BASE DE DATOS DE IMÁGENES DE HOMBRES

DIVINOS

Sarcófago Sabilino?
http://archiv.ub.uni-
heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/1324/1/Andreae_Processus_Consularis_1969.pdf

Vd. Camp 1989

Questo straordinario mosaico apparteneva in origine ad un unico contesto di sconosciuta
provenienza, forse dalla Siria, ma è pervenuto negli USA tramite modalità sconosciute ed
attualmente è diviso in diversi pezzi fra privati proprietari. Vi è rappresentata l'educazione di
Kimbros, all'inizio accompagnata da punizioni corporali (la verberatio) da parte del padre Filios
e l’affidamento del bambino da Filios ad un istitutore di nome Marianos. Costui, forse anche
medico, è presente nel pannello anche con una certa Kyrillas, un malato di nome Apollonides,
e con Nosos, la malattia, resa come demone alato; la data dell'evento è indicata da Panemos
"Giugno" e "eikas" (il numero 20). Nel pannello seguente Kimbros è accompagnato dal padre
Filios in una scuola di grado superiore, presso un maestro di nome Alexandros, in compagnia di
altri studenti uniti da amicizia (Philia). L’iscrizione diatribé (dialogo) e la personificazione di
Paideia (Istruzione) inquadrano l'ambiente. Nel pannello sottostante è ancora presente
l'insegnante Alexandros con studenti dai vari nomi, alla presenza di Enteuxis, la "Domanda" ed
ancora con il termine "diatribe", il dialogo; a destra, due compagni di Kimbros lo stanno
portando esanime da Alexandros ed uno di essi tira i capelli a Menusis, "il Responso".
Nell'ultimo pannello, Nosos, la "Malattia" si sta ormai riposando accanto a Kimbros che si
solleva fra gli amici, alla presenza di Peritios (Gennaio) e di Eikas, il "20". La narrazione termina
con la personificazione di Proeleusis "l'Avanzamento", che guida Kimbros verso il maestro
Alexandros alla presenza ancora una volta di Diatribé, "il Dialogo". Il mosaico si data, su criteri
stilistici, verso la metà del V sec. d.C. e forse decorava il pavimento di un'aula di una scuola,
nella quale il modello pedagogico era la "Paideia", "l'educazione dell'uomo alla sua vera forma,
alla vera umanità" (W. Jaeger).

L’ORANGE 1957

PLATE I, FIG. 1
 KALLIGAS 2014: figures p.679ss

Figure 1. Bust of a philosopher, ca. 260

CE. Portrait of Plotinus(?). Museum of Ostia, cat. no. 68.

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.

PAG 261, Fig. 140 filósofo “dando una clase”

PAG 265 FIG. 143. Statue of a philosopher, from Gortyn. Antonine period. Herakleion,
Museum.

[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

URBANO, A. P. 2018a: «Literary and Visual Images of Teachers in Late Antiquity», in P.

Gemeinhardt, O. Lorgoux and M. M. Christensen (eds.): Teachers in Late Antique Christianity,
Mohr Siebeck, Berlin?: 1-31.
 PAG. 16. Figure 1: Sarcophagus of L. Pullius Peregrinus, 240–260 CE. Rome: Museo Torlonia,
inv.
424. Used with the kind permission of Deutsches Archaologisches Institut (Negative
D-DAI-ROM-31.958). Photo: C. Faraglia.
For
example, the mid third-century sarcophagus of L. Pullius Peregrinus displays on
its front a Roman centurion memorialized as a man of learning.64 He is seated
and dressed in the philosopher’s robe. He holds an open scroll, as a female figure
(either a Muse or his wife) stands by his side. Six male figures ornament the scene.
Their long hair, beards, bare chests, and simple mantles (ἱμάτιον) identify them
as Greek philosophers (otherwise unidentified). They are engaged in reading,
contemplation, and discussion. The scene places Peregrinus at the center of a
setting which recalls a συνουσία
 PAG. 16 Figure 2: Sarcophagus of a learned magistrate surrounded by Muses and philosophers, ca.
280 CE. Rome: Museo Gregoriano Profano, Vatican Museums, inv. 9504. Used with the
kind permission of the Vatican Museums. Photo: Arthur P. Urbano.

Another sarcophagus from the Vatican

Museums (ca. 280) shows a similar scene.65 Here the deceased is seated with an
open scroll in his hand, flanked by two female Muse types. In the background
are three philosophers, all dressed in ἱμάτια. One bears an uncanny resemblance
to Socrates. Zanker identified this as the sarcophagus of a magistrate displaying
“the prestige of learning acquired through rigorous philosophical training,” a
necessary element for those in political office.
PAG. 17 Figure 3: Detail of polychrome fragments depicting Christ as a philosopher, 290–310
CE.
Rome: Museo Nazionale Romano – Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, inv. 67606, 67607. Used
with the kind permission of the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attivita Culturali e del Turismo
– Museo Nazionale Romano. Photo: Arthur P. Urbano.

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.

However, a small number of late antique sarcophagi do depict women in a

portrait bust holding a scroll and possibly dressed in the philosopher’s ἱμάτιον
(fig. 6).85 A fourth-century sarcophagus lid in the Vatican’s Pio Cristiano collection
features a veiled woman labeled as “Crispina” holding and reading from an
open codex inscribed with a chi-rho
pag. 25 Figure 7: Bust of philosopher, ca. 400 CE. Istanbul: Istanbul Archaeological Museum, inv.
2461. Used with kind permission. Photo: Arthur P. Urbano.

A theurgic practice that

was essential to spiritual purification and complemented the contemplative and
intellectual practices of the philosopher was far beyond what Plato – even what
Plotinus – had envisioned as comprising the philosophical life. This development
may be discernable in portraiture. The few surviving portraits of philosophers
from this period often depict them with a wreath atop the head, which Zanker
notes is a “mark of priestly office”96 (fig. 7). Two examples, one from Constantinople
(and housed in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum) and the other from
Athens (in the Acropolis Museum) also portray a particular facial expression
which Paul Zanker describes as “a state of inner arousal with the head turned
upward, the emphatically opened eyes, the brows drawn up, and the lines in the
forehead,” expressing a “readiness for the divine, in expectation of the mystic
experience” and accessed through contemplation and theurgy

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.

Although Christian authors often unleashed excoriating rhetoric against the

philosopher’s appearance, an interesting dissonance exists between the way they
wrote about the clothing and the way the foundational figures of the Christian
faith were depicted in Christian art. The philosopher’s look is in fact nearly
ubiquitous in early Christian art. The polychrome fragments from Rome are an
early example. Other examples exist in catacomb art and persisted into the Constantinian
and post-Constantinian eras in funerary and liturgical spaces (fig. 8).
Grand examples such as the Anastasis sarcophagus from Arles demonstrate
how the fashion of the philosopher became woven into the fabric of Christian iconography. It
should not be surprising that a theology that proclaimed the
Son as wisdom incarnate should be expressed in a style that drew upon common
cultural understandings of the philosopher. The Son clothes himself not only
in human flesh but in the garb of the wise man; his apostles the architects of
Christian philosophy
Pag. 29. Figure 9: Mosaic portraits of the martyrs Protasius and Gervasius dressed and posed
as
philosophers, with the bishop Ambrose in the center, fifth century CE. Milan: San Vittore
in Ciel d’Oro. Used with the kind permission of the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio. Photo:
Arthur P. Urbano.
Learned men liked to learn in
the presence of images of the learned men of old. Similarly we could see in the
Ravenna baptistery the illumination of newly baptized Christians overseen by
the sages of the apostolic college and otherwise unidentified philosophers and
orators, frozen in the acts of speaking and reading (fig. 9). So too in the shrine
of San Vittore in Ciel d’Oro in Milan, the martyrs Gervasius and Protasius – traditionally
identified as soldiers – were memorialized in mosaic pallia as learned
men. Along with the bishops Ambrose and Maternus, they look down upon the
pilgrims visiting the martyrium, giving the space a hint of the classroom. But the
bishops, the teachers of the flock, are dressed differently, in the broad dalmatic
and hooded paenula. The style that Tertullian and Heraclas had embraced but
which Claudianus and Damasus derided nevertheless retained its long-standing
AFONASINA, A. and AFONASIN, E. 2014: «The Houses of Philosophical Schools in
Athens», Scholé, 8, 1: 9-23.

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