Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.17234/RadoviZHP.54.26
The Journeys of Cybele and Euphemia. Transport of the Holy Objects of the Pergamum Goddess and the Chalcedon Martyr (Summary)
Inga Vilogorac Brčić
Trpimir Vedriš
Sažetak
The Classical legend about the transport of the holy object of the Phrygian goddess Cybele from Pergamum to Rome centres on the miracle of the matron Claudia Quinta. A series of Classical literary sources, particularly notable among them those written by Livy (Ab Urbe condit. XXIX. 10, 11 and 14), Ovid (Fast. IV. 249-348), Silius Italicus (Pun. XVII. 1-47), Appian (Hann. 232. 1 – 237. 2), Herodian (I. 11. 3-5) and Julian the Apostate (Or. 159 B - 160 D), record that only she – with the help of the goddess – managed to move the ship bearing the deity’s statue and clergy which had been grounded in the shallows at the mouth of the Tiber River in Ostia. In the Rovinj codex Translatio corporis beatae Euphemiae from the 15th century, an anonymous writer recorded the transfer of the sarcophagus containing the body of the Chalcedon martyr Euphemia from Istanbul to Rovinj. Just like the vessel carrying Cybele’s statue, the ship with Euphemia’s sarcophagus ran aground on Rovinj’s seashore, and only a virtuous widow managed to move it and ensure its safe arrival to its final resting place.
Even though older authors maintained that the legend concerning the miracle of Euphemia’s sarcophagus rests on local popular lore, it seems that the legend’s central motif, at least in its preserved form, was inspired by the well-known Roman-era legend or was even directly assumed from this Classical precursor. When comparing the legend of Claudia Quinta to the legend of St. Euphemia, we found several common topoi and established that the writer of the Rovinj manuscript was mostly inspired by Ovid’s verses. That Ovid’s works were used by individual medieval writers is well attested, but they only became genuinely popular during the Renaissance, when the legend of Claudia Quinta was revived in various forms and media.
Until recently, the general dating of the Rovinj illuminated codex between the 13th and 15th centuries did not help in establishing the significance of the discovery of “Ovid’s fragment” in the legend on the transfer of St. Euphemia’s sarcophagus. The new, precise dating for the completion of the Rovinj codex based on the miniatures typical of the Pico Master, the most distinguished Venetian miniaturist of the final quarter of the 15th century, leads to the conclusion that the writer of the Rovinj legend paraphrased Ovid in the context of Humanism.
Ključne riječi
Great Mother Cybele, Euphemia, Pergamon, Rovinj, Rovinj illuminated codex, translation legend
Hrčak ID:
296891
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.2022.
Posjeta: 1.052 *