Half-Human Half-Vegetal Hybrids in Eastern Mosaics

IF 0.3 0 ARCHAEOLOGY Journal of Mosaic Research Pub Date : 2023-11-03 DOI:10.26658/jmr.1376718
Stéphanie DERWAEL
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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the evolution of the use of half-human half-vegetal figures, the so-called Rankenfrau and Rankengott, in the pavements of the Eastern Mediterranean, from their appearance in the Classical period to their appropriation in the Roman and Christian times. The contextualised analysis of this corpus, combined with a comparison to other media such as architectural sculpture, provide a good opportunity to better understand to what extent the motif varied at different times and how the worldview of the commissioners of the decors can, or not, affect their meaning. In the Classical and Hellenistic contexts, vegetalisation of the human body seems to plastically translate the prerogatives of different divinities of wild nature, growth, and life. Through the mastery of their primitive savagery, these deities allow the coexistence of two different natures and bring divine prosperity into everyday life. In Roman times these figures inherited from the Greek world went through an unprecedented formal and syntactic diversification. A new variant is even created: the foliate head, which concentrates the force of a vital principle and appears as the metonymic representation of its primordial and spontaneous fecundity. In Eastern pavements, bearded and beardless foliate heads are associated with young foliate boys in the peopled scroll borders of the public rooms of rich houses. They evoked the mastery of a vital impulse that is made beneficial for wealthy owners. During the 6th century AD, whilst the foliate heads survive in the pavements of Christian monuments, the Rankenfrau and the Rankengott seem to disappear from the Eastern repertoire.
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东方马赛克的半人半植物混血儿
本文的目的是研究在地中海东部的人行道上使用半人半植物的图形,即所谓的Rankenfrau和Rankengott,从古典时期的出现到罗马和基督教时期的挪用。对语料库的语境化分析,结合与其他媒介(如建筑雕塑)的比较,提供了一个很好的机会,可以更好地理解主题在不同时期的变化程度,以及装饰者的世界观如何影响其意义。在古典和希腊文化背景下,人体的植物化似乎是对不同神的野生自然、生长和生命的特权的可塑性翻译。通过掌握他们原始的野蛮,这些神允许两种不同的本性共存,并将神圣的繁荣带入日常生活。在罗马时代,这些从希腊世界继承下来的数字经历了前所未有的形式和句法多样化。一种新的变体甚至被创造出来:叶状的头,它集中了一个重要原则的力量,并以其原始和自发的繁殖力的转喻形式出现。在东方的人行道上,有胡子的和没有胡子的长着叶子的头与富人的公共房间里的小男孩联系在一起。它们唤起了对一种至关重要的冲动的掌握,这种冲动对富有的主人来说是有益的。在公元6世纪,虽然叶状头像在基督教纪念碑的人行道上幸存下来,但兰肯弗和兰肯戈特似乎从东方的曲目中消失了。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
0.40
自引率
0.00%
发文量
24
审稿时长
6 weeks
期刊最新文献
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