11 Kaiseraugst Missorium (drawing) ...................................................................182

Figure 4.12 “Capitoline Puteal” ..........................................................................................183

Figure 4.13 Mosaic Depicting the Birth of Achilles, (Nea Paphos, Cyprus) ......................184

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