Subverting Objects, Values, and Ideas: Material Transformations of the Cult of Saint across Late Antique Afro-Eurasia
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
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| Description | As remarked by Peter Brown, the “passing of secular opulence into the opulence of churches […] was a privileged moment in the alchemy of wealth,” highlighting “[…] how treasure on earth became treasure in heaven.” (Peter Brown, Through the Eye of a Needle, p. 300). This moment deeply impacted the new ideas, monuments, and artifacts linked with the cult of saints and their relics which flourished around late antique Afro-Eurasia from the fourth century CE onwards. Precious objects were replaced and removed from the system of exchange and ostentation for which they had been designed to be used within a new cult focused around sacred spaces dedicated to the special dead. At the same time, the symbolic and material values of the ancient Roman world were subverted by Christians. This applies, for example, to objects made of gold, ivory or silver, materials notably favored for ostentatious gifts, ornamental, and cosmetic uses among the aristocracy, which now went to the saints. In this lecture, I propose to analyze some remarkable surviving texts and artifacts which, from Prudentius to Augustine, help us to understand the modalities of this subversion and its social and cultural parameters. |