“A Mask Looking Towards the City and the Valley”: Observations on the “Charonion” in Antioch
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18688/aa2414-1-4Keywords:
Antioch on the Orontes, ancient Syria, rock-cut monuments, John Malalas, CharonionAbstract
This paper presents several observations regarding a rock-cut relief situated on the mountain above Antioch on the Orontes. Due to its correspondence to a passage in John Malalas’ “Chronographia”, the monument came to be known as the “Charonion”, dated to the reign of Antiochos IV Epiphanes; however, the historicity of this evidence is disputed in scholarly literature. The relief is examined in its setting in the landscape and urban context of Antioch. It is hypothesized that it embodied the idea of divinity in unity with the city, the mountain and the river (thus also referencing the iconography of Tyche). The central figure is understood as an important local goddess. It is proposed, that a particular format — the sculptural bust — was chosen for three reasons. First, to provide a specific iconographic reference point to images of the Dea Syria. Second, to increase the relative monumentality of the relief, while retaining a sense of openness and approachability of the depicted goddess. Third, to display the connection of the image with the mountain. The rock-cut monument is compared to Syrian funerary and votive sculpture of the first centuries of the 1st millennium A.D., where strict hierarchical compositions (e. g. the positioning of a smaller secondary figure next to a main central one) are found often. This also means, that the date of the creation of the relief can be later than the 2nd century B.C. Finally, regarding the “Charonion”, in this paper it is proposed that at some point in history, prior to the 6th century A.D., there had been a sacred cave nearby, perhaps related to the relief, and by Malalas’ time the term shifted to denote the whole area, including the rock-cut monument.
References
Beaufort E. A. Egyptian Sepulchres and Syrian Shrines, including some stay in the Lebanon, at Palmyra, and in Western Turkey, vol. 2. London, Spottiswoode Publ., 1862. 484 p.
Brasse C. The City Walls of Antioch. How Many? De Giorgi A. U. (ed.). Antioch on the Orontes. History, Society, Ecology, and Visual Culture. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Publ., 2024, pp. 139–163.
Buckingham J. S. Travels Among the Arab Tribes Inhabiting the Countries East of Syria and Palestine… London, Longman Publ., 1825. 680 p.
Chesney F. R. The Expedition for the Survey of the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris…, vol. 1. London, Longman Publ., 1850. 700 p.
D’Andria F. The Ploutonion of Hierapolis in Light of Recent Research (2013 17). Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2018, vol. 31, pp. 90–129.
De Giorgi A. U. Ancient Antioch from the Seleucid Era to the Islamic Conquest. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Publ., 2016. 226 p.
De Giorgi A. U. (ed.). Antioch on the Orontes. History, Society, Ecology, and Visual Culture. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Publ., 2024. 512 p.
De Giorgi A. U.; Eger A. A. Antioch. A History. London; New York, Routledge Publ., 2021. 587 p.
Downey G. A History of Antioch in Syria from Seleucus tot he Arab Conquest. Princeton, Princeton University Press Publ., 1961. 752 p.
Elderkin G. W. (ed.). Antioch on the Orontes. Vol. I, The Excavations of 1932. Princeton; London, Princeton University Press, Oxford University Press Publ., 1934. 156 p.
Förster R. Antiochia am Orontes. Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, 1897, vol. 12, pp. 103–149 (in German).
Förster R. Skulpturen von Antiochia. Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, 1898, vol. 13, pp. 177–191 (in German).
Harmanşah Ö. Place, Memory, and Healing. An Archaeology of Anatolian Rock Monuments. London; New York, Routledge Publ., 2015. 200 p.
Jeffreys E.; Jeffreys M.; Scott R. (eds, transl.). The Chronicle of John Malalas. A Translation. Melbourne, Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 1986. 371 p.
Kisbali T. P. Ancient and New Interpretations of Anatolian Rock-cut “Thrones”. Zakharova A. V.; Maltseva S. V.; Staniukovich-Denisova E. Iu. (eds). Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art, vol. 11. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg University Press Publ., 2021, pp. 66–75. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa2111-01-06 (accessed 1 September 2024).
Korzun A. A. Dionysian Plots from the Sculptural Frieze of the Theater of Nysa in the Context of the Era and the City. Zakharova A. V.; Maltseva S. V.; Staniukovich-Denisova E. Iu. (eds). Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art, vol. 11. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg University Press Publ., 2021, pp. 55–65 (in Russian). Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa2111-01-05 (accessed 1 September 2024).
Koshelenko G. A.; Kruglikova I. T.; Dolgorukov V. S. (eds). Antichnye gosudarstva Severnogo Prichernomor’ia (Ancient States of the Northern Pontic Region). Moscow, 1984. (in Russian)
Lightfoot J.L. (ed., transl.). Lucian. On the Syrian Goddess. Oxford, Oxford University Press Publ., 2003. 606 p.
Moffatt A. A Record of Public Buildings and Monuments. Jeffreys E.; Croke B.; Scott R. (eds.). Studies in John Malalas. Leiden; Boston, Brill Publ., 2017, pp. 87–109.
Müller C. O. Antiquitates Antiochenae… Gottingae, Libraria Dietrichiana Publ., 1839. 134 p. (in Latin).
Mylonas G. E. Eleusis and the Eleusian Mysteries. Princeton; London, Princeton University Press Publ., 1961. 346 p.
Nissen C. Entre Asclépios et Hippocrate. Étude des cultes guérisseurs et des médecins en Carie. Liége, Presses universitaires de Liège Publ., 2013. 397 p. (in French).
Pamir H. An Underworld Cult Monument in Antioch: The Charonion. Maner Ç.; Horowitz M. T.; Gilbert A. S. (eds). Overturning Certainties in Near Eastern Archaeology. A Festschrift in Honor of K. Aslıhan Yener. Leiden; Boston, Brill Publ., 2017, pp. 543–559.
Perdrizet P.; Fossey D. Voyage dans a Syrie du Nord. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique, vol. 21, 1897, pp. 66–91.
Pococke R. A Description of the East, and Some Other Countries, vol. II, pt. I. London, W. Bowyer Publ., 1745. 308 p.
Renan E. Note sur les sculptures colossales du mont Stavrin, à Antioche. Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, vol. 9, 1865, pp. 307–310 (in French).
Rojas F. A Carving in Antioch: History, Magic, Antiquarianism, Archaeology. Ben Dov J.; Rojas F. (eds). Afterlives of Ancient Rock-cut Monuments in the Near East. Carvings in and out of Time. Leiden; Boston, Brill Publ., 2021, pp. 161–185.
Rüterswörden U. Horon. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Leiden; Boston; Köln, Brill Publ., 1999, pp. 425–426.
Saliou C. Statues d’Antioche de Syrie dans la Chronographie de Malalas. Agusta-Boularot S.; Beaucamp J.; Bernardi A. M.; Caire E. (eds). Recherches sur la Chronique de Jean Malalas II (actes du colloque «Malalas et l’Histoire», Aix-en-Provence, 21 22 octobre 2005). Paris, Association des Amis du Centre d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance Publ., 2006, pp. 69–95 (in French).
Saliou C. La montagne d’Antioche et ses désignations. Rélexions sur l’apport des sources textuelles à la connaissance de l’histoire de l’espace urbain d’Antioche sur l’Oronte : le site de la ville. Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph, vol. 63, 2010–2011, pp. 567–578 (in French).
Saliou C. Les lieux du polythéisme dans l’espace urbain et le paysage mémoriel d’Antioche-sur-l’Oronte, de Libanios à Malalas (IVe-VIe s.). Busine A. (ed.). Religious Practices and Christianization of the Late Antique City (4th 7th cent.). Leiden; Boston, Brill Publ., 2015, pp. 38–70 (in French).
Samutkina L. A. An Antique Sculpture in Early Byzantine “Chronographia” of John Malalas. Aristeas, vol. 1, 2010, pp. 154–163 (in Russian).
Spronk K. The Incantations. Watson W. G. E.; Wyatt N. (eds.). Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Leiden; Boston; Köln, Brill Publ., 1999, pp. 270–286.
Summerer L. Die Göttin am Skylax. Ein monumentales hellenistisches Felsreliefs in Nordanatolien. Archäologischer Anzeiger, vol. 1, 2006, pp. 17–29 (in German).
Teixidor J. The Pantheon of Palmyra. Leiden, Brill Publ., 1979. 137 p.
Thurn I. (ed.). Ioannis Malalae Chronographia. Berlin, De Gruyter Publ., 2000. 551 p.
Travlos J. Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens. London, Thames and Hudson Publ., 1971. 590 p.
Vermaseren M. J. The Legend of Attis in Greek and Roman Art. Leiden, Brill Publ., 1966. 60 p.
Vermaseren M. J. Corpus Cultus Cybelae Attidisque (CCCA). Vol. V, Aegyptus, Africa, Hispania, Gallia et Britannia. Leiden, Brill Publ., 1986. 226 p.
Wright N. L. Religion in Seleukid Syria: Gods at the Crossroads (301 64 BC). PhD thesis. Macquarie University, Department of Ancient History, 30th August 2010. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/166503 (accessed 1 November 2024).
