Pagans and Christians - from Antiquity to the Middle Ages : Papers in honour of Martin Henig, presented on the occasion of his 65th Birthday

by Gilmour, Lauren

• ISBN13: 9781407300276
• ISBN10: 140730027X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-31
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

''For weeks after his Christian baptism and confirmation into the Church of England Martin presented a vivid sight as he walked briskly along the Oxford streets. Dressed in white trousers and white open neck shirt (no jersey or jacket in even the coldest weather) and long white hair, it was a striking statement of a new life that would easily have been recognised by those early Christians who were clothed in white robes after their baptism in font or riverMartin is especially well placed, by virtue of his long-standing academic interests and his personal convictions, to build a picture of Christianity in Roman Britain. He has, after all, written about many of the crucial pieces of evidence. He can give us a clear and comprehensive survey of art in the age of Constantine. He can also identify and trace the difference that Christianity made to that art. Religion in the Roman world was highly diverse, but there were elements within it which lent themselves to a later, Christian interpretation, such as the myth of Bellerophon and the Chimera. There was also an implicit longing as expressed in Sol Invictus, which found its fulfillment in Christ the unconquered victor over sin and death, the sun which will never set. The classical heritage of myth and story was part of the education of a Roman gentlemen, the paidea, even when the empire became Christian, but a Christian could see in at least some of it a pointer and foreshadowing of Christ. Martin is able to see it in this way too. There are some in the modern world who like to stress the great gulf, the sharp difference between Christianity and other faiths. Martin shows that for the church in the fourth century the continuities and fulfillments were just as important. The 44-page bibliography of his writings is substantial evidence to the range and depth of Martin''s work: a scholar''s scholar indeed. So I feel specially honoured to have been invited to write this short preface to these essays honouring him.'' (Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford). Contents: R. Bradley: Roman Interpretations of the Prehistoric Past; M. Aldhouse-Green: Monsters on the Rocks: Iconography of Transformation at Camonica Valley; E. Sauer: Native deities in southern Germany in the Roman period; C. Clay: Before there were Angles, Saxons and Jutes: an epigraphic study of the Germanic social, religious and linguistic relations on Hadrian''s Wall; A. B. Marsden: Some sing of Alexander and some of Hercules: artistic echoes of Hercules and Alexander the Great on coins and medallions, A.D. 260-269; J. Boardman: Roman Gems: Problems of Date and Identity; J. Bagnall Smith: Four Miniature Swords from Harlow and others known from Roman Britain; V. Platt Burning Butterflies: Seals, Symbols and the Soul in Antiquity; L. Gilmour: The Face of an Angel; M. Darling: A Depiction of the Organ from Roman Britain; C. Johns; The Wroxeter Isis gem: an update; C. Thomas A curious piece of Granite; D. M. Bailey: A Collar for a God: an Egyptianising scene on a fragment of Roman cameo glass; C. Sparey-Green: Foot Impressions on a House Floor in Dorchester: a Divine Presence in Durnovaria?; K. Sutton and S. Worrell: Roman religious objects recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Oxfordshire and elsewhere; A. Cruse: Dioscorides of Anazarbus (fl . A.D. 70): from Mithridates to the Middle Ages; R. Isserlin: Some leaves from the invisible archive; G. Seidmann: Greville Chester? - Who was he?; D. Howlett: Continuities from Roman Britain; M. Biddle and B. Kjbye-Biddle: Winchester: from Venta to Wintancaestir ; J. Onians: The Romsey roods: Christ, rods, and the geography of religion; J. Bertram From Duccius to Daubernoun: Ancient Antecedents of Monumental Brass Design: B. Gilmour Sub-Roman or Saxon, Pagan or Christian: who was buried in the early cemetery at St. Paul-in-the-Bail, Lincoln?; M. J. Florence: ''Le Conte du Graal'' by Chretien de Troyes; G. Soffe: The Romanesque Font at Portchester; J. Blair: The 13th-century seal-matrix