Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
DIVINOS
Sarcófago Sabilino?
http://archiv.ub.uni-
heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/1324/1/Andreae_Processus_Consularis_1969.pdf
L’ORANGE 1957
PLATE I, FIG. 1
KALLIGAS 2014: figures p.679ss
Figure 2. Sarcophagus depicting a philosopher teaching, ca. 270 CE. Designated by Rodenwaldt
1936, 104–5, as the “Sarcophagus of Plotinus.” Gregorian Museum, Vatican. © Photo Vatican
Museums.
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcofago_di_Plotino
Figure 3. Bust of a philosopher,
ca. 300 CE. Portrait of Porphyry(?).
Athens Archaeological Museum,
cat. no. 581.
Figure 4. “Prometheus Sarcophagus” from Arles, ca. 240 CE. Louvre Museum, cat. no. MA
339/95DE3916. Described by Cumont 1942a, 318–24, as depicting the soul’s sojourn on earth.
Prometheus is shown on the left molding human bodies under the guidance of Athena, a solar
deity, and the astrological horoscopos. Next comes Hermes conducting the soul. The embodied
soul is then seen proceeding under the supervision of the three rulers of Fate, the Moirai, and
their enthroned mother, Adrasteia, under the watchful eye of the sea-god Poseidon. On the far
right, the soul is escorted away from the clasp of Earth toward an otherworldly region of
unperturbed bliss. Cf. Festugière 1957, 195–202.
ZANKER 1995
Fig. 122f, busto de época severiana que fue idenficado por L’Orange como Plotino.
[Full Size]
310 FIG. 167
Mosaic in Apamea in Syria, showing Socrates as the teacher of
philosophers and wise men. A.D. 362/63.
[Full Size]
FIG. 172
Opus sectile with the portrait of a Charismatic philosopher (theios aner )
in a nimbus. Ca. A.D. 395. Ostia, Museum
Two relief slabs known as the “polychrome fragments,” also from Rome, are
likely fragments of a late third-century sarcophagus (fig. 3).68 On it is one of the earliest extant
examples of Jesus depicted in the style of the philosopher: curly
hair and beard, wearing a ἱμάτιον with his torso exposed, like the philosopher
companions of Peregrinus and the Santa Maria Antiqua Baptist. Christ’s right
hand is extended in an oratorical gesture, and he holds a rolled up scroll in his
left. Seated frontally and elevated, his appearance evokes the image of a teacher
from the eastern provinces. Depictions of Christ as teacher seated at the center
of the apostolic college are found in a variety of contexts. As Fabrizio Bisconti
has noted, these images draw from philosophical themes and from imperial iconography,
and have philosophical as well as ecclesiological significance.69 What
we see in these images is a dynamic and ongoing coding of the culturally valued
sign of the educated man. While the visual manifestation itself may not have
varied much, its meaning and social prestige lay in a fluctuating continuum that
accompanied developments in intellectual culture.
The most distinctive and consistent feature of these portraits is the simple
Greek mantle, the ἱμάτιον (or pallium in Latin).70 The robe was worn by philosophers
of all schools and as late as the fourth century was ritually bestowed
upon students of rhetoric and philosophy at Athens.71 Wearing the garment in
public could identify one as a philosopher or orator, but specific school allegiance
would not necessarily be known until expressed by the wearer. This often led
to adherents of different schools being confused for one another, as the sophist
Dio Chrysostom complained.72 Among Christians, Justin Martyr was known to
wear the philosopher’s robe, as was Tertullian, who wrote an entire treatise on
the garment (De pallio). Tertullian defended his decision to swap the toga for the
pallium as his preferred public attire. Writing in the voice of the Greek garment,
he positively associated it with various teaching professions:
PAG. 19. Figure 4: Sarcophagus showing Christ as shepherd and the apostles as philosophers,
fourth
century CE. Rome: Museo Pio Cristiano, Vatican Museums (Repertorium vol. 1, no. 30).
Used with the kind permission of the Vatican Museums. Photo: Arthur P. Urbano
That the Greek garment was recognizable and publicly visible were key factors
in asserting the moral and pedagogical authority of the philosopher. Tertullian
notes: “A philosopher is heard as long as he is seen.”74 Origen wrote of his student
and colleague Heraclas (a presbyter and eventually bishop of Alexandria)
that he “stripped himself” of “common dress” (κοινῇ ἐσθῆτι) and “assumed the
philosophical look, and he maintains it until now and continues the earnest investigation
of Greek works.”75 In Christian iconography the philosopher’s mantle
is practically universal in depictions of Christ, the apostles, and saints (fig. 4).
A sarcophagus front from the Pio Cristiano collection at the Vatican shows a
youthful, beardless Christ represented as a shepherd, while the apostles on either
side of him are dressed as philosophers.
PAG. 21. Figure 5: Abbas Antony and Abbas Pamoun. Wallpainting in the Apollon Monastery,
Bawit, Egypt, 8th cent. Quoted from: Jean Cledat, Le monastère et la nécropole de Baouit
(Institut francais d’archeologie orientale; Cairo 1999) fig. 137.
The philosopher’s reflection in the monk was still perceived
as late as the sixth century. In the oldest known Coptic painting of Antony, at
the monastery of Apa Apollo at Bawit, he is depicted wearing the philosopher’s
ἱμάτιον over a tunic, as he holds a codex and makes an oratorical gesture with
his right hand
PAG. 23. Figure 6: Strigilated sarcophagus with a female portrait dressed in the philosopher’s pallium
and holding a scroll, third century CE. Rome: Museo Nazionale Romano – Terme di
Diocleziano, inv. 475044. Used with the kind permission of the Ministero dei Beni e delle
Attivita Culturali e del Turismo – Museo Nazionale Romano. Photo: Arthur P. Urbano.
Pag. 26. Figure 8: Sarcophagus of the Anastasis, end of the fourth century CE. Arles: Musee
departemental
Arles antique, inv. FAN.92. 00. 2483/2484. Used with kind permission. Photo:
Arthur P. Urbano.
Pag. 12
PAG. 13
PAG. 17
PAG 18