An Officer and a Gentleman: Transformations in the Iconography of a Warrior Saint Author(s): Warren T.

Woodfin Reviewed work(s): Source: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 60 (2006), pp. 111-143 Published by: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25046213 . Accessed: 14/12/2011 08:23
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An Officer anda Gentleman: Transformations a in the Iconography of Warrior Saint Warren T.Woodfin
ONE OF the the course portrait at Sinai, distinctive features art over of Byzantine to set in adhering viewer could have

is its consistency of its history types of the saints.1 No informed even without the help

any difficulty identifying St. Peter in the famous earlyByzantine icon

for example, of the rather summar

ily rendered keys held in the figure s right hand (fig. i).2Despite the
the inscription that forms almost a sine qua non of post lacking so the portrait Iconoclastic type of the saint is Byzantine painting, over the course of the artistic well defined and consistent production of Byzantium that one needs no further clues than the facial features to the image as that of St. Peter. In late antiquity, St. Menas, recognize an the great martyr of Egypt, possessed portrait equally recognizable type. In works from the fifth the seventh through as an orant between two centuries, Menas is camels kneeling (fig. and wears military dress con curly hair, tunic with amantle fastened at the shoulder. of representations, includ it reliefs.3 How surprising icon s

consistently represented 2). He appears beardless,

with

a short, belted sisting of in hundreds is This iconography repeated ivories, and stone ing pilgrims' ampullae, is, then, to encounter

at the thirteenth-century fresco of St. Menas in Serbia There he appears as an older man, with Sopocani (fig. 3).4 more gray, curly hair and a rounded gray beard. His dress, too, is far in than the rough-and-ready short tunic that featured distinguished a wears At Sopocani, Menas his early iconography. long, aquama a rose is fastened rine tunic, trimmed with Over his shoulder gold. a the ornamental cloak colored tablion, large rectangular bearing panel ment worn by persons of rank. Within this gold-embroidered orna is the image of Christ blessing. bust-length raises a number This later image of St. Menas should St. Menas, unlike other saints of Byzantine

Why and later phases

i On

of critical questions. in both the early popular such a pro

civilization,

have undergone

in Byzantium,

the dynamics of holy portraiture see H. Maguire, The Icons

cat. nos. ed., LChrl

W. Braunfels, 512, 514, 515, 516, 517;

of Their Bodies: Saints and Their Images in 1996). (Princeton, Byzantium 2 K. Weitzmann, TheMonastery Catherine atMount Sinai: The Icons of Saint

8:4-7. The Louvre's panel painting with Christ and Apa Mena from Bawit represents a homonymous abbot not the martyr saint. of the monastery, Cf. Age of Spirituality, 552-53, cat. no. 497. V. Djuric, Sopocani (Belgrade, 1963), 125, pi. LIII.

1976), pi. IX. (Princeton, et al., Age of Spirituality: K. Weitzmann 3 Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century (New York, 1979), 573-79,

t? .^^?S^l^fc,

"Av?f-

/^5l^ *J fWBPiE?Olil^l^B

llBiitt?^^^^HHT^iiv? M^H?SB^H H^^RE^HflH^^HBL; T^HM9(!llo^^^^^iflP^P^^H^^H

Fig-1 ?COn

ot ^ta

reproduced

Sinai, Monastery of St.Catherine, Peter'7tn century (photo through the courtesyof

H^^Mgl^^^^^^^H^^^^^^MH^^^^^K^HkM^^B^^I

ampulla ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^KH^^Hj^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l
^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^BHH^hHH^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^^^B^UBsjgiB^^^m^K^H^^^?^^^^^^^M from century

to ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^D^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^H cotta
late

the

Michigan?

?Alexandria

orearly R?union Mus?es des (photo:

found

transformation

his costume of Christ

of his portrait motivated What signify? on his cloak, and what does

does type? What the introduction this innovation

the change in of the image the

opposite page Fig. 3 St. Menas. Church Institute of the Trinity, for the Protection

reveal about

Sopocani (photo: of Cultural Monuments

of Serbia)

and status of such an image? I argue meaning art is evidence in later Byzantine of St. Menas

image of the refashioning of an saint by a later and very different early Byzantine phase of the cul ture. the saint s images and the various redactions of his life Through over several centuries, we can witness the transformation into a noble protec from the popular hero of the provinces tor for amuch-reduced In an era dominated empire. by the culture of art s to conform the imperial court, Byzantine image reshaped Menas to its new context. The introduction to the of the image of Christ saint s iconography and the variations tern of permeability the earthly between imperial and heavenly?that, with the art of Byzantium from the eleventh rendering and ecclesiastical in its reveal a pat realms?as

that the altered

produced of Menas

between marked

intensity, accelerating onward. century

112

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

:^'|?%

>

li

(,/w
'* : *'

VSl

' ^-X

* ,N

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

II3

St.Menas

in Late

Antiquity
in the early Byzantine shrine, Abu M?na on

Few saints attained period Lake Mareotis, was a major

such widespread popularity as the St. Menas, whose Egyptian martyr some

kilometers southwest of Alexandria, forty-three site in late His image and the power pilgrimage antiquity.5 terra-cotta flasks manufactured include the molds at his shrine. The of such flasks, meant

of his relics were diffused throughout the Mediterranean world

through excavated to contain the myriad finds holy water at Ab? Mina

the shrine bearing the evkoyia too of the ampullae vary, the size and decoration ?y?oD Mr]v?.6 Although on them is the same: a that appears the iconographie type of Menas flanked by two camels who bend their necks to the young man, orant, at his feet.7 The consistent of this image on the appearance ground that the prototype flasks and other media has led to the conclusion was at the shrine itself.8 Details the prostrate text explains in the vita of St. Menas camels a in the help for the ubiquity of the saint, but whether the creation is clear account of the

or oil from

of the way the motif in the accounts under various guises the camels appears repeatedly toMareotis between the of the saints translation suggests a dialogue text and works of art. In the Latin life of St. Menas edited evolving reinforce another.

iconography and the images

iconography or motivates preexisting image is a matter of conjecture. What one

of new

is that the vita

In fact,

byMombritius
believed

in the fifteenth century (BHL 5921), which Delehaye

a relatively early Greek original, the saint directs

to reflect

that his decapitated body be placed on a camel and driven away until the animal should stop at the spot appointed by God for his burial.
Menas s followers obey his instructions, and the camel laden with

excava The early twentieth-century in a series of tions of the site were published including major works by C. M. Kaufmann in Die Ausgrabung derMenas-Heiligt?mer 5 derMareotisw?ste Menastempel Abu Mina Main, (Cairo, 1906-8), Das von Karm und die Heiligt?mer in der Mariutw?ste (Frankfurt am und das Aegypter

Mrjv??

the recent book by D. Theocharis, ? ??eyalo^aprvc: V ?yio? rov (?ey?Xov 1995) is concerned K?crrpov (Herakleion, him, while period. primarily with the post-Byzantine CM. 6 Kaufmann, Zur Ikonographie der

8 On the possible relationship between art at pilgrim tokens and monumental their shrine of origin, see G. Vikan, "Early as Byzantine Pilgrimage Devotionalia of Pilgrimage Evidence of the Appearance Shrines," in Akten des XII. Internationalen

Menas-Ampullen C. Metzger, du Louvre

(Cairo, 1910), 153, pi. 72;

Les ampoules ? eulogie du Mus?e (Paris, 1981), 9-11, figs. 10-63. ally controlled excavations near Alexandria yielded to

1909), and Die Menasstadt

Kongresses f?r Christliche Arch?ologie, Bonn, 1991 (Bonn, 1995), 1:377-88; on the hypoth esized cult image of Menas Weitzmann, at the shrine, see 573-74, no. Age of Spirituality, K. Wessel, Koptische Kunst: 512 (n. 3 above); in?gypten (Recklinghausen, 1:216 (n. 5 Abu Mind,

Nationalheiligtum

der altchristlichen W?ste

in der westalexandrinischen 1910). The published reexcavation Grossmann,

(Leipzig, reports of the recent include P.

The stratigraphie at K?m el-Dikka

of the site now Abu M?n?, (Mainz, (Mainz,

ampullae with imputed dates of ca. 480 ca. 650, that is, up to the Arab conquest of Alexandria. Menas

Die Sp?tantike

Die Gruftkirche vol. 1, 1989) and vol. 2, Das 2004).

Z. Kiss, Les ampoules de Saint ? K?m el-Dikka (1961-1981)

1963), 18;Grossmann, above).

und die Gruft

d?couvertes

The monograph Baptisterium on Menas's cult by R. Miedema, De heilige Menas obsolete physical (Rotterdam, 1913), has been rendered of publication unavailable

(Warsaw, 7

1989), 14-18. 104; Menas-Ampullen, "Note sur les animaux de saint

Kaufmann,

P. Cha?ne, Menas,"

by the extensive

ROC

and textual evidence

to

Ampoules

(1908): 212-18; Metzger, ? eulogie, 10.

114

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

:::k'

his body is, accordingly, led over hill and dale by

the angel of the Lord until it stops at the future site of the saints shrine.9 The topos of the beasts that refuse to budge once of burden they reach of a saint s the place fated for the enshrinement relics is one familiar to students of both Greek and Latin in no other case does although hagiography, it seem to have had such an impact on the saint s this story is the source image.10 Possibly, however, since of the motif of the bending camels, especially such animals shrine. On to the continually pilgrims brought account of the other hand, a Coptic of Menas s relics, based on a com
??

-i6: i-1

ii :i?.1

'1 " i?i-? Y1

the translation

of Egypt, the Arab conquest position postdating introduces details that seem inspired by images of in the the saint.11 There is the curious appearance, of the passage with of sea monsters context

z_

of the saint s relics from Phrygia to Alexandria, heads that emerge long necks and camel-like to feed the boat. These creatures attempt from the water alongside on the crew, but flames drive from the corpse of St. Menas emanating them back tion into the the reasonable makes sugges depths.12 Delehaye of of the text may reflect a misunderstanding that this portion on are often rendered the image of the camels, which quite crudely the mass-produced ampullae from the shrine (fig. 4).13

Museum of Fig. 4 New York, Metropolitan terra cotta ampulla from Shrine of St. Menas, ca. 610-50 (photo: The Metropolitan Art, Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1927 [27.94.19] All rights reserved, The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Still more intriguing (if less colorful) is the detail found a bit fur
s relics. After to move ther along in the same account of Menas failing the back to Phrygia on camelback?repeating the body of St. Menas had who immovable topos?the prefect Athanasios, pack-animal in For the tomb it there atMareotis Egypt. charge of the body, buried he had an image made, a wooden soldier, with images of camels?or, sters resembling camels?in relief of St. Menas as the Coptic at his feet.14 The a in the guise of sea mon text insists, introduction

adoration

Bonitius Mombritius,

Sanctuarium repr. text

seu Vitae sanctorum Paris, 1910), 2:286-89;

(Milan, ante-1480, the same Latin

Society of Biblical Archaeology 11 "St.Menas' J. Drescher,

29 (1907):

29.

cited in Cha?ne, 216-17. 12 Delehaye,

"Note sur les animaux,"

213,

Camels Once

is printed 49-55.

in Kaufmann,

H. Delehaye, de Saint Menas ? Constantinople,"

Menas-Ampullen, "L'invention des reliques AB 29

More," BSAC 7 (1941): 24-25. Drescher's Coptic text comes from Pierpont Morgan of the Library, Coptic MS 590, amanuscript ninth century. The encomium or John from which it is taken is attributed (681-689) encomium Selection (Cairo, to the patriarch John III IV (775-789). The full is printed in idem, Apa Mena: A

"Invention "St. Menas' "Invention

des reliques," Camels," 24-25. 124 des reliques," in Weitzmann,

124; Drescher, 13 Delehaye,

(1910): 122-23. 10 For a variety of examples of the theme, see H. Delehaye, Les l?gendes hagiographiques, 3rd ed., SubsHag 18 (Brussels, 1927), 35-37. camels feature in the miracles Relic-bearing of SS. Abirou "St.Menas and Atoum, of Alexandria," cited by M. Murray, Proceedings of the

the examples 576, cat. no. 515;Metzger, Age of Spirituality, ? eulogie, fig. 43 (n. 6 above). Ampoules 14 Delehaye, "Invention des reliques," 25-27. 125; "St.Menas'

n. 1; compare

of Coptic Texts Relating to St.Menas 1946), 35-72 (text) and 126-49

Drescher,

Camels,"

text is found in (trans.). A parallel Ethiopian Paris, BN, MS d'Abbadie 92, fols. I28r-i29r,

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

II5

to rationalize to the text of the encomium the helps image from his shrine. of the images on the ampullae distributed uniformity or not we accept the date of the cult Whether pre-Constantinian in the later textual tradition icon that the vita its appearance implies, of a cult amply demonstrates that artistic depictions that there is a close, of the saint impacted even the

text of the life.

It is clear, tion between then, the reciprocal, connec art and in early Byzantine images of St. Menas an interaction the texts of his life. Such dynamic among important life and miracles saint s shrine, images, relics, and written pilgrimage recent for the two has been the subject of much study, particularly Saints Symeon Stylites and the other that of St. Demetrios world, cult, which continued great martyr-cult of Thessalonike.15 to flourish of the early Unlike the

Byzantine Thessalonican

after Iconoclasm, lated enth from

the shrine of St. Menas

at Mareotis

the mainstreams both by the churches

century,

of Byzantine schism between

under Byzantine rule was iso largely civilization after the sev the Chalcedonian and

non-Chalcedonian The

cult of St. Menas,

of and by the Islamic conquest Egypt.16 the Christian had already engaged however, of St. Menas, sev

world far beyond the Alexandrian desert, as the distribution of his

The middle-Byzantine ampullae prove.17 ered from his shrine and cult in Egypt, from a local wonder-worker figure emerges already transformed to a universal As helper of the faithful.

Delehaye

out, the transfer of the saint s relics to long ago pointed to this transforma was an prerequisite Constantinople ideological or not, accounts tion. historical of such a translation, Accordingly,
see, inter alia, G. Vikan, recueils des miracles la p?n?tration (Paris, 1979). 16 The shrine is documented as operating century in de Saint D?m?trius et St. Anthony 2002), 17 at the Red Sea (New Haven,

15

Stylites:

"Art,

Medicine, DOP

and Magic

in Early Byzantium," and "Ruminations

des Slaves dans lesBalkans

38 (1984): 65-86,

figs. 4.6, 4.7. In contrast to the numerous Menas 41-42,

on Edible

and Copies in Icons: Originals inRetaining the the Art of Byzantium,"

Original: Multiple Originals, Copies, and Studies in the History of Art Reproductions, 20 (Washington, DC, 1989), 47-59, esp. 55 57.Demetrios: Demetrius," C. Bakirtzis, Akten des XII. "Le culte de Saint internationalen Bonn,

Coptic

continually until the late ninth sources. See Drescher, Apa Mena, (n. 11 above). Menas, to be venerated churches

at Alexandria, ampullae found atMareotis, in Europe, very few have emerged in and the excavations of Coptic sites such as Bawit and Kellia. Kiss, Ampoules 12, n. 45 (n. 6 above). de Saint Menas,

xxviii-xxix continued Egyptian

of course,

in and depicted the middle throughout the eleventhor on horse at Deir

ages. See, for example,

Kongresses f?r 19 91 (Bonn, Ampullae

christliche Arch?ologie, 1995), 1:58-68;

idem, "Byzantine in The Blessings Urbana (

twelfth-century image of St. Menas back at the Church of St. Macarius Ab? Maqar Peintures in theW?d? Natr?n,

from Thessaloniki," ed. R. Ousterhout 140-49;

J. Leroy,

of Pilgrimage, Chicago,

des couvents du Ouadi Natroun

1990),

R. Cormack, Society and idem, of St. Demetrios, in the Light S. George," BSA 64 Les plus anciens

Writing Its Icons (New York, "The Mosaic Thessaloniki:

in Gold: Byzantine

of the equestrian of St. Anthony, immovable

(Cairo, 1982), 123-25, pi. IV. The painting St. Menas at the Monastery dated 1232/33, shows the

1985), 50-94;

Decoration

A Re-Examination ofW.

camel of the legend along with its frustrated driver. Both are beneath the horse the saint is riding. E. Bolman, Monastic Visions: Wall Paintings in the Monastery of

of the Drawings (1969):

17-52; P. Lemerle,

Il6

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

record around the end of the ninth cen hagiographie in the vitae and A similar process was at work imagery of St. tury.18 Menas made over the next several centuries. The changes introduced appear in the and in the texts of his life transformed Menas iconography an officer and courtier, from the accessible a from simple soldier into in his

object of popular (in both senses) pilgrimage to a heavenly protec

tor of the Byzantine state. In so doing, they integrated the Egyptian

soldier into the very different world of the imperial capital and its
symbolic economy of images.

Menas Images of

after Iconoclasm

842 are far less numerous images of St. Menas postdating Although in monumen he reemerges than those of the early Byzantine period, tal painting of the eleventh century and later as one of the company of soldier-martyrs ration.19 We have up the typical program of church deco in his appearance: the the changes already noted and the noble costume, round, grey beard and aged countenance, In a number of post-Iconoclastic the earlier short tunic.20 replacing that make St. Menas s also either carries or wears image of to bust length, an

is consistently confined image, which as the central feature of the martyrs cross, appears in several guises: a roundel held in the saint s hands or before his chest, within floating on the tablion of his cloak. The or as decoration appendix below lists in fresco, icon painting, metalwork, and manuscript images s an icon of Christ is added to Menas where illumination portrait.21 and should not be considered This list of monuments comprehensive, in it should not give the impression that St. Menas always appears the eleventh century. The of Christ with the image after conjunction thirteen bust with of St. Menas other middle elements in the frescoes at Lagoudera, for example, shares of the saint the icono the rounded beard,

representations Christ. Christ

graphie
18

representations Byzantine of the tightly curled gray hair,

des reliques,"

Delehaye,

"Invention

Byzantine 2003), 20

Art and Tradition

(Aldershot,

St. Nicholas

Orphanos

at Thessalonike, She also

145-50

(n. 9 above). The "naturalization" in Byzantium, of course, also hagio century. texts,

188-89.

Nerezi, Mileseva, lists as a further

and Sopocani.

of St. Menas implies graphical Drescher

the isolation tradition presents

of the Greek after the ninth

The longer tunic does appear in certain such as of St. Menas, early representations an ivory plaque thatWeitzmann connected to eighth-century Syria. Age of Spirituality, 578, cat. no. 517 (n. 3 above); K. Weitzmann,

example of the icon-bearing of St. Menas his portrayal in the Church type of the Virgin atMoraca of the Dormition ca. 1260 (Montenegro), with frescoes dated and later. I have not been able to confirm this identification, is shown and no image of Christ in the line drawings of the fresco (Belgrade, 1986), icono "Particularit?s

a variety of Coptic

including passiones, miracles, based on three ninth-century Drescher,

and encomia, manuscripts.

"The Ivories of the So-Called DOP

Grado

Chair,"

Apa Mena, xxxiv-xxxv. Arabic texts about St. Menas from manuscripts of the fourteenth century and later are edited by F. Jaritz, Die arabischen ADAIK,

26 (1972): 82-85, fig- 5. Jennifer Ball has argued that the short tunic is representative in Byzantine art; Byzantine of non-elites (New York, 2005), T. Chatzidakis 84-85. a

by S. Petkovic, Moraca 263. T. Chatzidakis,

and translated Quellen Islamische 19

Dress 21

zum Heiligen Menas, Reihe

earlier compiled

graphiques du d?cor peint des chapelles de Saint-Luc en Phocide," occidentales CahArch 22 (1972): 90-91.

C. Walter,

7 (Heidelberg, 1993). The Warrior Saints in

list of examples, including Karabas Kilise, tou Kasnitzi at Kastoria, St. Nicholas

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

II7

Fig. 5 St.Menas. Panagia touArakos,

Lagoudera (photo: Dumbarton Oaks)

the rich court of Christ of Christ sizeable

s cross, but without and the martyr any image the inserted $). Even in Palaiologan painting, image (fig. is not a universal attribute of the saint.22 Nonetheless, the costume,

of images of St. Menas that over the course of proportion centuries show him carrying or wearing the image of Christ an aberration. The continuous calls for pattern hardly constitutes an explanation. is the most The Byzantine tradition for St. Menas hagiographie to start to understand the peculiarities of his later ico logical place is not a question This of finding the passage of the saints nography. vita that the image somehow it illustrates. Even if such a text existed, four would not artists followed it to alter the image explain why Byzantine artists to have the authority of the saint. One may expect Byzantine of a textual source for their iconography, but the existence of such a source does not alone explain the innovation. As was the case with

text and in the early Byzantine of Menas, image operate iconography In the later images of the saint, within the cultural context. dialogue context is the visual hierarchy this that structured the imperial court Constantinople. not textual sources of the only the possible courtier but also the motives larger cultural ment in works of art. and perpetuation at The remainder of this article attempts imagery of Menas that to uncover as a

Compare, for example, the icon less figure of St. Menas at Elasson. E. Constantinides, The Wall Paintings of the Panagia Olympiotissa at Elasson inNorthern Thessaly (Athens, 1992), 84, 236-38, pis. 96, 97,177.

22

led to its develop

Il8

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

Fig. 6

SS. Viktor, Menas,

and Vikentios. cod. 500 the

Sinai, St. Catherine's

Monastery,

fol. 129V (photo reproduced through courtesy of the Michigan?Princeton? Alexandria Expedition toMount

Sinai)

X:

Jt'? H?*''*

)*i j '"*;-;V,:

Which
we

St.Menas?
can turn to the various with another redactions of Menas s vita, however, in medieval As so often problem. two Saints Menas with distinct feast
23 For a similar case, see A. Crabbe, "St. and His Companions?But Polychronius in The Byzantine Saint, Which Polychronius?" ed. S. Hackel, University of Birmingham Fourteenth Studies Spring Symposium of Byzantine 1981), 141-54. The problem between the Saints Menas Warrior Saints, 181?

Before we

are confronted

hagiography, days but somewhat Mareotis This Menas

there are, in fact, similar

Egypt. in the Roman

of Egypt and a soldier and Maximian. army in the reign of Diocletian Having over the deserted the army in disgust anti-Christian emperors' poli to before revealing himself cies, he lived for a time as an anchorite a local in a crowded The city of Kotyaion governor amphitheater. in as his in many of the lives, place of martyrdom to to pains explain how his body returned Egypt to the site of his shrine at Abu M?n?. is com This St. Menas on ii November, along with the otherwise unrelated

is the one variously is said to have been

The St. Menas of the shrine at legends.23 asMenas known of Phrygia or Menas of a native

(London,

of the distinction

is also treated byWalter,

is given Phrygia are then at which and

90 (n. 19 above), although do not agree in all respects. 24 25

our conclusions

Synaxarium CP, 211-14. N. P. Sevcenko, Illustrated Manuscripts Menologion (Chicago, fig. 1G10; K. Weitzmann TheMonastery of Saint Sinai: The Illuminated (Princeton, 1990), 73-74,

memorated Viktor The

of theMetaphrastian 1990), 65, microfilm and G. Galavaris, Catherine atMount

and Vikentios, three appear

in martyred Italy and Spain.24 respectively as the illustration for this day in the Sinai together (fig. 6).25

Greek Manuscripts 76-77, fig. 210.

Metaphrastian

Menologion

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

II9

The

other

St. Menas, in

commemorated

on

10 December

with

his

is also asso and Eugraphos, companions martyrdom Hermogenes sometimes This Menas, ciated with referred to as Menas Egypt.26 to have been an Athenian is supposed Kallikelados, by birth and a senator at also during the reign of Diocletian and (!) Byzantium Maximian. An orator whose to conversion private accomplished of the Roman he is authorities, escapes the attention

Christianity to sent to Alexandria the Christians there by the emperors persuade to convert to His rhetorical skills are applied, of course, paganism.27 to the to he turns many of Alexandrias pagans opposite goal, and at the turn to the emperor, who, is denounced Christ. Menas enraged s faith to of events, sends the eparch Hermogenes punish him. Menas under torture converts Hermogenes and Menas Their meet in turn, and, finally, Hermogenes the latter s notary, along Eugraphos. to the translated city of Byzantium.28 with and St. Menas although Kallikelados of

martyrdom relics are subsequently that St. Menas

Delehaye s careful sifting of the hagiographical tradition led him

to conclude were originally of Phrygia one and the same figure, the relationship

either legend to a historical individual remains doubtful. The great

Bollandist s seminal article to sort out which attempts valiantly leg on this score are never to which his conclusions ends pertain saint; is that is certain, however, theless still open to What by question.29 distinct and were the eleventh century the two saints were considered separately hagiographie the Melode, commemorated. tradition, The oldest datable stratum of the Greek by Romanos of the biogra the verse encomium of St.Menas features

already shows clearly the distinct Menas of Phrygia, namely his desertion phy of in the wilderness, and subsequent appearance ater.30 Symeon Metaphrastes composed in and Eugraphos Menas, Hermogenes, more succinct life for the more important on ii November.31 St. Menas Although in monumental several fresco painting, both or him and Menas manual, Kallikelados.32 consistently

from the army, sojourn in the midst of a the of SS. lengthypassio to his separate and commemorated ismore feature popular images of

a rather addition

St. Menas of Phrygia programs

painters

The post-Byzantine Hermeneia, the two SS. Menas: distinguishes

3o K. Krumbacher, Miscellen zu Romanos, 1-9; 121-22 32 Menas At the church of Episcopi in the Mani, Kallikelados appears on the north SS. Hermogenes and

26

Symeon Metaphrastes, Martyrium sanctorum martyrum Menae, Hermogenis (BHG1271), PG 116:367-416. PG 116:368-69.

et

AbhM?nch, Delehaye,

Phil.-hist.Kl. "Invention

24 (1909):

Eugraphi 27 28 29

des reliques,"

side of the nave with Eugraphos. there are medallion Viktor, On

Martyrium Synaxarium

Menae,

(n. 9 above). 31 The Metaphrastian Menas of Life of has been edited by martyris

the opposite,

south arch

CP, 294. Kazhdan's critique of of the texts

images of SS. Menas, Neither St. Menas

See Alexander

the Bollandists' between "The Noble Byzantina

distribution

Phrygia (BHG1250) G. Van Hoof, "Acta Sancti Menae

and Vikentios.

the two SS. Menas: Origin

A. Kazhdan,

of Saint Menas,"

13.1 (1985): 670.

3 (1884): 258-70; Metaphrastes' Aegyptii,''AB and passio of Menas, Hermogenes, is in PG 116:368-416. Eugraphos

bears any trace of an image of Christ. N. Drandakes, Bv?ctVTiv?? Totxoypa?iie? rn?M?cra, Mavrj? 22,179, (Athens, 1995), 201-3,168-69, figs- 2I_

fig. 29, pi. 40.

HO

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

a rounded beard; the hom elderly, with on 10 December saint commemorated is younger, with a onymous mosaicists beard.33 The fourteenth-century of the slightly pointed drew a different between the distinction however, Kariye Camii, the Menas is

of ii November

saints. They showed both figures as gray bearded and elderly, but they
made Menas of of Alexandria bald and gave prominent the Christ curls to Menas Phrygia.34 The appearance

of Menas

evidence

tions of the eleventh-century for the association

in the illustra image at Sinai is strong Menologion (fig. 6) of this iconographie the saint type with with This is borne out

commemorated monuments

accompanied one case, however, of Christ would on stands

by the number of in which St. Menas appears with Christ s image and is and Vikentios, who share his feast day. In by SS. Viktor at Mileseva, between St. Menas with SS. Hermogenes image which and Eugraphos, the saint commemorated In fact, the icon the the medallion

on n November.

asMenas Kallikelados, identify him io December.35 is not The confusion

surprising.

be far more problem would ographie straightforward St. Menas senatorial Kallikelados who was regularly way. The elderly countenance, gray hair, and courtly decorated on tablion make rather more io December some than for his more cross-contamination

if it were

this depicted its dress with

sense for the martyr celebrated famous counterpart the soldier.36 between the two saint would possible, adopt whole is it

Although seems

improbable sale the lineaments

that the better-known and costume

of the other. Nor as a

can the existence

o? two SS. Menas bute of Menas

attri explain the icon of Christ distinguishing to function It appears too inconsistently of Phrygia. as an that differenti earmark, like the variant hairstyles iconographie ate St. Theodore Tiron from his double, St. Theodore hagiographical The existence of a second St. Menas seems to have if affected at all. the iconography of the great martyr of Egypt minimally,

Stratelates.37

33

D. Mouriki, (Athens,

TheMosaics

ofNea Moni of

Oaks

of one Constantine

vestarches,

on Chios

1985), 170; Dionysios

of the Velum, Kallikelados medallion Nesbitt,

shows SS. Nicholas

judge and Menas

"Particularit?s (n. 21 above). 37

iconographiques,"

92 n. 18

Phourna, 'Epfinve?ot faypa<pixf?c. r?xvn?, ed. rf?q A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus (St. Petersburg, 1909), 34 157,196,197, P. Underwood, 270, 296. The Kariye Djami (New York, 1966), 1:153; 2: pis. 162,173. A similar distinction is observed at Staro Nagoricino. B. Todic, 77? 124 35 V. Djuric, Byzantinische Fresken trans. A. Hamm (Munich, in 1976), Staro Nagoricino (Belgrade, 1993),

a lifting their hands toward image of Christ. E. McGeer, J. and N. Oikonomides, eds., Catalogue

Maguire, Icons of Their Bodies, 21-22 (n. i above); Walter, Warrior Saints, 59-66 (n. 19 above).

Oaks and of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Art (Washington, DC, in the Fogg Museum of Talbot 2005), 5:60. My thanks to Alice-Mary for bringing These this image to my attention. led Theano very considerations to conclude in the northwest that the saint chapel of Hosios

36

Chatzidakis

Jugoslavien, 47. An eleventh-century

seal at Dumbarton

depicted Loukas was Menas

Kallikelados;

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

121

Other Iconophoroi
St. Menas time of

in Byzantine
is

Art
not to appear from is the Younger

Phrygia to time with the

the only saint certainly of Christ. St. Stephen image icon of Christ is evident. as Man St. Stephen

frequently depicted holding a diptych icon of Christ and theVirgin

or, in certain cases, the reason of Sorrows suffered (?Kpa martyr Ta7T6?vcooT<;).38The

dom for his defense of icons, having publicly assailed the decision of the Council of Hieria (754) by loudly chanting the troparion "tvjv
crov Another ctypavTov glic?va TipovKVvovyLev!'39 is shown of Medikion, by Leo V, St. Niketas a medallion iconodule in the persecuted of Menologion

Basil II dressed, like Stephen theYounger, in his monastic habit and

of Christ.40 There is also the famous portrait in the icon of the of Orthodoxy conserved Triumph Palaiologan British Museum. Within this image, icons are held by various promi nent opponents the Confessor of Iconoclasm, including Theophanes holding and Theodore the Stoudite, who hold amedallion icon between them, and St. Theodosia a bust of Christ on of Constantinople, holding are an The Byzantine psalters replete with oblong panel.41 marginal or similar representations of such iconodule heroes pointing holding to the icon of Christ. the The icon is here not so much an attribute of as a sign of his allegiance figure to the demonized Iconoclasts, who his icons.42 hold icons more to icon veneration are shown abusing in opposition Christ by dis

honoring Other

to serve occasionally, particular in certain late Byzantine ends. St. Paraskeve appears iconographie as the icon of Christ icons, holding Cypriot paintings, particularly between the martyr the Man of Sorrows. Here, the homonymy and saints a s use and venera that was conditioned by the image development is put tion in the rites of Holy Week.43 Sometimes the icon of Christ
in the prothesis at Sopocani

Good Friday has led to her appropriation of the cult image of the day,

38

E.g.,

2:94. 41 ed., Byzantium: Treasures Art and Culture from British of Byzantine Collections (London, 1994), 129-30, cat. D. Buckton, no. 140. 42 K. Corrigan, Visual Polemics Byzantine Psalters in

(Djuric, Sopocani, Copenhagen

134 [n. 4 above]); Menologion,

Metaphrastian

Royal Library, Gl. Kongl. Copenhagen Saml. 167, fol. i87r. M. Mackeprang and others, eds., Greek and Latin Illuminated Manuscripts, Collections X-XIII Centuries, inDanish

theNinth-Century (Cambridge, "'Latter-Day'

1921), 5-6, (Copenhagen, pi. IV. Stephen appears with the Man of Sorrows icon at St. Nicholas Orphanos in Thessalonike. A. Xyngopoulos, O?

Eng., 1992), 69-75; C. Walter, Saints and the Image of Christ Byzantine Marginal esp. 215-16.

in the Ninth-Century

Psalters," REB 45 (1987): 205-22, 43

Toi^oypa(j)?E(; too Ay?ou Nnco^?ou Dp^avo? ?s<j(j(tkov?KY\<; (Athens, 39 1964), 23, pi. 159. M.-F. Auz?py, La vie d'Etienne le Jeune par Etienne leDiacre (Paris, 1997), 130-31. 40 77 Menologio di Basilio II ( Turin ,1907),

H. Belting, "An Image and Its Function in the Liturgy: The Man of Sorrows

in Byzantium," DOP 34/35 (1980-81): 7; Icons of Cyprus (Nicosia, A. Papageorghiou, 1992), 62-63, fig. 41.

122

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

to

exegetical

use, as in depictions

of the image of Christ

Emmanuel

held by the Archangels or by Old Testament patriarchs.44 In these

the image depictions, eternal logos, foretold of the young Christ symbolizes the patriarchs and dwelling by with the icon There seems not is no his nature from as before

time among the angels.45 s connection St. Menas these classes of

to fit either

of

apparent representations. exegetical to the of Menas with since they the icon of Christ, images occur neither in comment illustrations, where they might marginal on the text, nor on or spaces of objects high liturgical significance, action. where address the Eucharistie the one Indeed, they might case adduced here of a this iconogra manuscript painting featuring content phy?a on allows for the image to comment menologion?hardly case other than the text of the life. This is quite a different anything icons of Christ from the illustration of the psalters with marginal on s the psalm text. There to the icon: is another in

variously held and displayed that inflect the neighboring images and
offer visual commentary tant difference inMenas only relationship In all other representa his body touch the image of Christ.46 tions, the image either floats freely above the saint s chest or the cross or adorns associated found in impor one case

does

he holds, Christ those

some part of his The representation of clothing. a different order than is therefore of with St. Menas of other iconophoroi in Byzantine autonomous art. A

depictions

closer look at the development ofMenas s hagiography will help us

to understand Christ the significance of the strangely the saint. with associated images of

TheEvidence of Hagiography
Previous Menas with scholars Christ's who have noted looked the curious association of St. icon have Guillaume to the vita and miracles associated of the

saint for

explanations.

de Jerphanion

the image form

with Menas shighly public proclamation of his faith inChrist in the

crowded theater.47 The icon would thus represent
Theano with Chatzidakis

in

pictorial

44

Steatite

of Archangel Fiesole:

Gabriel

now

in

points

out the cross

depiction

the Museo Maxeiner, ByzVind

Bandini, Byzantine 15 (Vienna,

I. Kalavrezou

Icons in Steatite, 1985), 119-22, Michael cat. no.

bust of Christ held by John the Baptist at St. Sofia at Ochrid, Les peintures murales

larity of similar Cypriot 47

to the popu may owe something of St. Paraskeve in images

painting. de l'art byzantin:

de Hosios Loukas: Les chapelles occidentales (Athens, 45 On 1982), 74. the Synaxis of the Archangels, "Cetiri freske iz ciklusa u Lesnovy," Zografj

Une nouvelle province

30, pi. 17. Icon of Archangel ing souls, Museo Nationale

weigh di S.Matteo,

Les ?glises rupestres de Cappadoce (Paris, et 1936), 2:337, n. 2, and "Caract?ristiques attributs des saints dans docienne," d'arch?ologie, 1938), 317 la peinture cappa ?tudes in La voix des monuments,

Pisa: J. Lafontaine-Dosogne, ed., Splendeur de Byzance: 2 octobre-2 d?cembre 1982;Mus?es royaux d'art et d'histoire, Bruxelles (Brussels, 1982), 38-39, cat. no. le. 4. Patriarch Jacob at Staro Nagoricino Staro Nagoricino, (ca. 1316-18), Todic, 77, pi. 79 (n. 34 above).

see S. Gabelic,

arhandjela Mihaila (1977): 46 58-59, 64.

nouvelle s?rie (Rome-Paris,

on Cyprus holds

is the icon from Kition The exception 10 in the appendix: Menas (no. the icon in his hands). This variant

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

123

one

The the openness of his Christian confession. or his that either Romanos (hypothetical) sale from Basil of Caesareas encomium

incident, source

however, lifted whole While

is

Fig. 7

St. Menas. Hosios

Northwest Loukas,

Katholikon,

chapel of Phokis (photo:

of St. Gordios.48

it is

after Chatzidakis/Ocrioc

Aotnc??, pi. 58)

remotely possible saint considerably shape himself is never,

that this passage, borrowed from an earlier life of a in the less prominent Byzantine pantheon, helped the later iconography of St. Menas, St. Gordios nevertheless to my knowledge, depicted with of faith in Christ an icon.49 Moreover, is a feature intrinsic

life of a martyr involves some public not in the testimony only of the judge but hearing also of some segment of the public as representatives of "the world," a topos maintained account of the in from the biblical hagiography to his or her faith to the vita of his Byzantine stoning of St. Stephen ninth-century of Christ motivated the ico namesake.50 Had public proclamation we should to Christ witness expect all who bear public nography, to share it.51 (??apTupo?vrai) Theano Chatzidakis offers hagiographie Hermogenes, December?to icon. his tradition?the and an from of a different SS. Menas, on io the and

the saint s public proclamation to all martyrs. every Virtually

explanation

Metaphrastian

Eugraphos, jointly for Menas suggest the motivation Menas

passio commemorated s

to who promises him strengthen him with and provides the words he shall speak icon by the spirit rather than through premeditated oratory.52 The would thus represent the saints God-given for the battle, strength associates its defensive and Chatzidakis with the image qualities cross that Menas holds in the fresco of the northwest bearing chapel for the trial ahead of the Katholikon at Hosios Loukas (fig. -y).53
to a silver plate that was the subject of one of the saint's posthumous miracles. The text of the miracle, however, mentions of Christ no image on the plate, and at any rate itwould hardly explain why it appears in this case on the tablion of Menass cloak. Xyngopoulos, T. Velmans, Toixoypcccpisq, 22 (n. 38 above); "Les fresques de Saint-Nicolas eadem, Peintures murales, 13.11; Luke 73-74 12.11-12.

imprisonment During skilled rhetor, has a vision of Christ,

depiction with the senator Kallikelados,

48

"Invention des reliques," Delehaye, 122 (n. 9 above). The encomium (BHG 703): in Gordium The Latin version

above);

(n. 44 above). Cf. Mark 53 "Particularit?s

Basil of Caesarea, Homil?a M?rtyrern, appears PG 31:489-508.

inA ASSJanuarii 1:130-33. I know of only one depiction of St. Gordios of Caesarea in art, the depiction in theMenologion of his martyrdom of Basil 49 II.Menologio however, di Basilio II, 2:292. Other saints, in the same manuscript with the image of Christ, e.g., the empress Theodora (ibid., 392). appear 50 Acts 7:2-60; leJeune, M.-F. Auz?py, 168-71 Vie

91. iconographiques," redaction Ironically, an eleventh-century of the life of St. Menas of Phrygia also explicitly invokes the notion of the Holy the saint with the words Spirit providing of his defense. Th. Ioannou, Mvrjfzeta ?yioloyix? vvv itp??rov ?xdio?ftevct (Venice, 1973), 293.

? Salonique," CahArch 16 (1966): Orphanos is edited and 164. The text of the miracle by J. Duffy and E. Bourbouhakis, "Five Miracles of St. Menas," in Byzantine Authors: Literary Activities and translated Dedicated Texts and Translations Preoccupations: to theMemory ofNicolas Oikonomides, Mediterranean 52 ed. J. Nesbitt, 49 (Leiden, The Medieval 2003), 70-73.

1884; repr. Leipzig,

d'Etienne 51

(n. 39 above).

is interpretation for the image suggested by Xyngopoulos of St. Menas at St. Nicholas Orphanos followed Xyngopoulos, Tania Velmans, connects the round image by in Thessalonike.

An alternative

PG 116:385; Chatzidakis, iconographiques," 92 (n. 21

"Particularit?s

124

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

Even Menas,

if, as I believe, she correctly

Chatzidakis the motif

linked

St. the life of the wrong of the cross with clipeate image used

{imago clipeata) to the imperial iconography brought to light by

Andr? Grabar.54 Grabar processional medallion the militaristic aspects of the large highlights cross fixed behind its the altar of the Great Lavra, with of Christ and the saints and

its inscription, taken "In thee will we push down our enemies, from Psalm 43:6 (44:5): name will we to in them that rise up against and thy naught bring in Byzantium since banner of victory us."55 The cross, the preeminent images s vision with on the eve of battle of with Maxentius, Grabar emper in works associates ors.56 He the military campaigns also locates intriguing parallels different character. the Macedonian

Constantine

of wholly Alexander

iconography brief reign, the emperor During silver coins with a reverse design featur (912-913) minted a a cross on steps centering image of Christ. The ing barred clipeate of his successors Romanos silver miliaresia I, Nikephoros Phokas, his
of Constantine Figs. 8-9 Miliaresion I (photo: Dumbarton with Romanos Byzantine Collection, Washington, VII Oaks, DC)

to its

show a cross with a central medallion and John Tzimiskes containing not Christs links these but the emperor s (figs. 8, 9).57 Grabar image cross as a of their prow embrace of the image-bearing sign emperors' ess in war and reliance on the cross as the armies' battle Byzantine standard.58 Grabar cross and to an also links associations of this type of the military now divided between Dumbarton Oaks

in Gotha, each leaf of which shows a jew is At the center of the leaf in Washington (figs. 10, 11).59 a of an emperor, who makes the medallion gesture o? para portrait in the center of the shows Christ klesis toward the other leaf, which eled cross framed and the identically rigid symmetry of the diptych set in roundels striking parallel the busts of the emperor and Christ. is the only mitigating factor The emperors slight turning gesture stresses the in a composition that otherwise complete equivalence between his image and that of Christ. in mind, let us then turn to the this imperial iconography text of the life of St. Menas, the menolo "standard" middle Byzantine With gion entry will argue, by Symeon Metaphrastes. is the contrast between Its most the unjust significant kingdom trope, (?acriXeia)
which, to the Kletorologion of according were presented to imperial officials at court. The Hand of theMaster: Ivory, and Society Centuries) in (Princeton,

ivory diptych the Schlossmuseum

cross. The

54

Chatzidakis,

"Particularit?s 91; A. Grabar, "La

pr?cieuse

iconographiques," croix de la Lavra Saint-Athanase CahArch 19 (1969): 117-20.

au See

Mont-Athos," also Grabar,

?7ravi(7Tafx?voi><; r\[?v. Trans. C. L. Brenton, The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament and Apocrypha (London, 1851). "Pr?cieuse croix," 101,112-16, fig. 2. $6 57 DOC 3.2:523,525, 537,556-57? 580, pis. xxxv, xxxvii, xli, xlii.

Philotheos,

Craftsmanship, Byzantium 1994)? *35

"L'imago clipeata chr?tienne," CRAI (1957), reprinted in L'art de la fin de et du Moyen Age (Paris, 1968), l'Antiquit? 1:607-13. ?v crolto?? ?^0po?? y\[l6?vKgpaTioii^ev, kc? ?v TW OV?|?aT? <70l> e?oudevco(70|<i?vTO?? / 55

(?th-iith

585-86, 58 59

590, 596-98, "Pr?cieuse

croix," 119-20, figs. 2ia-e. Ibid., 120, fig. 23. Anthony Cutler that the diptych was meant to hold codicils of appointment,

suggests

the parchment

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

IZ5

i /

of Diocletian belongs, reigning enemies

to which Menas and the true kingdom that of Christ. The passio is set in a time of persecution: the are characterized as and Maximian emperors Diocletian and Maximian

Dumbarton Oaks, Figs, io-ii Washington, and Gotha, Schlossmuseum, ivory diptych (photo: Dumbarton Collection, Oaks, Byzantine

Washington,

DC; Gotha,

the true king, and their open rebellion against him is death as the penalty for signaled by their unjust decree mandating to to their decree in pagan rites.60 Menas failure participate responds of Christ,

Schlossmuseum)

and by removing his military belt (arparicoTiKV] ?c?vyj) fleeing into the
a a to live as a in costume solitary.61 Here, change signals change in the saints status and is also The choice of sig allegiance. clothing on for belt buckles were used to display nificant, imperial portraits the uniform of Roman soldiers. The copies of the Notitia dignitatum desert
60 Van Hoof, "Acta Sancti Menae," is also present PG 31:493-96; 258-59 in the (n. 31 above). This detail encomium of St. Gordios,

A ASS Januar ii, 1:131. 61 Van Hoof, "Acta Sancti Menae,"

260.

H6

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

as part of the official largesse of the imperial treasury, and surviving examples bear to their and inscriptions portraits impe attesting show belt buckles its accom The belt, with (figs. 12, 13).62 was such a crucial symbol of office panying image, in the late Roman that the Latin expres Empire rial source were cingulum and deponere cingulum used for assuming and resigning appointment.63 By renounces his belt, Menas his removing effectively to the unjust emperors. Curiously, while allegiance the detail encomium in Romanoss of the military of St. Gordios, belt is present in Basils taken up neither nor the earliest prose ,64Its reintroduc {BHG1254) life must therefore have in as it was sions sumere

T1HVll\l

tUVS I IMSCOW i lS'b'U?\A^VA\

! VK)I 1101 IV u^

hymn text of his martyrdom tion in the Metaphrastian been a deliberate time from St. Basil a contemporary, would have been of

toMenas

choice.

their distance Despite and the customs he described

audience Symeon Metaphrastes' familiar with similar conventions

on official as costume they imperial portraits to be in the middle continued and late employed thus have been able Byzantine periods. They would to draw the connection between the and the saint s sworn

_ J^T!?gliWBBBBHBMBHMMMBBMW>llf

pi? *IMMI Wlfl!'iiwwi^|^pgjpJ

ing insignia Can we

image-bear to the heavenly allegiance in fact link late antique conventions of military

King. costume

nationale, Fig. 12 Paris, Biblioth?que 9661, fol. 119,Treasury of the Comes Largitionum de France) (photo: Biblioth?que

MS

lat.

Sacrum

in the of St. and later Byzantine usage for court officials iconography an Menas? The textual history of his vita provides clue. In important a short but called atten lucid article, Alexander Kazhdan extremely tion to the introduction of new elements into the life of St. Menas version of the tenth-century Metaphrastian Phrygia postdating vita.65 One such text, edited in the nineteenth century gives particularly and Vikentios. of SS. Menas, Viktor, literary
6i

nationale

belt Fig. 13 London, British Museum, buckle with imperial bust, 4th century (photo copyright The Trustees of the British Museum)

of the

Ioannou,

rhetorical

account Krumbacher and Kazhdan

of

by Theophilos the martyrdom relates assigns it to the it to the

revival under

the Komnenoi,

O. M. Dalton,

Christian Christian

and Medieval

of British Antiquities and Ethnography of the British Museum (London, 1901), 40, cat.

Antiquities East in the Department

Catalogue of Early and Objects from the

63

Buckles," 64

Johannsen, "Rings, Fibulae 231 n. 58. Miscellen

and

Krumbacher,

zu Romanos,

I-9> 3I-43 6$

(n- 3? above). Origin of Saint Menas,"

"The Noble

no. 253, pi. IV; I.M. Johannsen, "Rings, Fibulae and Buckles with Imperial Portraits and Inscriptions," Journal of Roman Archaeology My thanks 7 (1994): to Genevra article 223-42, esp. 229-31. for bring Kornbluth

Byzantina

13.1 (1985): 667-71.

ing Johannsen's

to my attention.

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

127

eleventh century.66 While the Metaphrastian life had emphasized the lack of Christian piety of Menas s father and ancestors (?rar?pa
Se Kai 7rpoyovou? ovk ?a^otkel? ty\v evcrefieiav), it made no mention substitutes of their social rank.67 The eleventh-century life, however,

familial nobility for piety. Menas is said to be from Egypt, but well
Se yov?cov yey ?vitai ?Xaoroc a>ysv?orgpo<;).68 Where has Menas belt in response to the removing his military Metaphrastes text has him impious decree, the later resign his military emperors' As he explains to the commission ?avrov (KctxoLkntuv ty\v crrpareiav). at in the he resigned his worldly governor Kotyaion, amphitheater one of Christ office to take up the pure and permanent by military born (evyev?v retreating to the wilderness. Under further questioning from the gov

ernor, he confesses that he is from a distinguished family and that he as ashis military office had abandoned civil honor (ri[xy] koctjuk^) well
(?X?[?svoc rw e7roi>pavicp i] cruva7r?XXucr8ai...To?c crrpaT?iko'6ai the Since the text continues with legends 7rpocncaipoi? ?aadte?orv).69 on n November, there is no pos of the other saints commemorated [??$Xov ?aaiXsi sibility of Kallikelados. vations confusion Clearly, with legend the noble descent the of the and senatorial court office St. Menas are inno to serve the heavenly emperor rather than the earthly ones

the Egyptian into the life of St. Menas, worked deliberately connects at in these changes Kazhdan Kotyaion martyred Phrygia. on noble and in the Komnenian with value placed period lineage Similar concerns, however, official already appear by appointment.70 the beginning the saint. Seen in the of the eleventh century in the transformed image of

of the hagio of the eleventh-century updating light new in that emerges of St. Menas texts, the iconography graphical as on familiar the same century can be understood courtly building his imperial ensign in The detail of renouncing practices. significant into noble rank and court life becomes the Metaphrastian magnified here parallels the shift in the text, substituting office. Iconography s short tunic and chlamys with tunic the for Menas military long s argu to a official at court.71 Menas tablion appropriate high-ranking over the nature of the true ?aoiXeuc ment with the pagan governor and redac in Symeon Metaphrastes' culminates already ?aaiTiaa tion: Menas resolves to shed his garment of flesh for the garment of
As further evidence of the impact of on the texts of saints' vitae, life of Menas has him

66

Ioannou, Mvnpe?a

?yioXoyix?, Miscellen

284-97 zu 671. 259. 286.

71

(n. 53 above); Krumbacher, Romanos, 67 68 69 70 54; Kazhdan,

local priorities the medieval

"Noble Origin,"

Arabic

Van Hoof,

"Acta Sancti Menae,"

Ioannou, Mvrjfie?a ?yioloyixd, Ibid., 287-89. "Noble Origin," 671.

dress for his retreat change into monastic F. Jartitz, Die Arabischen into the wilderness. Quellen zum Heiligen Menas (Heidelberg,

1993)? 93? 128-29.

128

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

text (to too acoTV?p?ou...ev?u[?a).72 The play of image against it an of the of the garments this trope, making amplifies exchange In the Komnenian courtier for those of the servant of Christ. earthly even greater honors Menas offers the frustrated governor passio, salvation than those he previously of Christ. Menas rejects a enjoyed the offer, if only he will renounce I am zealous saying, "for the name to become

in heaven, in a military and honor command for, as it is partaker our is in heaven."73 Menass written, government image, moreover, to is not that the court he belongs without demonstrates ambiguity court of Christ. but the heavenly and Maximian that of Diocletian The cross that Menas in the Sinai holds menologion image-bearing of imperial art works alludes to then-recent Loukas and at Hosios that of Christ. image is replaced with s belt in the of Menas Metaphrastian to the kingdom of heaven.

Like

and coinage, but the emperors the detail of the removal life, it shows his transferred

allegiance

The Imperial Image and the Image ofChrist

In Menas signifying the image he bears, in the ranks through heavenly membership who the artists and hagiographers reshaped his were on well-established of traditions drawing clipeate as Grabar portrait, to make distant specifically has stressed, was s

Byzantine identity art. The late Roman used

in late persons present.74 antiquity not the in the Persons occupy secondary imago clipeata depicted a that a "picture within order of representation imply, picture" would but a higher order of immanence viewer but invisible to the other icon of St. Peter draws that allows within them to be visible to the the image. The Sinai the the roundels of Christ,

figures on this tradition;

to and St. John make them, in a sense, more directly present Virgin, Peter himself the viewer than the relatively illusionistic rendering of was also used for The imago clipeata independent panel paint (fig. i). Severus of the emperor, such as the unique group of Septimius ings

and his family preserved in Berlin, that signified the presence of the
s even in his the wrath absence?witness emperor authority physical at Antioch.75 The I at the injury done to his portraits of Theodosius role such imperial images played in civic life was repeated on a smaller
Van Hoof, "Acta Sancti Menae," the Holy Face," in The Holy Face and Copying the Paradox of Representation, Villa Spelman 6 (Bologna, 1998), 144. Colloquia 75 On for imperial panel in late antiquity, see A. Grabar, the evidence in Christian Iconography: A Presence: A History of the Image before the Era ofArt, trans. E. Jephcott (Chicago, 1994), 102-14. On attacks on Byzantine imperial see A. Eastmond, "Between Icon

72

264-65. 73 ?y? y?p OTrou?a?w Tfj? ?v o?pavoi?

oTpaxgiac Kai tiuyj? [lztoxo? yev?aQai, icaGw? y?ypa7rTai, ?ti t? 7ro^?Tgu(xayjf-twv?v o?pavo?? tm?pxei. Ioannou, Mvr?f?e?a ?yioXoyix?, 296, referring to Phil. 4:20. Unless otherwise stated, all translations 74 are my own. 607 (n. 54 above); by

portraits,

portraits

"The Portrait,"

1968), 73-79; Study of its Origins (Princeton, Zur P. Zanker, Provinzielle Kaiserportr?ts: Rezeption (Munich, der Selbstdarstellung 1983); H. Belting, des Princeps

of Imperial Images," in Icon and Word: The Power of ed. A. Eastmond and L. Images in Byzantium, James (Aldershot, 2003), 77-81.

and Idol: The Uncertainty

"L'imago clipeata," H. Kessler, "Configuring the Original

Likeness and

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

IZ9

on scale by wearable images of the sovereign bestowed In this case, the authority of the absent emperor rank. to the bearer of his egated images/0 A number costume cials wearing The most famous of the Bargello, in Vienna, Museum probably band and Anastasius) Ariadne, of late antique works of art show offi that bears imperial images. in these, two ivory plaques and the Kunsthistorisches Florence, show with a the Byzantine of empress, her hus

individuals could

of

Fig. 14 Florence, Byzantine empress

Bargello,

be del

ivory plaque with (photo: Art Resource)

image or either Zeno (if Ariadne, sovereign a roundel on the tablion of her within

The implication of the empress chlamys (fig. 14).77 is that she vested with the imperial portrait being on his behalf. exercises authority Contemporary texts reveal that the convention s to image the emperor wearing the granting of titles Malalas Caucasian records could of subject officials to be applied

as well. John foreign rulers Is appointment of the Justin chieftan Tzathe, "Emperor of the Laz," office Tzathes of kouropalates. and baptism The found emperor a him

to the court sponsored Christian before

wife

sending the imperial portrait: wore the Roman

class the patrician among on his way with him regalia bearing from

He

imperial

crown

and

a white

chlamys of pure silk, having in lieu of the purple tablion an imperialgolden tablion in themiddle of
which small bust bearing the likeness of the same emperor Justin, and also a white tunic, a paragaudes, imperial itself having golden
same

there was an authentic

embroideries,
emperor.

similarly 78

bearing

the likeness

of the

j6

Johannsen, 240-42;

buckles,"

Woodfin,

"Rings, fibulae and "Late Byzantine

their respective diptychs (the latter diptych is now lost); ibid. no. 10, 33; R. Delbrueck, Die Consulardiptychen und verwandte Denkm?ler 1929), no. 17, (Berlin-Leipzig, 121-22. On the Ariadne images, see most "The Ivories of recently D. Angelova, Ariadne and Ideas about Female Imperial Authority in Rome and Early Byzantium," 1-15. Gesta 43 (2004): 78

Liturgical Vestments," n. 76, 2nd r?f.: edit toW. Woodfin, "Late Byzantine Liturgical Vestments and the Iconography of Sacerdotal Power" 2002). 77 W. F. Volbach, Elfenbeinarbeiten und desfr?hen Mittelalters der (PhD diss., University of Illinois,

?v d) U7ryjp^?V?v [??crcp (JTy]9?piov ?XrjGiv?v [?iKp?v, g^ovra t?v ^apaKTyjpa to? a?TO? ?acTiXewc'Iouorivoi;, Kai oTi^?piv ?? xa?Xiov, ?(T7rpov 7rapaya?$iv, Kai a?x? I^ov ^pucr? 7rXou?ua ?aonXnca, c?<ja?Tco<; ?^ovra T^v John Malalas, ^apaKTfjpa to? auxo? ?a<7iXsco<;. 17, 9, ed. I. Thurn, CFHB 35 (Berlin, 2000), 340. Cf. Procopius, De bello

Chronographia

Sp?tantike (Mainz,

1976), 49-50, pl. 27. Compare also the portraits on the togapicta of the consuls Areobindus (506) and Anthemius (515) on

Kai 4>op?cra<; crTg^?viv'Pcofxa'?KOv ?acriliK?v Kai y\cL\v?ho??oTrpov oXoorjpiKov, ?^ov ?vTi 7rop4>upo?) xa?Xiou ^puao?v ?acn^iKOv

p?rsico 2.9, ed. J. Haury (Berlin, 1962), 215. the parallel account in the Compare Chronicon Paschale, 16-17 (Bonn, L. Dindorf, ed., CSHB

1832), 613-14.

I30

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

The description of the costume worn by the emperor of the Laz con firms the interpretation of the imperial image worn as an ensign on ivories. The embroidered the early Byzantine show that the portraits wearer is derived from that of the "true" emperor whose authority or she bears. image he was carried over from late into the This convention antiquity middle with the use of silks and other diplomatic Byzantine period as laurata, author signs of delegated imperial portraits in Western of textiles surviving collections show eques trian emperors or portrait busts; their exact history cannot although as be reconstructed, these almost certainly originated diplomatic gifts from the Byzantine court.79 A striking example of the phenomenon gifts bearing ity. A number is the tenth-century "inscribed" green silk featuring repeated, haloed a crown with an emperor in conserved busts of wearing prependoulia, as the Chasuble Far more common of St. Ulrich (fig. 15).80 Augsburg are textiles not the emperor himself but images of animals showing Because such as eagles, lions, and griffins, symbolic of imperial might. are shown Western similar textiles to those that survive in collections in
Fig. 15 Augsburg, Church of SS. Ulrich and Afra, Chasuble of St. Ulrich, detail (photo after R. Baumstark Byzanz: and others, eds., Rom und aus bayerischen Schatzkammerst?cke [Munich,

Sammlungen

1998], 215)

art, they help to show how the Byzantine of the imperial court was projected sartorially hierarchy to outward through strategic gift giving bring other rulers under the sway of the emperor.81 symbolic we lack artistic the of court costumes with depictions Although in the middle the example of the Byzantine imperial likeness period, articulated how the dynamics of gift giving the the empire mirrored sartorial practices within court. The tablion must also have retained its importance Byzantine as a focus of embroidered decoration, quite possibly images including of the emperor.82 In a number of representations of St. Menas twelfth through thirteenth the icon of Christ floats centuries, figure This convention, even the s torso of the before fall. the animal silks helps to leaders outside to demonstrate

as the dress of courtiers

the tablion of his cloak would exactly where to associate ismeant I believe, the image with it is not confined

to it. Just as the tablion, clipeate image though at Hosios of Christ the Loukas overlaps, but is not of a piece with, cross that St. Menas so the holds in his hands, medallion free-floating icons of Christ that appear in the depictions of the saint at Karaba?

79

R- Schorta, Monochrome

Seidengewebe 66-70;

Jousts," 82 On

128-31. the tablion, see ODB 3:2004; N.

des hohen Mittelalters L.Jones

(Berlin, 2001),

and H. Maguire, "ADescription of IKomnenos," the Jousts of Manuel BMGS 26 (2002): 123-24. Schorta, Monochrome Seidengewebe, 158,

Oikonomid?s,

Les listes de pr?s?ance byzan tines des IXe etXe si?cles (Paris, 1972), 95,127; ed., Constantini Porphyrogeniti imperatoris De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae 1829), 1:142.18-19, 440.17.

J. Reiske,

80

71, fig-39 81 Jones and Maguire,

(Bonn, "Description of the

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

131

Fig. 16 St. Menas. Kastoria, H. Nikolaos tou Kasnitzi and (photo after Pelikanides Chatzidakis, Kastoria, 58, fig. 10)

Kilise,

Kastoria

represent mere decoration Herbert tion between

Manastir (fig. 16), Episkopi, Mileseva (fig. 17), and as a different icon of Christ the order of image from the of an object. Kessler has recently called in attention to a similar distinc

or its Face fre copies. why the Holy it is the edge of the cloth or tile on which quently overlaps impressed, or fails to conform or orientation to the of its supporting fabric.83 drape Kessler depicting rounding imperial sels was connects the divergence of image and support in works of art sur the Mandylion and Keramion with the controversy the confiscation and melting down of church plate for the IKomnenos. The destruction of the ves

image ation on the cloth

image and object to be understood ismeant

depictions as existing This explains

the of the Mandylion: of its iter independently

fisc under Alexios

on the that by Leo, bishop of Chalcedon, grounds challenged the destruction of objects decorated with and the images of Christ a revival of iconoclasm. saints would constitute A council convened stance as a heretical the bishops confusion of In approving and substance. the council the emperors action, image decreed that the images of Christ and of the saints must be under in 1095 condemned stood like platonic sub of their material forms, independent seems to be evoked strate.84 Such an understanding the form of the by that appears in representations of St. Menas. The busts imago clipeata to exist,
83 H. Kessler, pis. 9-14 "Configuring (n. 74 above). the Original," 143-48, 84

the Original," Kessler, "Configuring 141-42; A. W. Carr, "Leo of Chalcedon East, Latin inHonor ofKurt 1995),

West: Art Historical Weitzmann, 579-601.

and the Icons," in Byzantine Studies ed. D. Mouriki

(Princeton,

132

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

Church Fig. 17 St. Menas. Mileseva, Ascension (photo by S. Gabelic)

of the

:*?M''^.*>

At'

? ?

f?&?

x^JL^

.< ...

>&?;<*

**;

V: JU
m y
-

... ?M
-? ''? V.,"

*> m;'
r?:r .>'V,

*%

of Christ

that hover have

therefore, ration on his tablion, prototype, different order

between the clothing and hands of St. Menas, as embroidered their vitocttclc?k; or instantiation deco the transcendent reality of their a This is representation of an obviously than the icons or diptychs that Stephen the Younger but also reflect

the icon of Christ.

are as material typically holds, which clearly designated objects of on s in the Menas The visual of Christ paint panel. coding image at once links them to in the prac realities contemporary paintings court dress in tice of and distinguishes the icon of Christ Byzantium as a transcendent to in contrast and infinitely replicable prototype, the more In short, limited and contingent likeness of the emperor. Byzantine artists place Menas and the image he bears in the realm

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

133

of the kingdom of heaven rather than the earthly use formal devices to empire, and they safeguard the distinction the two realms. between An exception to this dominant mode of the

V.

imago clipeata with St. Menas doors known from

for the image of Christ associated may be found on the great bronze as the Porta di S. Clemente, which to the nave of San Marco bear no dedicatory other sets of bronze
. Ad

open in Venice.

the atrium Although

the doors

with inscription, comparison in doors of Byzantine manufacture Italy places them in the last decades of the eleventh century.85 The twenty saints, along with figures of standing two crosses, and and the Virgin, images of Christ are executed in damascene four decorative panels, on bronze. of silver and niello technique Only the figures' hands and faces appear as solid areas of silver, while other areas are and filled engraved with niello or with appears, border, St. Menas decorated thin strips of hammered silver. as usual, in a tunic with a long a surmounted by chlamys bear The image of tablion (fig. 18). of silver, Christ is clearly vis s features on the

:~

an embroidered ing Christ, with a face and hand ible on his tablion. garment Because are rendered

for the faces

in the same technique used of the full figures on the doors, the image transcends s face is so the role of ornament. the silver of St. Menas Paradoxically, to be the more abraded that the bust of Christ real image of appears on the doors at the two.86 Like the imago clipeata, the representation suggests on, dependent careful that Christ its material an existence image has form. s linked to, but

Fig. 18 St. Menas. Venice, San Marco, Porta di S. Clemente, nth century (photo after G. Matthiae, Porte bronz?e, pi. 92)

San Marco not

The substance

of this distinction between preservation image and latest in date, at appears to fall away in the three examples

Sopocani (fig. 3), St. Nikolaos Orphanos

all three monuments, or roundel on

(fig. 19), and Phodele. In

the image of Christ appears as an embroidered the mantle of St. Menas. compar panel Jerphanion, at the image of St. Menas the imago clipeata ing bearing Karaba? Kilise with the thirteenth-century fresco at Sopocani, the dismissed
85 G. Matthiae, (Rome, a Venezia," Le porte bronz?e bizantine 1971), 63-65, 83,101,106-7; in S. Doors of Paradise: Byzantine in Italy,"DOP 27 (1973): 152. in fact, mistakes the bust Matthiae, for "un bambino, alla leggenda d?lia evidente sua nascita"; and the Gates

in Italia

Bronze Doors 86

R. Polacco, Marco

"Porte ageminate e slatrate in Le porte di bronzo al sec?lo xiii, ed. S. Salomi

of Christ allusione

dall'antichit? (Rome,

1990), 279-85; M. E. Frazer, "Church

Porte bronz?e, 99.

134

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

Menas. Church of Hagios Fig. 19 St.

Nikolaos author) Orphanos, Thessalonike (photo by

certain decora partakes of is entirely of shad composed figure actual products of Palaiologan ings of gold color, thus resembling ornament of the and gold embroidery.88 The vine-scroll background the drapery folds of the chlamys that continue the tablion through decoration.87 the tive characteristics: Certainly of Christ the emphatic materiality of the image. If, as I have argued was to be understood as the the clipeate above, image subject adorn s tablion, cannot be dismissed then these latter examples ing Menas as a case of the artists But the iconography. simply misunderstanding into artistic literalism in how do we explain the apparent descent reinforce these later monuments ?
87 et attributs "Caract?ristiques saints," 317 n. 4 (n. 47 above). des

latter as mere

it

Cf. the figures of Christ administering on the early fourteenth-century Thessalonike Epitaphios, H. Evans, ed., communion Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1SS7) 312-13, cat. no. 187A.

88

(New York, 2004),

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

135

Once

of the image of Menas has currency again, the transformation in the realities of his context. A more literal inter imperial imagined one that takes into account pretation, contemporary parallels with stresses that the s is the developments, image of Christ ensign of Menas allegiance. actually display sartorial emonial I am not worn that Menas suggesting at the court, Palaiologan on costume of power was s costume rather represents dress that the prominent on cer

of images displays manual

part of an increasing emphasis in this The fourteenth-century period. of a hat,

the reports the usage by pseudo-Kodinos the upper ranks of which skaranikon, courtiers, by Palaiologan in front and behind bore the imperial portrait (fig. 20).89 As with the earlier use of patterned silks or embroidered tablia, the emperor s worn on the made clear the invested in image authority headgear delegated wearer. The the of the late Byzantine impe unprecedented visibility is rial image, literally surmounting the face of the wearer, striking. The of the emperor s image with that of Christ, interchangeability a we have noted in the art and phenomenon coinage of the middle in the also began to be exploited Byzantine period, by the Church later centuries and far more in the late twelfth century of the empire. Beginning the fourteenth, the costume of the Byzantine by clergy bore embroidered of Christ and the saints. That images are related to the hierarchical who use of at images narrates the events of Kalekas:
Fig. 20 St. Petersburg, Hermitage, Christ Pantocrator, detail of donor icon of (photo

frequently the two phenomena court John V is

signaled by John Kantakouzenos, s coronation by the Patriarch John XIV

after A. Bank, Byzantine Art in the Collections 1985], pi. of Soviet Museums [Leningrad, of The State 284, reproduced by permission Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg)

on a rather since he was not able to The patriarch, change his rank, put more was accustomed to use a august habit, and in his signatures he sky blue color, and he adorned the kalyptra upon his head (which is custom are not to wear ary for the patriarchs among the class of monks, if they

made of white linenfolded up in front) with gold, having the engraved

our Savior, images of Christ kos, and John the Baptist,90
J. Verpeaux, ed., Pseudo-Kodinos:

and

of his immaculate Mother

the Theoto

89

Trait?

des offices (Paris, 1966), 152-54. The skaran ikon with its portrait is clearly shown on the donor, the megas primikerios John, of a large icon of Christ Pantokrator in the Hermitage. A. Bank, Byzantine Art in the Collections of Soviet Museums 1985), 325-26, pi. (Leningrad, in 284. It is also worn by Alexios Apokaukos to the works of Hippocrates, the frontispiece Paris, BN gr. 2144, fol. iir. Evans, Faith and Power, 90 26-27, cat. no. 2.

crxWa' Kfti ^v Te Ta^ ?7roypa<f>ai?, rjgpavgco Xpw^aTi ?^prJTo,Kai txjv ?m Trj? Kg<|>alrj<; Ka^.?7rpav [sic], y\v to?? 7raTpi?p^a<; IGo? 4>?pgiv, to? T?y^iaTo; ?m tg?v f?ova??vTwv, ?v [?r] oG?vrj XeuKyj 7rgpigi?r]^?vr]v 7rp?Tgpov, a?TO? KaTgK?o-fxrjagXpu^V? shc?vac a?Tfj to? Tg ZwTfjpo? y\[lC)v eyyp?\|/a<;XpioTo?'Ivjo-o? Kal Tf)? T?K0?07]C a?T?V AXp?VTOVGgOT?KOU, Kal'IcoavvoD to? Ba7TTioTo?).Historia 3.36, ed. L. Schopen, CSHB 20 (Bonn, 1831), 2:218.

hi ?it? tx]v ?l;?av a[?i?eiv narpiap^rj? TI TO O?K ?vyjv, gi? <76(XV?T6p?V 7Tgpi?(7Ty](76

I36

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

The embroidered image of Christ flanked by the Virgin and John

the Baptist on the Patriarch s headgear with the imperial portrait flanked by Kodinos.91 As Kantakouzenos nicely echoes the skaranikon in pseudo angels the image of Christ worn perceived, as described

by the clergy implied the derivation of their authority directly from

Christ to elide the distinction in a way that tended between the on the emperor realms. Rather than depending earthly and heavenly as Christ's on earth, the trans vicar and image clergy symbolically into the of heaven the images ferred themselves kingdom through were on their garments. In so embroidered they merely build doing, ^aarCkexx; that Menas of images of the earthly and heavenly exchange s image had already articulated. we cannot answer was first out why St. Menas Ultimately, singled to the history of his portrait, however, typify the officer of Christ; ing on the same

own transformation not gives insight into the dynamics only of his as well. The middle but that of the Byzantine images larger society of St. Menas build on an understanding of how the imperial portrait

signified delegated authority granted to, and allegiance pledged from,

of power language the agent of investiture, but the autonomy to the con in contrast of Christ s image is scrupulously preserved, of this careful distinction of the emperor s. The elimination tingency s its substrate in the between Christ frescoes image and Palaiologan of St. Menas reflects the role of such images of expanding allegiance transfer on costume began artists Christ to wear of Byzantine of the period. As actual members society s as a Christ of their authority, Byzantine image sign came to stress the tactile icon of reality of the embroidered on Menas s the bearer. The depictions to Christ, who becomes of Menas this

as earlier images mark Menas garments. Whereas the later ones edge closer separate from earthly office and authority, to him with of church and state. As in earthly institutions aligning contemporary images from both the church and the imperial sphere, the late images of St. Menas indicate how narrow the gap between the earthly and heavenly had become in the Byzantine imagination.

91 92

Verpeaux, Trait? des offices, 152. I am pursuing a larger study focused on the role of art and ritual in expounding relationships between realms in Byzantium. in such research, in Byzantium: of the Function 61-76. Notes earthly and

mimetic heavenly directions "Mimesis History (1994):

For promising seeW. Tronzo, Toward a

of the Image," Res 25

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

I37

Menas with theBust ofChrist Images ofSt.

i. Hosios Loukas, Phokis, northwest chapel of the katholikon, first half of the eleventh century (fig. 7)
no of St. survives, the full-length adjacent inscription figure Although can be identified in the Menas among the other holy warriors chapel his curly gray hair and beard, a less common feature among martyr by tunic of reddish saints. He wears courtly dress consisting of a long

purple trimmed with gold embroidery and a dull purple chlamys with a dark blue tablion. In his right hand he holds a large cross, over the center of which is superimposed a gold medallion with the bust of Christ. Christ is labeledwith the customary abbreviation IC XC,
into the arms of the cross. and the rays of his nimbus cruciger continue Stratelates and in the com St. Menas appears adjacent to St. Theodore and others.93 Eustratios, Auxentios, pany of the martyrs Eugenios, 1. Karaba? bears Kilise, 1060/61

Cappadocia,

The church of Karaba? Kilise, in the Soganh Valley in Cappadocia,

Michael of the protospatharios inscription Skepides, The inscription dates the the nun Catherine, and the monk Niphon. in the X Doukas church to the reign of Constantine year Byzantine 1060 or 1061 ce.94 St. Menas the fourteenth i.e., indiction, 6569, the donor painted within of the church. He is a niche appears close to the west door on the south wall

of martyrs, among a company including St. Demetrios, SS. Pegasios, St. George, Akindynos, Elpidephoros, as with as well the other mar and Anempodistos Aphthonios, on his 11November and feast day, SS. Victor tyrs commemorated Vikentios. St. Menas appears as an old man with gray hair and beard

with amedallion portrait of the head of Christ suspended before

his breast.95

Mount 3.

Sinai Metaphrastian

Menologion,

Sinai monastery the was

library saints' once lives a ten

$00, ca. 1063 (fig. 6)

The Sinai Metaphrastian containing menologion, is the third volume from what for early November, set

volume

of the entire liturgical year.96 The final volume covering the set (Moscow, cod. Hist. Mus. gr. 382) contains a colophon dating
K. Skawran, The Development in Greece Middle of (Pretoria, de ?glises rupestres (Paris, 1936), 2:334-35; M. Wall Painting Ireland, ?glises inAsia Sevcenko, Metaphrastian and Galavaris, 73-74, 76-77

93

94

Jerphanion,

96

Menologion, Sinai Greek (both n. 25

Byzantine

Fresco Painting

Cappadoce

65;Weitzmann Manuscripts,

1982), 49, fig. 75. Chatzidakis, 89-92, iconographiques," eadem, Peintures murales, 44 above);

"Particularit?s

Restle, Byzantine Minor 95 (Shannon, Jerphanion,

2 (n. 21 above); fig. 70-74, pis. 7-8 (Athens, (n.

1969), 1:162-69. rupestres de

is pre above). A folio from this manuscript served at St. Petersburg, GPB gr. 373, fol. 129V.

eadem,"Ocno? Aovka?

1996), fig. 52,56-58.

Cappadoce, 2:337; idem, "Caract?ristiques," 317 n. 4 (n. 47 above).

138

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

the completion 500, the three Viktor, under Menas, their

of the work saints

April commemorated

to

and Vikentios?appear All three inscriptions. over which

1063.97 On folio 129V of Sinai on 11November?SS. jointly a within frame rectangular saints wear tunics with long

wear the on the they chlamys fastened and all three carry crosses as symbols of their (proper) right shoulder, in the center, is from his compan Menas, martyrdom. distinguished decorated hems,

ions by his gray hair and beard. While

narrow allows crosses, Menass the head of Christ, cross which is shorter

the flanking saints hold tall,

and has broader arms. This

appears in the center of the cross, to Are we fall on the tablion of his tunic. The image is thus ambiguous. a cross decorated with a medallion image of Christ or, rather, seeing an on Menass the cross? tablion image of Christ through showing s cross doubles as the nimbus cruci is the case, the martyr Whichever ger of Christ. 4. Porta di S. Clemente, Church of San Marco, late eleventh

Venice,

century (fig. 18)

The Porta di S. Clemente, of bronze within doors the atrium damascened as of the basilica with of San Marco, in a consists silver and niello

in The damascened known Italy ageminature. technique are close in to those in the bronze doors at Amalfi, dated style panels 1060 and 1065, and to those at Monte S. dated by between Angelo, seem to have to 1076; in turn, the central inscription they inspired, Leo da Molino after his ele commissioned doors of San Marco by vation doors seven rounds, in im.98 Of the of procurator surviving bronze most in its The in Italy, it is the purely Byzantine iconography. sur rows of four engraved panels each, framed by decoratively feature twenty to the office

saints with Greek the inscriptions, standing animal and Christ, crosses, and four panels of textile-derived Virgin in the third row from the bottom, Menas motifs." accompa appears nying SS. Peter, Matthew, and Luke; the other warrior likely alongside a broad, decorative border at the hem. His with original position a saints.100 He wears his was more tunic long a tablion cloak bears

inwhich the bust of Christ appears; like the full figures, Christ s face
and hands are rendered in silver. Menas carries a cross, also silver, in

his right hand.

97 Sevcenko, Metaphrastian and Galavaris, 78. Menologion, Sinai Greek di S. Clemente; 99 both n. 85 above).

62;Weitzmann Manuscripts,

B. and F. Forlati, V. Federici, Le porte di San Marco (Venice, 1969), 17. 152, n. 27.

bizantine 100

Matthiae, Porte bronz?e, 6^,-6%, 83, 98 1 1,106-7; Polacco, "Porte ageminate e o slatrate," 279-85; 152 (suggesting Frazer, "Church Doors," a date ca. 1080 for the Porta

Frazer, "Church Doors,"

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

139

5.Church

of St. Panteleimon, to

Nerezi,

1164

This church, dated by itswell-known dedicatory inscription of kyr

1164, contains frescoes of SS. Menas, September in its northwest and Vikentios his companions Viktor, chapel. While were wooden are shown framed as if Menas is accorded a icons, they Alexios Komnenos

full wall for his orant pose. Once again, he displays the tightly curled
gray hair consisting medallion and rounded beard seen elsewhere, and wears court dress red tunic and a blue chlamys. A of a gold-embroidered bust of Christ floats freely before the saint s abdomen.101 ofH. Nikolaos tou Kasnitzi, late twelfth

6. Church

Kastoria,

century (fig. 16) The date of this church isdisputed. Pelikanides' initial publication of
the frescoes ing and placed it in the eleventh Pelikanides' supplementing in revis century; Chatzidakes, as the frescoes text, described set is

seems to have with Nerezi. Consensus roughly contemporaneous on a date in the latter half of the twelfth St. Menas tled century.102 shown on the north wall is gray haired frame. He mantle over half-length figure as usual, and and bearded, arrayed a red tunic with cuffs. The gold-ornamented SS. Theodore, Eustratios, and other military as a orant within

a square in a blue image of saints

Christ (inscribed ICXC) appears on a largegreen medallion floating

before his chest. appear nearby.103 7. Church the Ascension, dates Mileseva, ca. 1222-18 of Mileseva at the west Menas, a martyr

of

Vojislav Djuric St. Menas appears with

the frescoes

(fig. 17) to before 1228.104 There, end of the naos as usual, s cross has in his along curly right

on the south wall and

SS. Hermogenes gray hair and rounded below his hands.106

Eugraphos.105 beard. He holds

hand, while themedallion bust of Christ floats on his chlamys just

8.Church of the Trinity, Sopocani, ca. 1265 (fig. 3)

The frescoes historical appears
ioi

the dedicatory inscription.107 a rounded as an older man with gray again curly hair and
The Church of St. at Nerezi: Architecture, (Wiesbaden, 200b), of the twelfth Malmquist, inKastoria 103 Kaaropi?, Bv?avrtvai

Sopocani of indications

at

are dated

between

1263 and

1268

by the St. Menas gray

inwhich with io 6 Kastoria, 170, the icon-bearing St. Menas appears the other martyrs of io December. B. Zivkovic, Mileseva (Belgrade, (Belgrade, 1992),

I. Sinkevic,

century

is favored by T. 12th Century Frescoes 1979), 108-9.

Panteleimon Programme, 72-73,182, 102

Byzantine (Uppsala,

Patronage fig. 72.

Pelikanides

and Chatzidakis,

27; S. Radojcic, Mileseva 79? fig- io 107 Djuric, Sopocani,

1963),

S. Pelikanides,

56-59, pi. 10; Skawran, Development, pi. 238 (n. 93 above). 104 105

Toixoypcup?cu (Thessalonike, and M. Chatzidakis, Pelikanides (Athens,

1953); S. Kastoria

26-27

(n- 4 above).

1985), 56-58. A date near the end

Byzantinische Fresken, 47 (n. 35 above). This is the only instance known to me

140

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

beard. He wears

a tunic of aquamarine

ornamented

with

broad gold

embroidered bands. In his right hand, he holds a large cross that is

incised rather rectangular with the than painted, rendering tablion on his rose-colored it effectively transparent. The a tunic is nearly filled by half is rendered so that it appears to for the face, hair, and scroll, as the tablion itself.

a roll in left hand and blessing length figure of Christ, the latterwith
right.108 The bust of Christ decoration. be gold-embroidered is rendered Christ Except in shades of the same gold 1271

9. Church

of the Virgin, Manastir, its date of construction in 1271, under Michael figure

A Greek inscription gives the original dedication of the building to St.

Nikolaos, decoration in 1095, and the date of the fresco St. Menas Palaiologos.109 in the second register of frescoes. His VIII

and the rounded beard. He tight gray curls a at the neck with wears a fastened jeweled chlamys symmetrically is centered over the two semi of Christ brooch. A medallion image the garment circular tablia on its front, as though floating between its position, the image and the extended hands of the saint. Despite does not appear as embroidered as a sort of before apparition and Vikentios on 11 November.110 decoration on the tablion itself, but the saint s chest. s identity The presence of SS. as the saint commem

appears as a half-length face features the usual

Viktor orated

confirm Menas

10. Icon

ofSS. Menas,

Viktor,

and Vikentios,

Larnaka,

Cyprus,

bishopric of Kition, second half of the thirteenth century.

The with paint small on wooden is somewhat (32 by 23 cm) icon decayed, panel a section of missing and losses around the panels large edges survive to surface near the center of the icon. No inscriptions the three standing saints, but the central figure is recogniz

identify

able asMenas by his facial type (curly gray hair and rounded gray beard) and by the clipeus with the bust of Christ (labeled ICXC)
that he holds panions, with both one bearded, com younger the other clean shaven, hold crosses. They are the icon has SS. Viktor and Vikentios. While hands before his chest. His century, it is more likely a product of a

to represent presumed to the tenth been ascribed local thirteenth-century

io8

workshop.111
idem, B. ni S. Sophocleous, Century Icons of Cyprus: 1994), 76,

Ibid., Sopocani,

125, pi. LUI;

Byzantinische Zivkovic, 109

Fresken, pi. XXVIII;

jth-20th

(Nicosia,

Sopocani (Belgrade, 1984), 13. D. Koco and P. Miljkovic-Pepek, (Skopje, 1958), 8-14. Manastir,

and pi. 3. K. Gerasimou, K. Papaioakeim, Ch. Spanou, eds., Hxar? K?riov ayioypcupixr? T?%vn (Larnaka, Annemarie Weyl to my attention. 2002), 43-44,132.1 thank this icon

Manastir no Koco

and Miljkovic-Pepek,

Carr for bringing

54-55? fig- 57

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

141

ii. Church
century The fresco at Ortak?y

of St. George, Ortak?y, Cappadocia, late thirteenth

decoration is of the masonry triconch and difficult church of St. George

Nevertheless,

poorly preserved precisely. the narthex preserves three tombs with painted epitaphs to 1292/93, which date conforms to the dating general characteristics of the painting The image of St. Menas is found and architecture.112 of the northern is arm, beneath several another saint; he (unidentified) saints, includ

to date

on the west wall warrior

accompanied by healing and Dami?n. Here, once again, the image of Christ ing SS. Cosmas a before the chest of the saint.113 appears as medallion 12. Church St. Nikolaos early fourteenth

of

Orphanos,

Thessalonike,

century (fig. 19)

The are of St. Nikolaos and its frescoes Orphanos usually on the west side to the 1310s.114 The of St. Menas dated appears figure of the double arcade that separates the nave from the north aisle. He the west side of the intrados of the arch, opposite the seated occupies church of St. Mark the Evangelist. on The intrados of the adjacent aristocratic dress, arch

figure saints Menas much

is occupied by St. Viktor and the Evangelist Matthew. While

commemorated wears 11November chlamys wear his dark blue fastened

both
St.

at the center of his neck, Coislin circular

in Paris MS the emperor attending and bordered with 79, fol. 2r.115 Its two tablia are semicircular like the courtiers dabs of white

The bust of Christ, rendered paint representing pearls. as on the cloak, in shades of embroidered the occupies gold though the other is vacant.116 (proper) right tablion; atPhodele, Crete, 1323

13.Church

ofthePanagia

The Church of the Panagia at Phodele, in the province of Herakleion,

construction St. and painted decoration. preserves multiple phases of is here located in the south arm of the cruciform Menas nave, on a layer of fresco dated
112

by inscription

to 1323.He

stands adjacent

to the

Jerphanion, ?glises rupestres de (n. 95 above); C. Jolivet Cappadoce, 2:240-45 Les ?glises byzantines de Cappadoce: L?vy, Le programme iconographique de l'abside et de ses abords (Paris, 1991), 253 and n. 20. 113 Jolivet-L?vy, ?glises byzantines de

Warrior 114

Saints,

187 (n. 19 above). O ?uypcLyixo? Siaxoo-fio? Vp?>avov vtr\ Oeo-o-alovixn

A. Tsitouridou,

TovAy?ov Nixol?ov (Thessalonike, 115 dans J. Durand,

1986), 28-30. ed., Byzance: L'art byzantin (Paris,

les collections publiques fran?aises

Cappadoce,

251-52. Christopher Walter characterizes the figure as Menas the Christ of Christ image as "a cross with amedallion at the centre," a description that does not appear in Jolivet-Levy's publication. Walter,

1992), 360. 116 C. Mavropoulou-Tsioumi, Orphanos The Church 1986),

KaXXiK?Xa?o? and describes

of St. Nicholas 44; Tsitouridou,

(Thessalonike,

Zcoypct?ixo? Siaxoo-po?, 193 Toi^oypacjjig?, 22,

94, pi. 86; Xyngopoulos, fig. 133 (n. 38 above).

142.

WARREN

T. WOODFIN

figure of St. Anne holding theVirgin, and he is not associated with

the saint wears a rose-colored other martyrs. As at Sopocani, mantle a tablion with the of Christ pictured bearing gold, rectangular figure as on its surface.117 though gold-embroidered

Iwould like to thank a number of scholars for their help and input.
Lois Drewer, Deborah Brown, Alice-Mary Talbot, and Annemarie

Weyl Carr all helped in tracking down depictions of St.Menas. Henry

as well as the two anonymous readers and Elizabeth Bolman, Maguire comments and sug for Dumbarton Oaks Papers, contributed helpful on the draft of this article. I also thank those who aided me gestions The Byzantine Fieldwork in securing and permissions: photographs at Dumbarton and Photo Archives Oaks, Sarah Brooks, Gudrun B?hl, and Lindsay Koval, Yuri Piatnitsky, Smiljka Gabelic, to the Penn Humanities I am Forum at the Sevcenko. Nancy grateful that gave me for the postdoctoral of Pensylvania fellowship University Helen Evans, enviable conditions for the research and writing of this article.

?University

ofPennsylvania, Philadelphia

117

Wandmalerei,

M. Bissinger, Kreta: Byzantinische zur Arbeiten M?nchener

Kunstgeschichte

und Arch?ologie 4 (Munich, 1995), 106, pl. 4; I. Spatharakis, Dated Byzantine Wall Paintings of Crete (Leiden, 2001), 67; K. Gallas, K. Wessel, Byzantinisches and M. (Munich, Kreta

Borboudakis,

1983)? 353> figs- 307.308.

TRANSFORMATIONS

IN THE

ICONOGRAPHY

OF A WARRIOR

SAINT

143