Day 121 - First-millennium Europe

January 25, 2019

Gallery 301 contains a potpourri of objects -- among them, architectural elements, jewelry, lamps, a large floor mosaic-- that date from the first millennium and come from a wide expanse of Europe and other areas near the Mediterranean (rock crystal from Carthage, for example).

Again, there is so much to learn, or to be reminded of.  For one thing,  the "Barbari," although they came from lands outside the bounds of the Roman Empire, were intimately connected with Rome. Many barbarians in the areas closer to the empire's borders served as mercenaries in the Roman armies, and their art represents an admixture of  classical and Byzantine artistic traditions along with indigenous ones (some of the latter dating back to the Bronze Age). The caption explains that the Romans used the nearby tribes (the "Germanii") as buffers against more remote and hostile groups and paid their rulers in gold coins, which the rulers then used to commission luxury objects. The artisans certainly created many beautiful things. I also learned that the Celts settled a much broader area than I had imagined-- Brittany I knew,  but Belgium and Switzerland?  They didn't identify as a single ethnicity but probably comprised a number of distinct groups with related languages and cultures -- for example, the Helvetii in Switzerland and the Parisii (!) in France.

I was aware of the Celts' skill in metal-working, but only now learned that they also worked glass in intricate millefiori designs, like the one shown in the disk brooch in the top photo. The brooch, about 2 inches in diameter (the photo might actually be a bit larger than the brooch), was found in Rome, but the caption says that it was probably made in Gaul between 100 and 300 C.E.  To make such brooches, artisans fused together glass rods of different colors and then cut them into cross-sections and placed these on metal plates heated enough for the glass to adhere. But how tiny these rods must have been to produce the elaborate checked patterns and flowers in this brooch!

The objects in the gallery are so varied that I can't resist showing a second example: a copper alloy oil lamp from Byzantium, perhaps 8 inches high and 12 inches long, made between 400 and 600.  The swirls of the lamp include images of running dogs; I especially like the lower dog, as it bounds forward with its mouth open in pursuit of its prey. The lamp is a reminder that the "Dark Ages" may not have been dark in terms of artistic production, but they were quite literally dark,  and that people, rich and poor, depended on lamps like these -- along with candles, I suppose -- for illumination. (But did poor people even have lamps in their homes?)

Finally, I learn about a bellicose and militarily accomplished group of people from the steppes that I had never previously heard of, the Avars. Before they were finally defeated by Charlemagne, they conquered a lot of territory and amassed a lot of gold, which their goldsmiths worked into many beautiful things. I need to check it, but I can only imagine that the words "avarice" and "avaricious" have their origin in this wealthy, fearsome group.

later

Well, no. "Avaritia" was, of course, a Latin word. So if anything, it may have worked the other way around, with the Romans conferring a Latinate name on this plundering people. Or perhaps "avaritia" and "Avar" have completely independent derivations.