DOI article:
Dyczek, Piotr: Hypnos from Risinium (Montenegro)
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41951#0060
58
the iconography of Hypnos. As a single figurę, he can appear in three variants: as
a child - freąuently depicted as Amor - as a youth and as an adult. In mytho-
logical context, he appears primarily with Endymion, with Bacchus/Dionysus and
Ariadnę, with Mars, Rhea Sylvia, Venus and the heroes Hercules and Theseus
[LIMC VIII 1, 2, 603-604], The connection with Asklepios is just as elear; after
all ineubatio was one of the therapeutic methods.
As said above, the representation of Hypnos from Risinium is uniąue for
a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is the only currently known mosaic image. Other
representations are known from votive reliefs, altars, reliefs on sarcophagi and
round bases. Few smali marble statues, figurines of bronze and images on
gemmae and in wali painting have been preserved (funerary and in some of the
houses in Pompeii and the Domus Aurea) [cf FIMC VIII 1, 2, 602], It would
mean that the owners of this particular villa were somehow particularly interested
in this motif. Its execution proved to be a technical and compositional challenge.
Most likely there were no appropriate patterns in existence.
Vegetal scrolling is the first element to suggest that we are dealing with
a mosaic depicting Hypnos. Two different kinds were represented in simplified
and geometrized form. The first has leaves asymmetrically attached to the
scrolling branch. Where the scrolling branches intersected, there was a stylized
four-petal flower with clearly marked center. The other kind consists of simple
branches scrolling at the ends with a conical „bud'5 growing from them. Color
cubes were used to emphasize the difference between the motifs. There can be
little doubt that the plant in ąuestion was a poppy - the head and the branches -
both of which are well known as inducing sleep and thus are freąuently seen as an
attribute of Hypnos (fig. 7).
The image of the deity or to be morę precise, preparing a pattern for the
artisan caused much greater difficulties. A seldom used iconographical pattern
was applied - a sleeping winged Hypnos shown as a child, in a specific pose with
one arm resting on a pillow, the other loosely on the opposite shoulder, legs
crossed [cf Fabbricotti 1976, 67-70]. This model is known from a few marble
sculptures: a sarcophagus from Izmir, ex-vota from Argos, statuę from the
Vatican; and, finally, from a relief in the tomb of Claudia Fabulla [FIMC VIII 1,
2, 594-59, 5605, nos. 2, 8, 23, 153]. These parallels, however, are not complete
(fig. 8). Hypnos from Risan is depicted as a youth, who is further dressed in a
robę. If only this part of the composition is analyzed, one immediately associates
the mosaic panel with representations of Nymphs, a popular motif that was also
used on mosaic floors. The pose and the arrangement of the drapery correspond,
for example, to the Nymphs from Bologna, the Vatican and Copenhagen also
from Novae [Dyczek 1997, 87-93]; the draping itself is characteristic, as well,
revealing close parallels with statues from the Fouvre and from Timgad [FIMC
VIII, 1, 2, 893, nos 8, 9, 13, 14] (fig. 9).
These remarks lead to the conclusion that two different patterns were
combined to create the Risan composition - a sleeping Nymph [Hirsch-Dyczek
the iconography of Hypnos. As a single figurę, he can appear in three variants: as
a child - freąuently depicted as Amor - as a youth and as an adult. In mytho-
logical context, he appears primarily with Endymion, with Bacchus/Dionysus and
Ariadnę, with Mars, Rhea Sylvia, Venus and the heroes Hercules and Theseus
[LIMC VIII 1, 2, 603-604], The connection with Asklepios is just as elear; after
all ineubatio was one of the therapeutic methods.
As said above, the representation of Hypnos from Risinium is uniąue for
a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is the only currently known mosaic image. Other
representations are known from votive reliefs, altars, reliefs on sarcophagi and
round bases. Few smali marble statues, figurines of bronze and images on
gemmae and in wali painting have been preserved (funerary and in some of the
houses in Pompeii and the Domus Aurea) [cf FIMC VIII 1, 2, 602], It would
mean that the owners of this particular villa were somehow particularly interested
in this motif. Its execution proved to be a technical and compositional challenge.
Most likely there were no appropriate patterns in existence.
Vegetal scrolling is the first element to suggest that we are dealing with
a mosaic depicting Hypnos. Two different kinds were represented in simplified
and geometrized form. The first has leaves asymmetrically attached to the
scrolling branch. Where the scrolling branches intersected, there was a stylized
four-petal flower with clearly marked center. The other kind consists of simple
branches scrolling at the ends with a conical „bud'5 growing from them. Color
cubes were used to emphasize the difference between the motifs. There can be
little doubt that the plant in ąuestion was a poppy - the head and the branches -
both of which are well known as inducing sleep and thus are freąuently seen as an
attribute of Hypnos (fig. 7).
The image of the deity or to be morę precise, preparing a pattern for the
artisan caused much greater difficulties. A seldom used iconographical pattern
was applied - a sleeping winged Hypnos shown as a child, in a specific pose with
one arm resting on a pillow, the other loosely on the opposite shoulder, legs
crossed [cf Fabbricotti 1976, 67-70]. This model is known from a few marble
sculptures: a sarcophagus from Izmir, ex-vota from Argos, statuę from the
Vatican; and, finally, from a relief in the tomb of Claudia Fabulla [FIMC VIII 1,
2, 594-59, 5605, nos. 2, 8, 23, 153]. These parallels, however, are not complete
(fig. 8). Hypnos from Risan is depicted as a youth, who is further dressed in a
robę. If only this part of the composition is analyzed, one immediately associates
the mosaic panel with representations of Nymphs, a popular motif that was also
used on mosaic floors. The pose and the arrangement of the drapery correspond,
for example, to the Nymphs from Bologna, the Vatican and Copenhagen also
from Novae [Dyczek 1997, 87-93]; the draping itself is characteristic, as well,
revealing close parallels with statues from the Fouvre and from Timgad [FIMC
VIII, 1, 2, 893, nos 8, 9, 13, 14] (fig. 9).
These remarks lead to the conclusion that two different patterns were
combined to create the Risan composition - a sleeping Nymph [Hirsch-Dyczek