From an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, NY in 2023/24 of the links between Byzantium and  Orthodox  Christianity in Africa

 

 

This is the first exhibition of Byzantine links with Africa organized by the Met.

 

 

The Holy Monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, the traditional site of Moses’ Burning Bush and the keeper of what is believed to be the oldest icon of Jesus Christ, loaned important pieces from its vast collection of icons, books and manuscripts. 

 

Its abbot gave a dedicatory blessing when this exhibition opened:  a reminder that the objects loaned are not considered ‘art’ in their native civilizations. 

 

They are sacred objects; they are invested with agency. 

They sanctify the places where they are.

They provide sanctuary (temenos), instruction, and blessing to the faithful. 

They are repositories of the wisdom tradition of  the civilization in which they were made. 

Their  ‘artistic’ attributes serve these purposes and are subordinate to them.

 

 

The history of Christianity in north and north-East Africa is tied to the Byzantine empire and to the evolution of the Orthodox Church. This relationship was of more than 1500 years duration.

 

This period traversed the end of the Roman Empire, the transition from pre-Christian religious practices and beliefs to Christianity; and the emergence of Islam and the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

 

Immediately below are some pre-Christian images and objects from north Africa, Egypt and Nubia in the first six centuries after the birth of Christ.

 

 

 

 Mosaic with Preparations for a Feast, 4th quarter of the 2nd century; Carthage (Tunisia); marble, limestone, glass, paste.

Loaned by the Musee du Louvre to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24

 

Museum guidance is that mosaics with such scenes decorated the walls or floors of wealthy houses throughout the North Africa, one of the richest parts of the Roman Empire.

One man carries a basket of fruit, another a tray of what looks like bread, a third a flagon of wine.

 

 

Constantine the Great (272-337), ruler of the Roman empire, converted to Christianity in 312 and rebuilt Byzantium, renamed Constantinople, as his capital city.

 

 

as above

 

 

Theodosius (401-450), the last emperor to rule both the western and eastern Roman empires, confirmed Christianity as the state religion.  

 

 

 

Mosaic with Lion Attacking Onager, Hadrumetum (Sousse, Tunisia), 150-200, stone, glass

J. Paul Getty museum loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24

 

 

Over the next 2 centuries, the Western Roman empire disintegrated under external onslaught and internal rebellion.

 

 

Textile Fragment with Diana (on the right) and Actaeon?, 5th-7th, linen and wool, tapestry and plain weave, Byzantine Egypt. 

British Museum loan to the Metropolitan Museum, NY in 2023/24

 

 

The Eastern – the Byzantine – stabilized under the rule of emperors who clarified, amidst much disputation, the tenets of Orthodoxy. 

 

Egypt, Ethiopia, Nubia and a number of other churches outside of Africa adhered only to the agreements of the first 3 of the 7 ecumenical councils which met under Roman and/or Byzantine aegis between 325 and 787. 

 

The break with the Roman (Catholic)  and with the Byzantine Orthodox churches came over a period of several hundred years. 

 

The Orthodox churches in Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and a number of other areas outside Africa are collectively referred to today as Oriental Orthodox Churches.  

 

The ‘Coptic’ (from the ancient Greek name for Egypt) Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria governed also the church in Nubia.  And the church in Ethiopia and Eritrea until 1959.

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EGYPT AND NORTH AFRICA

 

The tradition is that St. Mark brought Christianity to Egypt and established the church in Egypt in 46 CE. 

 

Egypt, a province of the Roman Empire until the 7th century, was its granary. 

 

 

Shroud of a Woman Wearing a Fringed Tunic, 170-200 CE, tempera on linen. 

Perhaps from Antinopoulos, Egypt.  Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Antinopoulos was a predominantly Greek-speaking city founded by the Emperor Hadrian in 130.  This woman, wearing much jewellery, is flanked by Egyptian gods.

 

 

During this time and after, there were extensive diplomatic and trade links between Egypt and north Africa and the  Byzantine area of control and influence in the eastern Mediterranean.   There were exchanges with areas in sub-Saharan and West Africa and as far as the Silk Route and India.  

 

Egypt is the birthplace of the Christian monastic tradition in the fourth century.  Saint Anthony the Great (Father of All Monks) was born and died in the Roman province of Egypt: 251-356).

 

 

An Egyptian Orthodox priest visiting the galleries during this exhibition

 

 

These contacts  with the Byzantine empire continued after Moslem control of Egypt began in the 7th century.  Egypt continued as an important producer of industrial and agricultural goods.

 

 

 

Panel with Painted Image of Isis, 2nd century, tempera on wood, Egypt.

Loaned by the  The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24.  Photo from the net. 

Hellenized form of the Egyptian goddess, Isis:  she was worshipped throughout the Roman Empire after the annexation of Egypt by Rome in 31 BCE.

 

 

North Africa, however, became more and more marginal to the Byzantine empire after the arrival of Islam. 

 

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Mosaic of “Lady of Carthage”, marble, limestone, glass paste. 

Tunisia, 4th-5th centuries, Carthage.  Musee de Carthage Nationale

Found in a village in Carthage, this figure of a woman in a pose of blessing, wearing a military tunic, is thought to represent the city herself.  

 

 

NUBIA

Missionaries  were sent by the Byzantine emperor, Justinian (482-565), and his wife, Theodora, to Nubia – part of today’s Sudan – to establish Christian communities.

 

 

 

A Metal Crown, silver and gemstones. Nubia, Sudan, 5th-6th century

Beaten silver covered with royal and divine insignia including those associated with Isis and Horus. Found at or near the royal cemetery at Qustul, Nubia

 

 

From the 6th century onwards, 3 Nubian kingdoms gradually adopted Christianity.  By the 8th century, Nubia had adopted Byzantine political language, art and culture. 

 

 

Bridal chest, 4th-6th century, wood and ivory, Qustul, Nubia

21 inlaid ivory panels, incised and filled with green and red wax paste.  The motifs are mythological and of fertility and prosperity.  The Egyptian goddess Bes is depicted.  The ivory is thought to have been obtained from Ethiopia (Axum).  The wood and metal are thought to be local.

 

 

Between the 12th and the 15th centuries, these kingdoms merged under the name ‘Dowato’.  Throughout this time, the Nubian Church remained under the Patriarchate of Alexandria. 

 

Islam gradually replaced Christianity from the 8th century onwards. 

 

In modern times, much of the former Christian areas of lower Nubia, including the site of a cathedral at Faras, were flooded by the construction of the Lake Nasser dam. 

 

More than 100 Christian paintings, tempera on dry plaster, 8th to the 14th centuries, were found.  The majority were removed to museums in Khartoum and Warsaw, Poland.

 

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Byzantine influences continued to surge and wane in north and north-east Africa from the 3rd century until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

 

Thereafter Byzantine artistic stylistic norms continued to be recalled in the sacred art of the area, adapted and transformed for local sympathies.

 

All of this to say that Coptic art absorbed and adapted diverse artistic norms:  indigenous, late Roman pre-Christian, Jewish, Byzantine, Islamic. 

 

The syncretic styles of religious art which resulted are of striking beauty and skilled workmanship.

This work continues to be made.

Its value to adherents of the Church (Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea) is attested by the influential status of the Church among Orthodox Christians of these countries to this day.

 

 

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Christian art: Egypt and Nubia in chronological order

 

 

Wall Painting with Virgin and Child, Nubia. Faras; plaster and tempera

National Museum, Warsaw loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24

 

 

 

Icon With the Virgin Enthroned, 6th century, wool, slit and dovetailed-tapestry weave.  Egypt.

The Cleveland Museum of Art loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY from whose website this photo

 

A very early textile showing Mary holding Jesus surrounded by the archangels Michael and Gabriel.  The apostles and evangelists are included in the roundels which frame the central image.  Museum guidance was that images of this kind were found throughout the Byzantine world.

 

 

 

 

Icon with the Virgin and Child, Saints, Angels and the Hand of God; encaustic on wood. Possibly Constantinople, second half of the 6th century AD

The Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine, Sinai, Egypt loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24

 

One of the oldest icons known.  The saints are Theodore and George in military uniform and holding their martyr’s crosses.  The angels are looking upwards to the hand of God emerging from the heavens.

Possibly a gift of the Emperor Justinian when he provided the monastery with a church, built between 548 and 565; and had the monastery fortified.

 

 

 

Wall Painting with Holy Men and a Coptic Inscription, 6th-7th Century, Egypt; stucco, paint.

The British Museum loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24

Ananias, Misrael, and Azarias from the Book of Daniel.  The wisest men in King Daniel’s court, they ran into trouble when they refused to worship the King’s idol.  The inscription identifies holy men and saints from the Eastern Roman Empire.

 

 

 

Necklace and pendant cross, 500-700, made near Thebes, Byzantine Egypt, rock crystal, silver mount. Metropolitan Museum of Art from whose website this photo

 

 

 

Homily Theogenidos (Perpnoute), Egypt, 902-03; ink on parchment. 

The Morgan Library and Museum loan to the Metropolitan Museum, NY in 2023/24

The text of this book was of Severus, bishop of Antioch and head of the Syriac Catholic Church.  He had been trained in Alexandria, Egypt. 

The saint Michael depicted here is in Byzantine form: trilobed scepter, orb, cross, diadem.

 

 

 

Bishop Petros Protected by the Apostle Peter, late 10th century, plaster and tempera.

Loaned by the Warsaw Museum to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24

The Apostle Peter is protecting the Bishop around whose fingers is a liturgical scarf  particular to the episcopal costume of the Nubian church.

This image shows how Nubian artists used white or yellow paint for Biblical figures; and  shades of brown for contemporary figures.  The reason is not known.

 

 

 

Processional Cross, 10th-12th century; brass alloy, cast.  Eastern Mediterranean (Byzantine).

Dallas Museum of Art loan to the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore in 2023/24

 

 

 

 

Wall Painting with a Nubian Dignitary Protected by Christ, mid-12th century, plaster and tempera

Loaned by the Warsaw Museum to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24

 

Christ, holding a book, is blessing the young man with  his right hand.  The young man is wearing the clothes traditional for rulers.  His crown carries a half moon. On his chest is a cross medallion with an icon. 

This image shows how Nubian artists used white or yellow paint for Biblical figures; and shades of brown for contemporary figures.  The reason is not known.

 

 

 

 

Icon with the Virgin and Child, ivory; mid 10th-mid 11th century. Possibly the Emperor Constantine. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

The image type – the Virgin supports the Christ Child with her left arm and points to him with her right hand – is the Hodegetria which derives its name from an icon in the Hodegon monastery in Constantinople.

It also means:  She who shows the way.

This pose was used in a widespread manner in Eastern Orthodoxy.  

 

 

 

Icon with the Virgin Hodegetria Dexiokraiousa; miniature tesserae (gold and other materials) set in wax on wood.  Possibly Constantinople.  First quarter 13th century.

The Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine, Sinai, Egypt loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2023/24

Possibly brought from  Constaninople to the Sinai by a Byzantine or Crusader pilgrim after the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204) when Constantinople was under Western control. 

 

 

 

 

Vita Icon of Saint George with Scenes of His Passion and Miracles; tempera and gold on wood, early 13th century.  Egypt, possibly Sinai. 

The Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine, Sinai, Egypt loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2023/24

20 narrative scenes surround the saint.

 

 

 

Icon with the Virgin Hodegetria, 13th century, Eastern Mediterranean, possibly Egypt. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

 

 

 

Triptych with Crucifixion, early 13th century, 13th-15th century, tempera and gilding on wood.

Coptic Museum, Cairo loan to the Metropolitan Museum, NY in 2023/24

 

The crucifixion of Jesus is surrounded by scenes of the Passion and resurrection.

Museum guidance on the style of this icon relates this both to Italo-Cretan dating from the 13th to the 16th centuries and to Byzantine motifs. 

 

 

 

Candlestick base, first half of 14th century, brass with silver inlay. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

Inlaid metalwork dating to the Mamluk period (1250-1517) preserved in one of the monasteries in Lalibela, Ethiopia

 

 

 

Chalice Case, Egypt, 18th century, painted wood.  Coptic Museum, Egypt loan to the Metropolitan Museum, NY in 2023/24

The Virgin Hodegetria; the Last Supper; Saint Basil; and the Archangel Michael.

 

 

 

Coptic Arabic Book of Prayer, 18th century, tempera and ink on parchment.

Loaned by a private collection to the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore in 2023/24