Ambrosian Iliad
The Ambrosian Iliad or Ilias Picta (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Cod. F. 205 Inf.) is a 5th-century illuminated manuscript on vellum, which depicts the entirety of Homer's Iliad, including battle scenes and noble scenes. It is considered unique due to being the only set of ancient illustrations that depict scenes from the Iliad. The Ambrosian Iliad consists of 52 miniatures, each labeled numerically. It is thought to have been created in Alexandria, given the flattened and angular Hellenistic figures, which are considered typical of Alexandrian art in late antiquity,[1] in approximately 500 AD, possibly by multiple artists. The author(s) first drew the figures nude and then painted the clothes on, much like in Greek vase painting.[2] In the 11th century, the miniatures were cut out of the original manuscript and pasted into a Siculo-Calabrian codex of Homeric texts.
Comparisons of texts per page to other late antique manuscripts (Vatican Vergil, Vienna Genesis)[3] has led some to speculate these miniatures were originally part of a large manuscript.[4] This manuscript was unlike other illuminated manuscripts in its lack of gilding. Instead, the author(s) chose yellow ochre to represent gold within the individual images, i.e. the gold cuirasses of noble figures, and the halo of Zeus (folios XXXIV).[5]
Cardinal Angelo Mai, librarian of the Ambrosiana in the early 1800s, became convinced that the manuscript was from the 3rd century, and therefore philologically extremely important. He labelled the miniatures, and applied harsh chemicals to the manuscript in an attempt to improve the legibility of the text. His actions caused the miniatures' colors to bleed through the pages and left them in the damaged state they are in today.[4]
Today the Ambrosian Iliad is held in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, Lombardy, Italy, which is also the manuscript's namesake. It was purchased from Genoese collector Gian Vincenzo Pinelli's library and added, by the famed Cardinal Federico Borromeo, to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana on 14 June 1608.[6] The manuscript's images can be viewed on the Warburg Institute Iconographic Database.
References
- ^ Coarelli, Filippo (1962). "The Painted Cups of Begram and the Ambrosian Iliad". East and West. 13 (4): 317–335. JSTOR 29754619.
- ^ Bury, Jane (1897). "Early Christian Miniatures". ProQuest.
- ^ Kleiner, Fred (2012). Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Cengage Learning. pp. 85, 86, 248–250. ISBN 978-0495915423.
- ^ a b Bare, Ceil (2009). "Achilles and the Roman Aristocrat: The Ambrosian Iliad as a Social Statement". Florida State University.
- ^ Alexander, Shirley (1968). "Problems of Metal Usage In Some Late Antique and Early Christian Manuscripts". ProQuest.
- ^ "10 Collections for the Bibliophile". Museum Network. 2018-05-11. Archived from the original on 2020-02-29. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
Further reading
- Guglielmo Cavallo: Osservazioni di un paleografo per la data e l'origine dell'Iliade Ambrosiana, in: Dialoghi di Archeologia 7, 1973, p. 70–85
- Weitzmann, Kurt, ed., Age of spirituality: late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century, no. 193, 1979, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ISBN 9780870991790; full text available online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
- v
- t
- e
- Dactylic hexameter
- Homeric scholarship
- Homeric Laughter
- Homeric Question
- Jørgensen's law
- Historicity of the Iliad
- "The Iliad or the Poem of Force" (1939 essay)
- Interpretation of Achilles' and Patroclus' relationship
- Milawata letter
- Parallels between Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
- Rediscovering Homer
- Ambrosian Iliad
- Codex Nitriensis
- Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 20
- Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 21
- Uncial 098
- Venetus A
- Venetus B
- Ilias Latina (60–70 CE)
- Dictys Cretensis Ephemeridos belli Trojani (c. 4th century)
- Daretis Phrygii de excidio Trojae historia (5th century)
- Hermoniakos' Iliad (14th century)
- Men in Aida (1983)
Verse |
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Novels |
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- Rhesus (5th century BC play)
- Troilus and Cressida (1602)
- The Trojan War Will Not Take Place (1935)
- The Golden Apple (1954 musical)
- Helena (1924)
- Helen of Troy (1956)
- The Trojan Horse (1961)
- Troy (2004)
- The Myth Makers (1965)
- In Search of the Trojan War (1985)
- Helen of Troy (2003 miniseries)
- Troy: Fall of a City (2018 miniseries)
- King Priam (1961 Tippett opera)
- The Triumph of Steel (1992 album)
- "And Then There Was Silence" (2001 song)
- Tabulae Iliacae
- Achilles and Briseis
- Andromache Mourning Hector
- The Anger of Achilles
- The Ambassadors of Agamemnon in the tent of Achilles
- The Apotheosis of Homer
- Jupiter and Thetis
- The Loves of Paris and Helen
- Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus
- Orestes Pursued by the Furies
- The Revelers Vase
- Thetis Receiving the Weapons of Achilles from Hephaestus
- Statue of Zeus at Olympia
- Warriors: Legends of Troy (video game)
- Age of Bronze (comics)
- Sortes Homericae
- Heraclitus
- Weighing of souls
- Where Troy Once Stood
- Blood rain