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Paulinus of Nola, Courtyards, and Canthari*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Annewies van den Hoek
Affiliation:
Harvard University and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
John J. Herrmann Jr.
Affiliation:
Harvard University and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Extract

Some of the most elaborate and detailed descriptions of early Christian churches by a Latin writer are given by the nobleman Pontius Meropius Paulinus, who is usually known as Paulinus of Nola, after the city where he became bishop in the latter part of his life. He was born in Bordeaux around 353, of a wealthy family that had extensive properties in Aquitania, Gallia Narbonensis, Latium, and Campania. He received an education appropriate to his noble stature and became the prize student of Ausonius, also a native of Bordeaux, who was the tutor of the (future) emperor Gratian and a celebrated poet at court.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2000

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References

1 For an important new study of Paulinus of Nola, see Trout, Dennis E., Paulinus of Nola: Life, Letters, and Poems (The Transformation of the Classical Heritage 27; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999)Google Scholar.

2 Paulinus was presumably a consul suffectus, that is a consul who did not start his office at the beginning but during the course of the term. Such consuls, who were appointed in the case of the death, illness, or resignation of a consul, were not recorded in the fasti.

3 The major edition of Paulinus's works is Hartel, Wilhelm von, Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Nolani Opera (CSEL 29-30; Vienna: Tempsky, 1894).Google Scholar An accurate analysis of Paulinus's church descriptions was provided by Goldschmidt, Rudolf C., Paulinus' Churches at Nola (Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1940)Google Scholar.

4 Since all the verbs in this sentence describing the architecture are in the present tense, we took fusa (basilica) as part of an ablative absolute separated from est. Goldschmidt (Paulinus's Churches, 165) thought that the passage did not make sense, judging it corrupt.

5 As Goldschmidt (Paulinus' Churches, 107) pointed out, the word atrium has two meanings; in this passage it is the inner court surrounded by porticoes, but later on in Ep. 32.15 (see below) it has the more general meaning of “church.”

6 John 4:14.

7 Compare Luke 24:32.

8 Paulinus, Ep. 13.13Google Scholar(Hartel, , Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Nolani, 29. 9495):Google Scholar Iuuat etiam nunc in spectaculo et praedicatione tanti operis inmorari. non enim hominis, sed diuina per hominem opera laudamus. quam laetum deo et sanctis angelis eius de hac tua, ut dici solet, plena spectaculum sacer editor exhibebas! quanto ipsum apostolum adtollehas gaudio, cum totam eius basilicam densis inopum coetibus stipauisses, uel qua sub alto sui culminis mediis ampla laquearibus longum patet et apostolico eminus solio coruscans ingredientium lumina stringit et corda laetificat, uel qua sub eadem mole tectorum geminis utrimque porticibus latera diffundit, quaue praetento nitens atrium fusa uestibulo est, ubi cantharum ministra manibus et oribus nostris fluenta ructantem fastigatus solido aere tholus ornat et inumbrat, non sine mystica specie quattuor columnis salientes aquas ambiens. decet enim ingressum ecclesiae talis ornatus, ut quod intus mysterio salutari geritur spectabili pro foribus opere signetur. nam et nostri corporis templum quadriiugo stabilimento una euangelii fides sustinet et, cum ex eo gratia, qua renascimur, fluat et in eo Christus, quo uiuimus, reueletur, profecto nobis in quattuor uitae columnas illic aquae salientis in uitam aeternam fons nascitur nosque ab interno rigat et feruet in nobis, si tamen possimus dicere uel sentire mereamur habere nos cor ardens i n uia, quod Christo nobiscum inambulante flammatur.

9 Paulinus, Ep. 23.12Google Scholar(Hartel, , Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Nolani, 29. 288): Alterae autem basilicae qua de hortulo uel pomario quasi priuatus aperitur ingressus, hi uersiculi hanc secretiorem forem panduntGoogle Scholar.

10 Paulinus, Ep. 32.15Google Scholar(Hartel, Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Nolani, 29. 289-90): Intra ipsam uero transennam, qua breue illud, quod propinquas sibi basilicas prius discludebat, interuallum continuatur, e regione basilicae nouae super medianum arcum hi uersus sunt: Vt medium ualli, pax nostra, resoluit Iesus / Et cruce discidium perimens duo fecit in unum, / Sic noua destructo ueteris discrimine tecti / Culmina conspicimus portarum foedere iungi. / Sancta nitens famulis interluil atria lymphis / Cantharus intrantumque manus lauat amne ministro.

11 Paulinus, Carm. 27.365–69Google Scholar(Hartel, , Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Nolani, 30. 278): ast ubi consaeptum quadrato tegmine circa / uestibulum medio reseratur in aethera campo, / hortulus ante fuit male culto caespite, rarum / area uilis holus nullos praebebat ad usus.Google Scholar

12 It is difficult to know whether the plural here is a real or a poetic plural. See also below: Carm. 28.9: atria (plur.), but Carm. 28.54: area (sing.).

13 Paulinus, Carm. 27.395402Google Scholar(Hartel, , Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Nolani, 30. 279–80): sed rursum redeamus in atria, conspice sursum / inpositas longis duplicato tegmine cellas / porticibus, metanda bonis habitacula digne, / quos hue ad sancti iustum Felicis honorem / duxerit orandi studium, non cura bibendi. / nam quasi contignata sacris cenacula tectis / spectant de superis altaria tuta fenestris, / sub quibus intus habent sanctorum corpora sedem.Google Scholar

14 The fact that Paulinus does not mention the cantharus in this description is no reason not t o identify the courtyard as the one located between the two churches. Goldschmidt, (Paulinus's Churches, 115)Google Scholar pointed out that Paulinus might not have installed the cantharus yet; Paulinus may not have mentioned it for other reasons.

15 Paulinus, Carm 27.463–90Google Scholar(Hartel, , Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Nolani, 30. 282–84): forsitan haec inter cupidus spectacula quaeras, / unde replenda sit haec tot fontibus area diues, / cum procul urbs et ductus aquae prope nullus ab urbe / exiguam hue tenui dimittat limite guttam. / respondebo, nihil propria nos fidere dextra, / nil ope terrena confidere, cuncta potenti / deposuisse deo et fontes praesumere caelo. / denique cisternas adstruximus undique tectis, / capturi fundente deo de nubibus amnes, / unde fluant pariter plenis caua marmora labris. / quod si etiam interdum obueniat defectus aquarum, / ordine disposito uarias distincta figuras / concharumque modis et pictis florida metis / forte erit et siccis spectabilis area uasis. / namque tenes etiam magna Salomonis in aede / quam fuerit decori siccum mare, quod sapiens rex / aere dedit solido et tauris suspendit aenis. / aspice nunc aliud latus: ut sit porticus una, / et paries mediis spatio bipatente columnis / culmine discretas aditu sibi copulat aulas. / tempus in hanc transire oculis peragrantibus aedem, / quae longum reserata latus, cum lumine caeli / adquirit spatium tecti, quod in atria iuncta / panditur, insertos socians disiuncta per arcus / et populis rigui praebet spectacula campi, / quern tamen includunt structo circumdata saepto / moenia, ne pateant oculis sacra tecta profanis / uestibulumque patens aurae defendat operta.Google Scholar

16 Paulinus, Carm. 28.15Google Scholar(Hartel, , Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Nolani, 30. 291): In ueteri nobis noua res adnascitur actu, / et solita insolito crescunt sollemnia uoto, / materiamque simul mihi carminis et simul almi / natalem geminant Felicis in aedibus eius / nata recens opera haec, quae molibus undique celsis / cernitis emicuisse pari splendentia cultu. / istic porticibus late circumdata longis / uestibula incluso tectis reserantur operto / et simul astra oculis, ingressibus atria pandunt. illic adiunctis sociantur moenibus aulae / diffusoque situ simul et coeunte patentes / aemula consertis iungunt fastigia tignis / et paribus uarie speciosae cultibus extant / marmore pictura laquearibus atque columnis, / inter quae et modicis uariatur gratia cellisGoogle Scholar.

17 For area as inner court, see Goldschmidt, , Paulinas' Churches, 132–33.Google Scholar

18 Paulinus, Carm. 28.2852Google Scholar(Hartel, , Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Nolani, 30. 292–93): interior uariis ornatibus area ridet, / laeta super tectis et aperta luce serenis / frontibus atque infra niueis redimita columnis. / cuius in exposito praelucens cantharus extat, / quern cancellato tegit aerea culmine turris. / cetera dispositis stant uasa sub aere nudo / fonticulis, grato uarie quibus ordine fixis / dissidet artis opus, concordat uena metalli, / unaque diuerso fluit ore capacibus unda. / basilicis haec iuncta tribus patet area cunctis, / diuersosque aditus ex uno pandit ad omnes, / atque itidem gremio diuersos excipit uno / a tribus egressus, medio spatiosa pauito; / quod tamen ordinibus structis per quinque nitentum / agmina concharum series denseta coacto / marmore mirum oculis aperit, spatiantibus artat; / sed circumiectis in porticibus spatiari / copia larga subest interpositisque columnas / cancellis fessos incumbere et inde fluentes / aspectare lacus pedibusque madentia siccis / cernere nee calcare sola et certamine blando / mirari placido salientes murmure fontes. / non solum hiberno placitura in tempore praesto est / commoditas, quia sic tecti iuuat umbra per aestum, / sicut aprica placent in frigore siccaque in imbriGoogle Scholar.

19 Paulinus, Carm. 28.5359Google Scholar(Hartel, , Sancti Pontii Meropii Pavlini Nolani, 30. 293): parte alia patet exterior quae cingitur aeque / area porticibus, cultu minor, aequore maior. / ante sacras aedes longe spectabile pandit / uestibulum, duplici quae extructis tegmine cellis / per contextarum coeuntia tigna domorum / castelli speciem meditatur imagine muri / conciliisque forum late spatiabile panditGoogle Scholar.

20 The term “Parian” stands for “very white”; this qualification of marble was also used in the Septuagint in the description of the Temple of Solomon and became a literary topos; see Fischer, Moshe, “‘… on Parian pillars’ (The Book of Esther 1:6): Bible, Midrash and Real Marble in the Ancient Near East,” JJS 50 (1999) 235-15CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hoek, Annewies van den and Herrmann, John, “Parian Marble in Nola: Historical Reality or Literary Fiction?,” ASMOSIA 1998: Abstracts (Boston 1998)Google Scholar; and eidem, Proceedings ofASMOSIA 5 (Fifth International Conference of the Association for the Study of Marble and Other Stones in Antiquity; [forthcoming]).

21 Paulinus, Carm. 28.5359Google Scholar(Hartel, , Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Nolani, 30. 303): quam bene mutavit speciem, post stercoris usum / marmoris ornatum, Parias post vilia conchas / brassica fert et splendet aquis quae sorde nitebat.Google Scholar

22 Goldschmidt, , Paulinus' Churches, 172–74Google Scholar.

23 κάυθαροs,“LSJ, 874b: 1. dung-beetle (scarab); 2. drinking cup with large handles; 3. a kind of Naxian boat; 4. black sea-beam; 5. (in Egypt) mark or knot of the Apis-bull; 6. woman's ornament (possibly in the form of a scarab).

24 See CAF, Phrynicus frg. 15; Amipsius frg. 2; Axionicus frg. 7.

25 See Plautus, Asinaria 906Google Scholar; Menaechmi 177; Mostellaria 347.

26 In Greek κóγχη is a “mussel” or perhaps a “cockel”; it also stands for shell-like cavities i n the body, such as the “hollow of the ear” or the “knee pan”; in addition “niches” for statues or “apses” of buildings can be called κóγχαι.

27 Pliny, the Elder Hist. nat. 36.184Google Scholar: mirabilis ibi columba bibens et aquam umbra capitis infuscans; apricantur aliae scabentes sese in canthari labro (“remarkable there is a dove drinking and darkening the water with the shadow of its head; others bask in the sun preening themselves on the rim of a cantharus“).

28 Ulpian, Dig. 30. 41. 11: canthari per quos aquae saliunt, poterunt legari, maxime si impositicii sunt (“canthari with water spouts can be bequested, in particular if they are not fastened”).Google Scholar

29 Lyon, Eucherius ofInstructiones ad Salonium 2 (CSEL 31; ed. Carolus Wotke; Vienna: Tempsky, 1894) 147:Google Scholar Luteres in Regnorum conchae vel canthari aquarii. Sed et cantharus Graecum nomen est (“Luteres in the book of Kings are conches or water canthari; but also cantharus is a Greek word”).

30 Particularly through passages in 1 Kings 7, which describe the water arrangements in the Temple of Solomon.

31 See Gregory the Great Regula Pastoralis, Epistulae, Expositio Veteris ac Novi Testamenti.

32 See also the legend of the martyr Pelagia, which is extant in a Greek and Latin version: λουτήρ appears as concha in the Latin text; Vita Pelagiae 5 (Hermann Usener, Legenden der Pelagia [Bonn: C. Georgi, 1879] 6)Google Scholar and (PL 73. 665-66). On rare occasions Jerome did translate λουτήρ in the Vulgate as concha; see 2 Chr 4:6, 14. Conca also occurs in Judg 6:38, but the word in the LXX is λEκάυη.

33 See “cantharus”: Itala III reg. 7. 38 (Legion), Thesaurus Lingua Latina; this reference is hard to find since only Itala (Legion.) is indicated and no edition is provided. The Cambridge edition of the LXX solved the problem; see the following note. With special thanks to Gloria Korsman and Cliff Wunderlich of the Andover-Harvard Library for their help in finding sources like these.

34 Vercellone, Carlo, ed., Variae lectiones Vulgatae Latinae Bibliorum editionis (Rome: Spithover, 1860-1864) 2.482.Google ScholarBrooke, Alan E., Norman McLean, and Henry St. John Thackeray, The Old Testament in Greek. According to the text of Codex Vaticanus, supplemented from other uncial manuscripts with a critical apparatus containing the variants of the chiefancient authorities for the text of the Septuagint (3 vols.; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1906-1940) 2.2. 231.Google Scholar

35 See 1 Kgs 7:24, 29 LXX (= 1 Kgs 7:38, 43 MT and Vg). Jerome, however, is not always consistent in his translation from the Greek. In the instances, in which χυτρóκαυλοs occurs, he translates them as luter (1 Kgs 7:38 Vg = 1 Kgs 7.24 LXX). In other passages, however, in which the LXX has λουτήρ, Jerome may choose not only luter but also other words, such as labium, labrum, lebes, or conca.

36 Also known as χυδρóκαυλοs, χυδρóγαυλοs, or κυτρόγαυλοs.

37 See “χύτρα,” LSJ, 2014a; referring to the comical author of the 5th century BCE, Eunicus, frg. 1: ΑαβοÛσα τών Φίλησον τήν χύτραν. See also Pollux, Onomasticon 10. 100.Google Scholar

38 See, for example, in Dutch: de oren van een pot.

39 Diehl, Ernest, Inscriptions Latinae Christianae veteres (4 vols.; Berlin: Weidmann, 1961-1967) 1. 1514:Google Scholar Perdiderat laticum longaeva incuria cursus quos tibi nunc pleno cantharus ore vomit (“longtime negligence had lost the waterflows, which at present a cantharus vomits out with a full mouth for you”).

40 Paulinus, Ep. 13.13:Google Scholar cantharum … fluenta ructantem (see above).

41 Passio Quattuor Coronatorum 1.5, Ada Sanctorum, Novembris, III (Brussels, 1910) 768:Google Scholar cavare concas et lacus cum sigillis et cantharis (“to carve ‘conches’ and basins with small figures and drinking cups”); see also Goldschmidt, , Paulinus's Churches, 114.Google ScholarPrudentius, (Psychomachia, 367)Google Scholar speaks about a party and a huge cantharus (cantharus ingens), in which wine is kept.

42 For cum + ace, see Blaise-Chirat, , “cum,” Dictionaire Latin-Français des auteurs Chrétiens (Steenbrugge: Brepols, 1956).Google Scholar

43 Liber Pontificalis 1. 262; edition of Duchesne, Louis, Le Liber Pontificalis. Texte, Introduction et Commentaire (1886; reprinted Paris: Éditions E. de Boccard, 1981).Google Scholar

44 The phrase seems euphemistic and Duchesne has interpreted this as a reference to a public toilet or forica; Duchesne, , Liber Pontificalis, 1. 267Google Scholar, n. 28. The location out in the open in front of the church, however, seems to preclude such a function.

45 Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.4.3745.Google Scholar

46 See Bardy, Gustave, ed., Eusèbe de Césarée, Histoire ecclésiastique VIII-X (SC 55; Paris: Cerf, 1993) 81, n. 1Google Scholar.

47 For more information, see the extended footnote in ibid., 93, n. 60. See also Cameron, Averil and Hall, Stuart, Eusebius, Life of Constantin (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999) 273-301, 387–39Google Scholar.

48 Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.4.3941Google Scholar.

49 It is hard to support this observation other than with the internal evidence of the descriptions themselves. Rufinus did not translate the panegyric into Latin; therefore, the question arises as to whether Paulinus could have read Eusebius's works in Greek. Some of his works were known to Paulinus, since he himself reported in Ep. 3.3 to have sent a copy of Eusebius's Chronicon to Augustine's friend Alypius.

50 The literary background for this may lie in texts such as Ex 30:21; 40:31; and Ps 58:11. See also Beatrice, Pier Franco, La lavanda dei piedi, contribute) alia storia delle antiche liturgie cristiane (Rome: C.L.V.-Edizioni liturgiche, 1982)Google Scholar.

51 The accounts of the Cappadocians of church building do not speak about water fountains or basins; see Nyssa, Gregory ofEpistula 25Google Scholar, and Nazianze, Gregory ofOr. 18.39Google Scholar. The latter does mention an open space in the church financed by his father, but the rich springs there are used metaphorically as springs or sources of light (лήγαι Φωτòs лλουσíαι).

52 Chrysostom, JohnHabentes eundem spiritum (hom. 13)Google Scholar, PG 51. 300. 34-43: Kαθάлερ лρóτερο οὕτωs εύχώμεθα; see also ibid., 302. 11-14.

53 See also Ex 30:12 LXX.

54 Chrysostom, Depaenitentia (hom. 19)Google Scholar, PG 49. 294.11 36-42: Λύτρον ψυχῆς ἐστιν ἐλεημοσύνη. Comparing washing parts of the body and the purification of the soul has a long tradition and is also attested in Jewish writers such as Philo and Josephus.

55 Tertullian, Oral. 13.1:Google Scholar Ceterum quae ratio est manibus quidem ablutis spiritu vero sordente orationem obire (“Yet what sense does it make to perform a prayer with clean hands but with a dirty mind”).

56 Chrysostom, JohnIn epistulam II ad Timotheum (hom. 110)Google Scholar, PG 62. 635. 10-16: Ούδέυ.

57 For inscribed objects, see CIG 4. 8940.1, from Constantinople, now in Paris; Peek, GVI 1720 from Apamea in Pisidia; SEG 26. 1016, from the Katapoliani on Paros. For literary sources, see Anthologia Palatina 16. 387c (ed. Beckby, H.)Google Scholar. Compare also Chrysostom, JohnExp. in Psalmos, PG 55. 65. 1113.Google Scholar

58 Diehl, , ICL I. 1557Google Scholar, Viterbo 6th century.

59 See Athenaeus, Deipno sophistae 5.2g (ed. Kaibel, G.)Google Scholar.

60 See, for example, Ex 30:18-21; 1 Kgs 2:35; 7:17.

61 Pliny, the Younger Ep. 5.6.23:Google Scholar Fonticulus in hoc, in fonte crater; circa sipunculi plures miscent iucundissimum murmur (“In there is a little fountain and a crater on the fountainhead; around it a multitude of pipes stir up a most delightful murmur”). Justinian, , Digesta 33.7:Google Scholar Fistula autem et canales et crateres et si qua sunt alia ad aquas salientes necessaria, item seae et claves magis domus portio quam domus instrumentum sunt (“But waterpipes, channels and craters—and if there are any other things necessary for water spouts as well as the nuts and bolts—are part of the house rather than its furnishing”). Although in Greek the word “crater” can have multiple meanings, the crater as water fountain is a particularly Latin phenomenon.

62 Plato, Tim. 41d speaks of a ρατήρ τῶυ ψυχῶν, a “crater of the souls.” This concept comes up in the discussion of the creation of the world and of living creatures. It refers to the mixing of souls, their ranking and destiny, an idea that was introduced to the Latin, speaking world as well; see, for example, derogatively used byGoogle ScholarArnobius, Nat. 2.25Google Scholar [anima] affluens ex crateribus vivis, (“[the soul] flowing abundantly from living craters”); also Arnobius, Nat. 2.52Google Scholar(with reference to Plato as the “mixmaster” of souls), and Chalcidius, Commentary on Plato's Timaeus 140.Google Scholar

63 One of the frequently used biblical texts in this respect is Prov 9:1-5 in the version of the VL (Cyprian, Test. 2.2):Google Scholar Sapientia … miscuit in cratere (in cratere om.Vg.) vinum suum … et misit servos suos convocans cum excelsa praedicatione ad craterem (“Wisdom mixed its wine n i a crater … and sent out its servants while calling [the unwise] together with a lofty proclamation to the crater”). This text was very familar to Origen; see, for example, Cant. hom. 4 (GCS Origen 8. 184) and Jer. hom. 12.1 (GCS Origen 3. 86-87). Origen may well have influenced other writers with his interpretation not only in the Greek, but also in the Latin-speaking world. See Ambrose, De obitu Valentiniani Consolatio (CSEL 73; ed. Fallen, 362):Google Scholar Sapientia enim in cratere miscuit vinum suum, dicens: venite, edite panes meos, et bibite vinum, quod miscui vobis (“For Wisdom mixed its wine in a crater, saying: come, eat my loaves of bread, and drink the wine that I mixed for you”). Jerome renders this text in his translation of Origen's homilies on Jeremiah, , Jeremiah (hom. 9), PL 25. 648c: Et sapientia convocat ad craterem suum, dicens: venite, manducate panes meos, et bibite vinum quod miscui vobis (“And Wisdom calls together to its mixing bowl, saying: come, eat my loaves of bread and drink the wine that I mixed for you”).Google Scholar

64 Jerome, Comm. in eccl. 2.8Google Scholar(CC 72; ed. Adriaen, ; 267):Google Scholar et sapientia cratere mixto in Proverbiis praetereuntes ad se convocat, corpus Domini nunc craterem magnum debemus accipere (“and through the mixing bowl in Proverbs, Wisdom calls to itself those who do not pay attention; we now should receive the body of the Lord, the big crater”).

65 For an excellent survey, see the article of Schneider, Alfonz Maria, “Cantharus,” Reallexikon fiir Antike and Christentum (ed. Klauser, Theodor; 18 vols; Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1950-), 2. 845–47.Google Scholar

66 Socrates, Hist. eccl. 38. 127Google Scholar(ed. Hussey): ὢστε τὴν αὐλὴν τής ἐκκλησίας ἐκείνης αἵματος

67 Compare also the elaborate allegorical discussion of the differences between Φρεάρ and лηή in Origen, lo. Com 13Google Scholar.

68 For more examples, see Schneider, , “Cantharus,” 845–47Google Scholar. François Bovon has brought to our attention the rare term άγνευτήριον; see Bovon, Francis, “Fragment Oxyrhynchus 840, Fragment of a Lost Gospel, Witness of an Early Christian Controversy over Purity,” JBLGoogle Scholar, forthcoming. An extensive study of the shape of vessels and their Latin nomenclature is published by Hilgers, Werner, Lateinische Gefäfβnamen. Bezeichnungen, Funktion und Form römischer Gefäβe nach den antiken Schriftquellen (Düsseldorf: Rheinland, 1969).Google Scholar

69 αύλή in Greek or atrium in Latin; see Goldschmidt, , Paulinus's Churches, 115–16Google Scholar.

70 This is marble from Iasos in Caria; see Borghini, G., ed., Marmi antichi (Rome: De Luca, 1997) 207, 289Google Scholar.

71 January, the month in which the new consuls take office; see Friedländer, Paul, Johannes von Gaza undPaulus Silentiarius: KunstbeschreibungenJustinianischerZei (Sammlung Wissenschaftlicher Kommentare zu griechischen und römischen Schriftstellern; Leipzig: Teubner, 1912) 284Google Scholar.

72 This is Epiphany; see Friedländer, (Johannes von Gaza und Paulus Silentiarius, 284)Google Scholar, who refers to Chrysostom; see Chrysostom, JohnDe baptismo 2Google Scholar(PG 49. 369D). Chrysostom speaks about the belief in the power of the water drawn at Epiphany.

73 Silentiarius, PaulusDescriptio sanctae Sophiae, 594600:Google Scholarμηκεδανής δ ἐριτιμονἐς ὀμΦαλὸν

74 See also the interesting use in Perpetua's vision of her deceased brother Dinocrates, who drinks water from a golden phiale (Mart. Perp. et Fel. 8.1). The Greek word in this Latin text means probably that it had litugical significance.

75 van den Hoek and Herrmann, “Parian Marble in Nola”; eidem, Proceedings ofASMOSIA 5[forthcoming].

76 Elder, Pliny theHist. nal. 33.150Google Scholar; Macrobius, Sat. 21.16Google Scholar; Sidonius, Carm. 22.31Google Scholar; Arnobius, Nat. 6.25Google Scholar; Valerius, Maximus 6.6Google Scholar; CIL 9. 358; Milne, M. and Richter, G., Shapes and Names of Athenian Vases (New York: Plantin, 1935) 2526Google Scholar; Hilgers, , Lateinische Gefäβinamen, 137Google Scholar.

77 Gasparri, C. and Veneri, A., “Dionysos,” Lexikon iconograpicum mythologiae classicae 3 (Zurich: Artemis 1986).Google Scholar

78 Gift of Frederick M. Watkins 1960.236: Richter, G., “The Kleophrades Painter,” AJA 40 (1936) 100115CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Beazley, J., The Kleophrades Painter (Mainz: Zabern, 1974) 15Google Scholar, no. 28; The Frederick M. Watkins Collection (Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1973) 5053Google Scholar, no. 20; Houser, C., Dionysos and His Circle: Ancient through Modern (Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1979) 2931Google Scholar, cat. no. 4.

79 For example, see Sparkes, B. and Talcott, L., The Athenian Agora 12: Black and Plain Pottery (Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1970) 122–24, pl. 29Google Scholar. For a special case, not relevant here, however, see Love, I., “Kantharos or Karchesion?” in Sandier, L., ed., Essays in Memory of Karl Lehmann (New York: Institute of Fine Arts, 1964) 204–22Google Scholar.

80 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 01.8023. Sparkes, B., “Black Perseus,” Antike Kunst 11 (1968) 4-7, 1011Google Scholar, figs. 1, 2; pi. 2, 1.2; Krauskopf, I., “Perseus und die Sphinx,” Archäologischer Anzeiger (1986) 9596Google Scholar, 98, figs. 1-2.

81 Hilgers, , Lateinische Gefafinamen, 4648Google Scholar, figs. 20-24. Hilgers (ibid., 76-77, figs. 65-68) terms cups with vertical handles that do not rise above the rim (as in fig. 2 here) “scyphi.” The designation is also followed by Stefanelli, L. Pirzio Biroli, L'argento dei romani (Rome: Bretschneider, 1991) figs. 8587.Google Scholar The terminology is not entirely satisfactory, however, since the Greek term “skyphos” is universally referred to a cup with horizontal loop handles; see Sparkes, and Talcott, , Athenian Agora, 8187Google Scholar, pis. 14-17.

82 The mosaic from Hadrian's Villa in the Capitoline is considered the closest copy: Parlasca, K., “Das pergamenische Taubenmosaic und der sogenannte Nestor-Becher,” Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (1963) 256–68Google Scholar; Pfuhl, E., Masterpieces of Greek Drawing and Painting (trans. Beazley, J. D.; London: Chatto & Windus, 1955) 137Google Scholar, fig. 155. A closely related but earlier mosaic from Pompeii is a more baroque elaboration: Pfuhl, , Masterpieces of Greek Drawing and Painting; Parlasca, “Das pergamenische Taubenmosaic,” 264–66Google Scholar, fig. 2; Le collezioni del Museo Nazionale di Napoli. I mosaici (Rome: De Luca, 1986) cat. no. 17Google Scholar; Maulucci, F. P., The National Archaeological Museum of Naples (Naples: Carcavallo, 1988) 69Google Scholar.

83 Tassinari, S., Il vasellame bronzeo di Pompei (Rome: Bretschneider, 1993)Google Scholar “Bacili e colatoi di grandi dimensioni” S 1000-6000, 90-97, pis. 172-76, drawings (V. Morlando-d'Aponte) 200-40.

84 Ginouvès, R., Balaneutikè (Paris: De Boccard, 1962) 6175Google Scholar, figs. 36-47.

85 Annecchino, M., “Suppellettile fittile da cucina di Pompei,” L'instrumentum domesticum di Ercolano e Pompei nella prima età imperiale (Rome: Bretschneider, 1977) 109-110, 117Google Scholar; figs. 2, 10-12; pis. 52, 7.

86 The Homeric vessel was very large and was used for mixing wine and water at a banquet. In spite of its apparent role as a crater, however, some ancient writers interpreted the depas of Nestor as a wine cup and hence a cantharus. Parlasca, (“Das pergamenische Taubenmosaic,” 264–73)Google Scholar argues that because of the presence of doves on both Nestor's and Sosus's vessel, Pliny would have been misled into thinking that Sosus's water vessel should be associated with the Homeric depas-cantharus.

87 For washbasins on high pedestals called λουrήρ or, more commonly, λουτήριον, see Ginouvès, , Balaneutikè, 99Google Scholar, figs. 50-72; Sparkes, and Talcott, , Athenian Agora, 218–21Google Scholar, figs. 16, 20, pis. 88-89, cat. nos. 1854–1883. By the fifth century, however, the use of luter in the West had been strongly conditioned by the Vulgate, in which Jerome introduced this Graecism taken over from the Septuagint (see above, Literary Evidence).

88 Height 14.0 cm; by M. Perennius Bargathes, of Tiberian date. The remains of a Bargathes stamp ( … ATE) with its characteristic ligature of the T and the E survives. Compare Palange, F. P. Porten, La ceramica arretina a rilievo nell'Antiquarium del Museo Nazionale in Roma (Florence: La Nuova Italia, 1966) cat. no. 43Google Scholar, pi. 34 g. For the date, see idem, Marcus Perennius Bargathes (Rome: Viella, 1984) 1418Google Scholar; cited in Moevs, M. T. Marabini, “Philosophers and Scholars in Roman Caricatures of Alexandrian Origin,” in al, N. Bonacasa et., eds., L'Egitto in Italia dall'antichità al medioevo (Rome: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 1998) 439Google Scholar.

89 The vessel could also be interpreted as a low cup (kylix?) with high-swung loop handles; compare Tassinari, S., Il vasellame bronzeo di Pompei, 78Google Scholar, pi. 172, drawing (V. Morlando-d'Aponte) 167, nn. 4062, 9197. In this case there would be a merging of the form of cantharus and kylix.

90 Jashemski, W., The Gardens ofPompeii, Herculaneum and the Villas Destroyed by Vesuvius (New Rochelle, NY: Caratzas Bros., 1979) figs. 54-58, 131, 480, 530, 535Google Scholar.

91 On marble vases of this form, see especially Grassinger, D., Römische Marmorkratere (Mainz: Zabern, 1991)Google Scholar.

92 For two marble kylikes of the first century BCE or CE, in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome, see Gusman, P., L'art décoratif de Rome 1 (Paris: Albert Morance, n.d.) pi. 7aGoogle Scholar; see also Strong, D. E., Roman Imperial Sculpture (London: Tiranti, 1961) 12, 89, fig. 20Google Scholar.

93 Paribeni, R., Notizie degli scavi dell'antichità 1902, (Rome: Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, 1902) 568–78Google Scholar; Vermeule, C. and Comstock, M., Sculpture in Stone and Bronze: Additions to the Collections of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Art 1971–1988 (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1988) cat. no. 41Google Scholar.

94 Tassinari, S., Il vasellame bronzeo di Pompei (Rome: Bretschneider, 1993)Google Scholar “Bacili e colatoi di grandi dimensioni,” S2000 series, 90-94, pis. 138, 140, drawing (V. Morlando-d'Aponte) 204-11.

95 It is interesting to compare this usage to that of the Greek term kotyle, which was applied to any hollow vessel, including the winecup of Dionysos; see Milne, and Richter, , Shapes and Names of Athenian Vessels, 2528Google Scholar.

96 On marble craters with relief decoration, see D. Grassinger, Römische Marmorkratere. For references to craters as fountains, see Younger, Pliny theEp. 5.6.23Google Scholar; Justinian, Dig. 33.7.24Google Scholar(for the text, see Literary Evidence).

97 For this example, see Herrmann, J., In the Shadow of the Acropolis: Popular and Private Art in Fourth Century Athens (1984; 2d ed.; Salt Lake City, UT: Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 1988) 13, 45, no. 42Google Scholar.

98 No apparent restorations in marble; height to rim 184 cm. The vase has stood in the atrium of Saint Cecilia since the Middle Ages; see Antonini, C., Manuale di vari ornamenti componenti la serie de' vasi antichi (Rome: Stamperia De Romanis, 1821) 2, pi. 15Google Scholar; Heemskerck, Martin van, Die römische Skizzenbücher (4 vols; ed. Huelsen, C. and Egger, H.; Berlin: Julius Bard, 1913) 1. 1920Google Scholar, fol. 31 v., 36v.; Tormo, E., Os desenhos das antigualhas que vio Francisco d'Ollanda pintor portugués (… 1539-1540 …) (Madrid: Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, 1940) 139Google Scholar, fol. 30 v.; Krautheimer, R., Corpus basilicarum Christianarum Romae 1 (Vatican city: Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana, 1937) 97, 103-4, 110Google Scholar, fig. 64 (henceforth cited as CBCR); Ambrogi, A. in Museo Nazionale Romano: Le Sculture (Rome: De Luca, 1984) 1. 7. 567Google Scholar.

99 Height to rim 218 cm. Ambrogi, A. in Museo Nazionale Romano: Le Sculture 1. 7. 566–68(cat. no. xxv. 37)Google Scholar.

100 Height ca. 155 cm. Clarac, C. de, Musée de sculpture antique et moderne 2 (Paris: Impr. royale, 1826-1853) 428-29, pi. 172, no. 129Google Scholar; Reinach, S., Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine (Paris: E. Leraux, 1897) 1. 64Google Scholar; cited in Grassinger, , Römische Marmorkratere, 220Google Scholar, EI2A. See also, Ambrogi, in Museo Nazionale Romano: Le Sculture 1. 7. 568Google Scholar.

101 For paintings of garden vases, see Jashemski, , Gardens of Pompeii, figs. 92-102, 104-106, 109, 113, 115, 123-25, 130, 470–75Google Scholar. For vessels with the shapes of kantharoi, see figs. 104, 470, 471.

102 Franciscis, A. de, The Pompeian Wall Paintings in the Roman Villa of Oplontis (trans. Kunisch, R.; Recklinghausen: Bongers, 1975) pis. 17, 23Google Scholar.

103 Jashemski, , Gardens of Pompeii, 64, fig. 104Google Scholar.

104 Ibid., 306, fig. 470.

105 The form of kylix and cantharus had merged in a similar fashion in the early Hellenistic period; see Pfrommer, M., Studien zur alexandrinischer und groβgriechischer Toreutik frühhellenistischer Zeit (Berlin: Mann, 1987) 34Google Scholar, pi. 40. Such cups with high-looped handles would be termed “cup-cantharus” in English, “Pokalkantharos” in German, and, as Pfrommer argues, “karchesion” in Greek.

106 Jashemski, , Gardens of Pompeii, 92, 95, 113, 440Google Scholar. No real basins of this form, however, seem to have been found.

107 Ibid., 77-79, figs. 123-24.

108 See above, Carmen 28, Courtyard 1.

109 Jashemski, , Gardens of Pompeii, 115-40, 349, n. 51Google Scholar.

110 For preliminary notices, see Fiema, Z. T., “The Petra Project,” American Council for Oriental Research Newsletter 5.1 (1993) 3Google Scholar; Pensabene, P., he vie del marmo (Ostia: Soprintendenza Archeologica di Ostia, 1994) 314Google Scholar, fig. 312. A full publication by the author will appear in the forthcoming excavation report on the church.

111 The foot and much of the body of the basin are restored; see Vermeule, C., Cahn, W., and Hadley, R., Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston: Trustees of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1977) cat. no. 73Google Scholar. For a sculptural representation of a cantharus-crater with panther handles, see Vermeule, C., Sculpture in Stone (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1976) 152–53Google Scholar, cat. no. 244; idem, “Souvenirs of Alexander the Great's March through Persia to India,” Fenway Court (1983) 42-45, fig. 1.

112 Prudentius, Psychomachia 367Google Scholar; see n. 41 above.

113 For example, see Dunbabin, K., The Mosaics ofRoman North Africa (Oxford: Clarendon, 1978) 173-74, 190, 193–95Google Scholar, figs. F, 92, 110, 171, 174, 184, 185, 188.

114 Mitten, David G., “The Synagogue,” BASOR 174 (1964) 3033Google Scholar, fig. 17. On the chronology, see Seager, A., “The Building History of the Sardis Synagogue,” AJA 76 (1983) 429Google Scholar; Bonz, M., “Differing Approaches to Religious Benefaction: The Late Third-Century Acquisition of the Sardis Synagogue,” HTR 86 (1993) 144–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a similar composition in a mosaic of the synagogue at Hammam Lif, Tunisia, see Goodenough, E., Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period (Bollingen Series 37; 8 vols.; New York: Pantheon, 1953-1968) 2. 89100Google Scholar, figs.887-88; 6. 179; Levine, L., The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000) 260–61Google Scholar, fig. 57.

115 Leclercq, H., “vigne,” in Cabrol, F. and Leclercq, H., eds., Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie (15 vols.; Paris: Letouzey et Ane, 1907-1953) 15. 2. 3113–18Google Scholar.

116 Goodenough, (Jewish Symbols, 2. 9495)Google Scholar has advanced this kind of interpretation for the cantharus panel at Hammam Lif, basing himself on a phrase of the accompanying donor's inscription (… PRO SALVTEM SVAM …). For canthari on Jewish ossuaries, Palestinian lamps, and Roman gold glass, see Goodenough, , Jewish Symbols, 3. 286-88, 978Google Scholar, figs. 155, 157; 1. 120; 4. 113, 118-19. Against interpreting imagery in synagogues, see Levine, , Ancient Synagogue, 561–79Google Scholar. For the fountain as a Christian symbol of salvation, see Paulinus's allegory on the cantharus of Saint Peter's, above, Literary Evidence.

117 Leclercq, H., “canthare,” in Cabrol, and Leclercq, , eds., Dictionnaire d'archéologie chretienne et de liturgie, 2. 2. 1955–69Google Scholar.

118 Schneider, , “cantharus,” 845–47Google Scholar.

118 Strzygowski, J., “Der Pinienzapfen als Wasserspeier,” Römische Mitteilungen 18 (1903) 185206Google Scholar; Petersen, E., “Pigna-Brunnen,” Römische Mitteilungen 18 (1903) 312–28Google Scholar; Huelsen, C., “Der Cantharus von Alt-St. Peter und die antiken Pignen-Brunnen,” Römische Mitteilungen 19 (1904) 87116Google Scholar, figs. 1-6, pi. 5; Krautheimer, R., CBCR 5 (1977) 229–30Google Scholar, 261-71, figs. 211-12. On marble pinecones, see Pettinau, B. in Museo Nazionale Romano: Le Sculture, 1. 7. 503–4 (cat. no. 18. 1)Google Scholar.

120 Huelsen, , “Cantharus von Alt-St. Peter,” 9599Google Scholar, fig. 4; Delbrueck, R., Antike Porphyrwerke (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1932) 5254Google Scholar, pis. 9-10. For the Pigna, see also Helbig, Wolfgang, Führer durch die öffentlichen Sammlungen klassischer Altertümer in Rom (ed. Speier, Hermine; 4 vols.; Tübingen: Wasmuth, 1963) 1. 375-78, nos. 478–79Google Scholar.

121 Mallius, Petrus, Historiae Basilicae Antiquae (1153-1183 CE) Ada Sanctorum, Junii, VII (Suppl. 2; Antwerp, 1717) 32*Google Scholar; Leclercq, , “canthare,” in Cabrol, and Leclercq, , eds., Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, 2. 2. 1958Google Scholar.

122 Cited in Krautheimer, , CBCR 5 (1977) 174Google Scholar; see also, above, Literary Evidence.

123 renovavit in atrium ante fores beati Petri Apostoli qui quadriporticos dicitur, columnas marmoreas VIII, mirae pulchritudinis, sculptas, quae desuper quadris composuit et aereum desuper conlocavit tegumenum (“in the atrium in front of the entrance [of the church] of the Blessed Apostle Peter, which is called the quadruple porch, he renovated [with] eight marble columns of amazing beauty, sculpted, which he placed over a square and he set up a bronze covering above”); cited in Krautheimer, , CBCR 5 (1977) 175Google Scholar.

123 Renovare can mean to renovate or to build anew.

125 Krautheimer, , CBCR 5 (1977) 267Google Scholar.

126 Ibid., 266, 271.

127 Ibid., 264, n. 3.

128 Huelsen, , “Cantharus von Alt-St. Peter,” 105–7Google Scholar.

129 Michael McCormick (personal communication) has pointed out that the large bronze pinecone at Charlemagne's palace chapel at Aachen may well have a bearing on the issue of dating. Given the church's many evocations of great imperial monuments in Italy, it is likely that the presence of the pine cone at Aachen was inspired by the water installation of Saint Peter's. It therefore follows that the Pigna was present at Saint Peter's by that time. On the “pigna” in Aachen, see Strzygowski, , “Pinienzapfen als Wasserspeier,” 203–5, fig. 13Google Scholar.

130 Krautheimer, , CBCR 5 (1977) 264Google Scholar.

131 Heemskerck, , Römische Skizzenbücher, 1. 21Google Scholar.

132 Ambrogi, in Museo Nazinale Romano: Le Sculture, 1. 7. 567Google Scholar(with bibliography).

133 Hanfmann, G., “The Tenth Campaign at Sardis,” BASOR 191 (1968) 2931Google Scholar, fig. 23; Majewski, L., “Restoration of the Marble Crater from the Synagogue,” BASOR 199 (1970) 5153Google Scholar, figs. 38, 43; Hanfmann, G., Sardis from Prehistoric to Roman Times (Cambridge, MA; Harvard University Press, 1983) 169Google Scholar, fig. 251; Levine, , Ancient Synagogue, 245, 306–7Google Scholar, figs. 45, 64. Porphyry vessels of similar form in Italy (Amalfi, Assisi) could well have been brought from Constantinople; see, Delbrueck, , Antike Porphyrwerke, 205–6, pi. 99Google Scholar.

134 The terminology for water vessels in general appears to have been more functionally based in Greek than in Latin (see first section of this article).

135 Buckler, W. H. and Robinson, D. M., Greek and Latin Inscriptions (Publications of the American Society for the Excavation of Sardis 7; Leiden: Brill, 1932) 3740Google Scholar, no. 17; Hanfmann, , “Tenth Campaign at Sardis,” 30Google Scholar. This identification was kindly called to our attention by David G. Mitten.

136 See an inscription from Philadelphia: Robert, L., “Inscriptions grecques de Side,” Revue de philologie, de littérature et d'histoire anciennes, 3 ser. 32 (1958) 1558Google Scholar; reprinted in Opera minora selecta: Épigraphie et antiquités grecques 5 (Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1989) 183Google Scholar; Lifshitz, B., Donateurs etfondateurs dans les synagogues juives (Cahiers de la revue biblique 7; Paris: J. Gabalda, 1967) 31Google Scholar, no. 28. This inscription was kindly called to our attention by Christopher Jones.

137 See, for example, Spinazzola, V., Le arti decorative in Pompei e net Museo Nazionale di Napoli (Milan: Bestetti e Tumminelli, 1928) pis. 66, 67Google Scholar.

138 Nola, Archivio Storico Diocesano di, Sante Visile, IV (1580) f. 138rGoogle Scholar; Ebanista, C., “Un vaso strigilato da Cimitile,” Campania Sacra 28 (1997) 11Google Scholar, n. 43. Some pin holes around the rim could have served to fasten the covering known to have existed in the 16th-century baptismal font.

139 Ebanista, , “Un vaso strigilato da Cimitile,” 1113Google Scholar.

140 Dinsmoor, W. Jr, “The Baptistery: Its Roofing and Related Problems,” in Wiseman, J. ed., Studies in the Antiquities of Stobi (Beograd: Boston University and the National Museum of Titov Veles, 1975) 2. 2021Google Scholar, figs. 6-9.

141 The criterion apparently used by Sparkes, and Talcott, , Athenian Agora, 122–24Google Scholar, pi. 28. With its low foot, the marble vase could be called a sessile cantharus. Romanists, however, tend to call such shapes “scyphus,” in conflict with the well-established definition of the Greek “skyphos.” See above, n. 81.

142 The Boston vase came from a collection in Naples, and a nearly identical piece was found in Nola itself; see Sparkes, , “Black Perseus,” 4-7, 1011Google Scholar, figs. 1, 2; pi. 2.1.2. The form of the marble cantharus is similar enough to that of ceramic examples for it too to be designated, following Sparkes, a cantharus of the “Perseus shape.”

143 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 1997.83. For other examples, see Stefanelli, , L'argento dei romani, pis. 98, 106-8, 184Google Scholar.

144 Ambrosini, A., Delle memorie storico-critiche del cimiterio di Nola (Naples, 1792) 434Google Scholar; cited in Ebanista, , “Un vaso strigilato da Cimitile,” 1112Google Scholar, nn. 45-46 (figs. 11-12).

145 van den Hoek and Herrmann, “Parian Marble in Nola”; idem, Proceedings of ASMOSIA 5[forthcoming].

146 At Petra, the pavonazzetto cantharus was not drilled for a supply of running water. The vessel was found broken into dozens of fragments in the nave of the church, and was apparently used there. A limestone pedestal and basin without handles were found in the atrium; they too were not connected to a supply of running water. This information from the excavators was kindly provided by Zbigniew Fiema.

147 Agnello, G., Siracusa nel medioevo e nel rinascimento (Caltanissetta: Salvatore Sciascia, 1964) pi. 68Google Scholar; idem, Guida del Duomo di Siracusa (Siracuse: Mascalli, 1964) 15. The vase was kindly called to our attention by Lorenzo Lazzarini, who also provided the bibliography.

148 In the cathedral of Naples, a Roman basalt vessel (handles broken off) decorated with theatre masks and thyrsi is used as the baptismal font. Its pedestal is porphyry. See Stefano, R. di, La cattedrale di Napoli: storia, restauro, scoperte, ritrovamenti (Naples: Editoriale Scientifica, 1975) 46Google Scholar, n. 38, figs. 7-9. The vessel was called to our attention by Lorenzo Lazzarini.