The topic of the Diploma thesis is "Necropoleis on the Vatican Hill. The decoration analysis and its parallels in Roman art." The diploma thesis is divided into several parts that are particularly analysed. The first part is focused on the Vatican area layout in ancient world and both ancient and contemporary area layouts are compared. The second part is focused on the analysis of mausoleums along Via Cornelia and their decoration. The thesis tries to find some parallels with the mausoleums in the roman art which proclaim the use of these iconographical materials in other settings and historical backgrounds. The next part describes the necropolis along Via Triumphalis and the most important tombs within the specific sectors. The individual subchapters deal with selected motifs, which meanings intersect the pagan and Christian world. The following part analyzes selected sarcophagi and their decorative motifs. Consequently, both observed contexts are compared. The last part of the thesis provides the dating of several lamps from necropolis along Via Triumphalis. Keywords Vatican, necropolis, Via Cornelia, Via Triumphalis, antiquity, early Christian, roman art, decoration, sarcophagi

La fabrication de sarcophages constitue, entre la fin du 5e s. et jusqu’au 9e s., une activité artisanale et économique importante, témoin de réseaux économiques et d’aires culturelles locaux et régionaux. L’inventaire et l’étude des sarcophages en contexte funéraire a permis d’établir une typologie détaillée fondée sur des critères morphologiques, décoratifs et technologiques. Sur les quelques 2500 sarcophages étudiés, un faible nombre est bien daté. Une typo-chronologie relative a pu être établie, qui s’appuie sur des exemplaires bien calés chronologiquement et sur l’évolution supposée des formes et modèles ornementaux. De l’étude des lieux de production, dont quatre centres carriers ont été repérés et étudiés, il ressort un savoir-faire important et une organisation très raisonnée de la production. La confrontation des données issues de l’étude des sarcophages et des carrières a permis de restituer des aires de diffusion d’importance micro-locale (Civaux ou Chauvigny par exemple), locale (Panzoult, la vallée de la Manse ou les productions en grès roussards), régionale (la vallée de l’Anglin), voire supra-régionale (productions bourbonnaises et nivernaises, dont les carrières sont situées en dehors de la zone d’étude) / The sarcophagi production is, between the end of the fifth century to the ninth century, an artisanal and economic activity of major importance, witness of economic networks and local and regional cultural area. The inventory and study of sarcophagi in funerary context allowed us to establish a detailed typology founded on morphological, decorative and technological criteria. On some 2500 sarcophagi studied, only a few are well dated. A relative typo-chronology has been established, based on best datations and on the evolution of shapes and decorative models. From the study of production sites, including four quarrying center were studied, we can observe an important expertise and a very rational organization of production. The confrontation of study data from sarcophagi and quarries has allowed us to restitute several diffusion areas: micro-local (Civaux or Chauvigny), local (Panzoult, valley of the Manse or red sandstone of Loir valley) or regional (Bourbonnais or Nivernais productions, outside our study area)

Outre le recensement d’environ 1400 sarcophages, monolithes et bipartites, en Gaule du Nord, l’intérêt de cette recherche réside dans la démonstration des apports pétrographiques, technologiques, économiques et culturels de ces sépultures. Afin de travailler sur un groupe cohérent, seuls les sarcophages de production lorraine, avec une diffusion septentrionale le long de la Meuse, de la Moselle et du Rhin, ont été retenus.<p><p>\ / Doctorat en Histoire, art et archéologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Cette thèse a pour but d’examiner la production de sarcophage à décor sculpté, à travers l’étude comparative de trois grands pôles occidentaux de l’Empire romain, puissances économiques et productives, et symboles d’un lien privilégié avec Rome. Si ce procédé funéraire a toujours été utilisé dans ces régions, la généralisation de l’inhumation vers le milieu du IIe siècle implique la mobilisation d’importantes forces productives et techniques afin de répondre à la demande nouvelle sans cesse croissante. Ce serait trois grands centres situés à Rome, en Grèce et en Asie Mineure, qui assureraient les fonctions essentielles : décision des décors et des motifs, prise en charge de la majorité de la production et de son exportation, signification et portée de ce procédé funéraire. Notre étude ville par ville a pour ambition de montrer que le développement de la production des sarcophages à décor sculpté ne peut s’expliquer dans un tel schéma traditionnel où les provinces se laisseraient passivement imposer toutes les décisions de sièges plus importants. Au-delà de l’indispensable analyse technique, stylistique et iconographique du corpus, c’est la prise en compte pratique d’un contexte local d’ateliers décentralisés qui doit permettre de saisir la réalité de production et son évolution : comment cet objet s’intègre dans une production déjà existante qu’il investit en retour. Cela nous conduira à ne plus l’envisager sous le seul rapport de la copie à son original, passant ainsi d’un modèle de rayonnement unilatéral du centre vers la périphérie, à une structure d’échange dynamique entre influences centrales et ateliers locaux. / This dissertation explores the production of sarcophagi with sculpted decorations, through the comparative study of three Western towns of the Roman Empire that are economic and production centers as well as closely connected to Rome.Although in these regions, such funeral process was always in use, the generalisation of burials in the middle of the 2nd century required the mobilization of production and technical forces in order to meet the increasing new demand.We argue that three main centers located in Rome, Greece and Asia Minor were responsible for the development of this funeral technique: they decided on the decorations and designs, were in charge of the majority of the production and exportations, and gave this process its characteristics and meaning. Considering each city consecutively, we aim to show that the development of sarcophagi production goes beyond a traditional context where provinces would passively let more important cities be in charge of all the decisions. In addition to the technical, stylistic and iconographic analysis of the corpus, if we want to grasp the specificity of this funeral technique, we also need to replace its production and evolution in a local context of decentralized workshops. How do sarcophagi with sculpted decorations fit in an already existing production, and how do they transform such production? This will lead us to consider this technique from another point of view than the mere copy of an original model, thus moving from the unilateral model of a central influence on the peripheries to a structure of dynamic exchanges between main cities and local workshops.

This thesis aims to study the commercial mechanism of Ravenna in the Late Antiquity from the point of view of the amount, type and provenance of the imported stone artefacts (fragments of architectural decoration, revetments slabs, opus sectile, sarcophagi), based on the study of archaeological material from the site of the basilica and the monastery of San Severo in Classe (Ravenna). Ravenna represented an important administrative and cultural center in the 5th and 6th century, connecting western and eastern artistic influences and focusing herself on trade and production. Determination of the stone artefacts from the San Severo locality was principally based on the archaeometric methods and on the combination of archaeologic and geologic approach as well. Specific archaeometric methods (macroscopic, geochemical and mineralogical-petrographic analyses) together with a quantitative evaluation were applied. Many scientific works, dedicated till this time to the art history of late antique Ravenna and dealing also the argument of ravennate "marbles" presumed the prevailing provenance from Proconnesos and usual commercial relations between Ravenna and Constantinople as well. Constantinople played a role of a mediator of oriental localities and Ravenna. The hypothesis concerning the provenance of the...

The monumental sculpture, especially the pulpits, of the father and son duo, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, have often been compared to ancient Roman and early Christian sarcophagi. Giovanni produced a pulpit with two accompanying lecterns for the Pisa Cathedral, which is just a few steps away from the Camposanto, a “holy field”, or cemetery, built around sacred soil from Golgotha which serves to house a huge collection of sarcophagi. Iconography, composition, relief style, and even the materiality of Giovanni’s Pisa pulpit is in part governed by, and connected to, these sarcophagi. This influence is especially highlighted by the Epistles lectern, which depicts a half-length Christ as the Man of Sorrows encircled about and raised aloft by two angels. This unusual depiction of the Man of Sorrows seems to be appropriating a long tradition of the imago clipeata, or visual apotheosis. Giovanni borrows this classical imagery and updates it to reflect contemporary Christianity. The presence of the classical clipeata on the lectern underlines the two natures of Christ, which is a main characteristic of the iconography of the Man of Sorrows. The lectern’s clipeata and the reference to sarcophagi establishes a connection to ritual, but in this case Christian ritual, namely the sermon and the Eucharist. The imagery embodies an affective focus on the love and humanity of Christ as the crux of salvation, a characteristic of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century preaching. The drapery and textile, which act as the frame of the clipeata on the lectern, allude to the tramezzo, or choir screen, and liturgical cloths found at the high altar—both are liturgical accessories that aid the viewer during the consecration of the Eucharist. Giovanni Pisano adopts this antique imagery and recontextualizes it in an early-fourteenth century Christian setting as it becomes a creative commentary on the liturgy, devotion, and significance of place at the cathedral of Pisa.

The monumental sculpture, especially the pulpits, of the father and son duo, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, have often been compared to ancient Roman and early Christian sarcophagi. Giovanni produced a pulpit with two accompanying lecterns for the Pisa Cathedral, which is just a few steps away from the Camposanto, a "holy field", or cemetery, built around sacred soil from Golgotha which serves to house a huge collection of sarcophagi. Iconography, composition, relief style, and even the materiality of Giovanni's Pisa pulpit is in part governed by, and connected to, these sarcophagi. This influence is especially highlighted by the Epistles lectern, which depicts a half-length Christ as the Man of Sorrows encircled about and raised aloft by two angels. This unusual depiction of the Man of Sorrows seems to be appropriating a long tradition of the imago clipeata, or visual apotheosis. Giovanni borrows this classical imagery and updates it to reflect contemporary Christianity. The presence of the classical clipeata on the lectern underlines the two natures of Christ, which is a main characteristic of the iconography of the Man of Sorrows. The lectern's clipeata and the reference to sarcophagi establishes a connection to ritual, but in this case Christian ritual, namely the sermon and the Eucharist. The imagery embodies an affective focus on the love and humanity of Christ as the crux of salvation, a characteristic of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century preaching. The drapery and textile, which act as the frame of the clipeata on the lectern, allude to the tramezzo, or choir screen, and liturgical cloths found at the high altar--both are liturgical accessories that aid the viewer during the consecration of the Eucharist. Giovanni Pisano adopts this antique imagery and recontextualizes it in an early-fourteenth century Christian setting as it becomes a creative commentary on the liturgy, devotion, and significance of place at the cathedral of Pisa.