DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0376
I2o8
Appendix N
Christ above the eagle (no. i) and much of the adjoining space are due {vide
the key-plan) to a restoration by Monsieur Andre. He suggests that the disturb-
ing blank was originally filled with a second lamb, the figure being conceived as
that of the Good Shepherd. And, if it be objected that the Good Shepherd should
be standing not seated, the unusual position is defended by a fifth-century mosaic
in the mausoleum of Galla Placidia at Ravenna1. It might have been defended
by a second-century painting in the cemetery of Callistus at Rome, which shows
Christ seated, lyre in hand, between two sheep—the type of the Good Shepherd
being definitely influenced by that of Orpheus2. I incline therefore to think
that Prof. Burkitt's acute divination of the original design is right and that
Christ was represented on the chalice in the Orphic or seated type of the Good
Shepherd with a sheep on either hand3. In this connexion it is interesting to
recall that Tertullian, writing between 217 and 222 a.d., mentions chalices of the
anti-Montanist party as decorated with representations of the Good Shepherd4.
It is possible that he had in view cheap imitations of such a masterpiece as the
chalice of Antioch.
The combination of the Judge and the Shepherd accounts for much, but not
quite for everything. We have yet to explain the eagle beneath his feet. An
eagle commonly suggests Zeus, and not least at Antioch where his cult was so
familiar5. But what exactly is the link between the Shepherd-Judge and Zeus ?
It is, I think, to be found in the conception of the Divine Ruler, which would
easily attach itself either to the figure of the Judge on his judgment-seat or to
the seated type of the Shepherd0. Dr Risen" remarks that the central figure
1 R. Garrucci Storia della arte cristiana nei primi otto secoli delta chiesa Prato 1881 iv.
41 pi. 233, 2, W. Lowrie Christian Art and Archceolo°y~New York 1901 p. 330 f. fig. 141,
C. M. Kaufmann Handbuch der christlichen Archdologie Paderborn 1913 p. 456.
2 G. B. de Rossi Roma sotterranea edd.1 J. S. Northcote—W. R. Brownlow London
1869 p. 373 col. pi. n, 2 (ed.2 T879 i. 455, ii col. pi. 18, 2), R. Garrucci op. cit. ii. 10 pi.
4, 1, L. von Sybel Cliristliche Antike Marburg 1906 i. 245 f. fig., 1909 ii. 106, C. M.
Kaufmann op. cit. p. 275 f. fig. 102.
It is a curious coincidence, if nothing more, that the Phoenician Ba'al-hamman is
represented by a Cypriote terra cotta as sitting on a throne with a ram standing on either
side of him (supra i. 354 pi. xxvi, 1).
3 Dr Eisen in a letter to Dr F. J. Foakes Jackson, of which a copy was sent to me by
Messrs Kouchakji (March 15, 1924), says : 'An original photograph taken before the
cleaning shows that there was no lamb on the other side, and that the design was probably-
one : branches, leaves, tendrils and bunches of grapes. There is a total absence of sym-
metry in any part of the Chalice design.' [!]
4 Tertull. de pud. 7 a parabolis licebit incipias, ubi est ovis perdita a domino requisita
et humeris eius revecta. procedant ipsae picturae calicum vestrorum, si vel in illis perluce-
bit interpretatio pecudis illius, utrumne Christiano an ethnico peccatori de restitutione
conlineet, ib. 10 sed cederem tibi, si scriptura Pastoris, quae sola moechos amat, divino
instrumento meruisset incidi, si non ab omni concilio ecclesiarum etiam vestrarum inter
apocrypha et falsa iudicaretur, adultera et ipsa et inde patrona sociorum, a qua et alias
initiaris, cui ille, si forte, patrocinabitur pastor quem in calice depingis, prostitutorem et
ipsum Christiani sacramenti, merito et ebrietatis idolum et moechiae asylum post calicem
subsecuturae, de quo nihil libentius libas quam ovem paenitentiae secundae (cp. ib. 13).
5 Supra p. 1186 ff.
6 The seated Shepherd in the mausoleum of Galla Placidia ' is clothed in imperial
purple' (W. Lowrie op. cit. p. 331).
7 G. A. Eisen in the Am. Joum. Arch. 1916 xx. 432, 434, id. ib. 1917 xxi. 172, 174
fig. 2, 10 ff., 179, id. The Great Chalice of Antioch pp. 31,34, 143, 147, 179.
Appendix N
Christ above the eagle (no. i) and much of the adjoining space are due {vide
the key-plan) to a restoration by Monsieur Andre. He suggests that the disturb-
ing blank was originally filled with a second lamb, the figure being conceived as
that of the Good Shepherd. And, if it be objected that the Good Shepherd should
be standing not seated, the unusual position is defended by a fifth-century mosaic
in the mausoleum of Galla Placidia at Ravenna1. It might have been defended
by a second-century painting in the cemetery of Callistus at Rome, which shows
Christ seated, lyre in hand, between two sheep—the type of the Good Shepherd
being definitely influenced by that of Orpheus2. I incline therefore to think
that Prof. Burkitt's acute divination of the original design is right and that
Christ was represented on the chalice in the Orphic or seated type of the Good
Shepherd with a sheep on either hand3. In this connexion it is interesting to
recall that Tertullian, writing between 217 and 222 a.d., mentions chalices of the
anti-Montanist party as decorated with representations of the Good Shepherd4.
It is possible that he had in view cheap imitations of such a masterpiece as the
chalice of Antioch.
The combination of the Judge and the Shepherd accounts for much, but not
quite for everything. We have yet to explain the eagle beneath his feet. An
eagle commonly suggests Zeus, and not least at Antioch where his cult was so
familiar5. But what exactly is the link between the Shepherd-Judge and Zeus ?
It is, I think, to be found in the conception of the Divine Ruler, which would
easily attach itself either to the figure of the Judge on his judgment-seat or to
the seated type of the Shepherd0. Dr Risen" remarks that the central figure
1 R. Garrucci Storia della arte cristiana nei primi otto secoli delta chiesa Prato 1881 iv.
41 pi. 233, 2, W. Lowrie Christian Art and Archceolo°y~New York 1901 p. 330 f. fig. 141,
C. M. Kaufmann Handbuch der christlichen Archdologie Paderborn 1913 p. 456.
2 G. B. de Rossi Roma sotterranea edd.1 J. S. Northcote—W. R. Brownlow London
1869 p. 373 col. pi. n, 2 (ed.2 T879 i. 455, ii col. pi. 18, 2), R. Garrucci op. cit. ii. 10 pi.
4, 1, L. von Sybel Cliristliche Antike Marburg 1906 i. 245 f. fig., 1909 ii. 106, C. M.
Kaufmann op. cit. p. 275 f. fig. 102.
It is a curious coincidence, if nothing more, that the Phoenician Ba'al-hamman is
represented by a Cypriote terra cotta as sitting on a throne with a ram standing on either
side of him (supra i. 354 pi. xxvi, 1).
3 Dr Eisen in a letter to Dr F. J. Foakes Jackson, of which a copy was sent to me by
Messrs Kouchakji (March 15, 1924), says : 'An original photograph taken before the
cleaning shows that there was no lamb on the other side, and that the design was probably-
one : branches, leaves, tendrils and bunches of grapes. There is a total absence of sym-
metry in any part of the Chalice design.' [!]
4 Tertull. de pud. 7 a parabolis licebit incipias, ubi est ovis perdita a domino requisita
et humeris eius revecta. procedant ipsae picturae calicum vestrorum, si vel in illis perluce-
bit interpretatio pecudis illius, utrumne Christiano an ethnico peccatori de restitutione
conlineet, ib. 10 sed cederem tibi, si scriptura Pastoris, quae sola moechos amat, divino
instrumento meruisset incidi, si non ab omni concilio ecclesiarum etiam vestrarum inter
apocrypha et falsa iudicaretur, adultera et ipsa et inde patrona sociorum, a qua et alias
initiaris, cui ille, si forte, patrocinabitur pastor quem in calice depingis, prostitutorem et
ipsum Christiani sacramenti, merito et ebrietatis idolum et moechiae asylum post calicem
subsecuturae, de quo nihil libentius libas quam ovem paenitentiae secundae (cp. ib. 13).
5 Supra p. 1186 ff.
6 The seated Shepherd in the mausoleum of Galla Placidia ' is clothed in imperial
purple' (W. Lowrie op. cit. p. 331).
7 G. A. Eisen in the Am. Joum. Arch. 1916 xx. 432, 434, id. ib. 1917 xxi. 172, 174
fig. 2, 10 ff., 179, id. The Great Chalice of Antioch pp. 31,34, 143, 147, 179.