Unveiling the World of Byzantine Brides

Unveiling the World of the Byzantine Brides

Their Hopes, Their Fears and The Societal Expectations

World of signs, of the transcendental, and of the imaginary, Byzantium is whole only in its Christian-Hellenistic duality. 

The Layers of Meaning of a Byzantine  Ring

A marriage in Byzantium evokes the embroidered gowns and pearl-studded crowns promoted by the imperial mosaics adorning the Byzantine Churches from Ravenna to Constantinople. The Byzantine marriage objects that have come down to us, mostly from buried treasures or burials, are not very numerous. However, they exposed the much less noticeable finger-ring as the quintessential element of a Byzantine marriage.¹

Usually worn on the third finger, the marriage rings were not reserved for women, being also popular with men.¹ Along with other bridal luxury gifts – ivory caskets, pyxides, and gold marriage  belts- the AF.232 British Museum gold finger-ring was reserved for the upper classes of the early Byzantine Empire.^2,3

The more modest clientele used less noble metals, even if the misspelled “OM(o)NYA-concord” bezel inscription, and the rather crude engravings  on the ring’s bezel reflect more the owner’s wealth than her rank. Although the ring’s figural iconography articulates an overtly Christian visual propaganda, apparently neutral design elements unveil how the pagan rituals and Christianity coalesced into a hidden message of universal intercession and protection for the ring’s owner. 

Mark 10:9  “What G-d had joined together … “

Following the 337AC conversion of the emperor Constantine, Christian art triumphed. The early Christian apologists considered the offering of a gold ring an ancestral marriage custom, free of pagan stigma.⁴  Mirroring signet rings, the women marriage rings could be used to authenticate documents and secure household items, underlining a Christian wife’s role in administering the family wealth.^5,6 

We can easily distinguish in this 6th-7th centuries AC ring a young art, whose lively imagination is enchanted by Christian symbols and welded with the reasoned expression of classical art. The ring metalworking process seems borrowed directly from late Roman goldsmiths. However, the Byzantine aesthetic heightened the taste for polychromy, expressed here by the use of black niello.

The symmetrical composition of the bezel reflects the relative equality of rights of the couple.⁷ The bride and groom are dressed formally in a modest “tunica recta” and, respectively, a “chlamys” hold in place with a large fibula. Their heads are joyfully crowned with Roman nuptial wreaths, or coin-inspired spiked imperial headgears.⁸ The bride was not veiled.

The Christian identity of the ring owner, however, filtered her understanding of the Roman concept of marital harmony. Exuding an imperial marriage solidus vibe, the ring’s central figure is Christ. He is engraved at a slightly larger scale to emphasize the importance of his role. Christ acts as “deus pronubus” replacing the Roman goddesses Juno and Concordia. Christ only touches the couple shoulders to unite them in marriage. They do not join their right hands together in the Roman marital “dextrarum iunctio”.

Christ’s crossed halo emphasizes his sacrifice, while the abridged John 14:27 verse on the hoop “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you“ highlights the Christian belief that only God’s grace leads to universal harmony, not human acts.⁹

The Mysterious Star

The adoption of the theory-cult of Virgin Mary might have played a role in the choice of a star engraving below the bride’s feet. Remarkably, this mysterious star appears on only one other British Museum Byzantine ring. This second ring features back to back Christ and the Virgin blessing the newlyweds. The star is engraved above the Virgin.¹⁰

Concurrently, the mosaics of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo Basilica also depicted a star gleaming on the enthroned Virgin’s veil.¹¹ The later Orthodox Church iconography connected the three stars adorning the veil of Mary Theotokos -“Mother of God” to her alleged triple “virgin” status: before, during, and after her pregnancy with Christ.¹² Thus, it seems possible that the star symbolized the virgin status of the bride.

 

 

1 Thessalonians 5:8  “Let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.”

The association between the Byzantine bride imagery and the Virgin Mary has, however, its limitations, as Byzantine women fertility was often celebrated with mixed visual messages. Fear, death, hope, and desire all loomed above marital happiness and childbirth, dividing the ring meanings between the Christian expectations and the Hellenistic customs of warding off evil. The medico-magical rituals of the Kyranides book, the erotic Dionysian rites, and the poems of Dioscorus of Aphrodito commingled with Christianity.¹³

Recognizable Annunciation images, and Christ officiating under a canopy, presumably at the Jewish marriage in Cana were engraved together with “protective” biblical inscriptions in the Byzantine “Christian amulets”.¹⁴

To address such derives, the bishops continuously enacted punishments against magic for more than three centuries, from the early legislative acts of the Emperor Constantius II (337-361AC) to the ones of the Council in Trullo (691-692AC).¹⁵ The alleged magical childbirth amulets of the ring were its octagonal bezel and hoop, as well as the “OM(o)NYA” inscription.^16,17,18

Octagons were popular among the early Christians, possibly referencing Christ’s resurrection and their own rebirth hopes. The engraved “protective” verse also seems to reinforce the magical shield of the ring since the unabridged text John 14:27 urges Christians to have faith and not be afraid.

 

 

Taken together, the ring’s Hellenistic and Christian elements convey a nuanced and syncretic message of perpetual protection for the couple. At a larger scale, the persistence of magic in the progressively Christianized Byzantine society illustrates the interwoven coexistence of two radically different belief systems.

1. 1. Gary Vikan, “Art and Marriage in Early Byzantium,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 44 (1990): 146, 147, 151, https://doi.org/10.2307/1291624 .
   2. Ormonde Maddock Dalton, Catalogue Of Early Christian Antiquities And Objects From The Christian East: In The Department Of British And Mediaeval Antiquities And Ethnography Of The British Museum (London: BMP, 1901), 22 (Ring 130), https://ia600306.us.archive.org/15/items/catalogueofearly00brit/catalogueofearly00brit.pdf . 
   3. ”Finger-ring 232,” British Museum, accessed July 22, 2021, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1938-1010-1 . 
   4. Tertullian, “Chapter VI: That The Romans Are Mighty Praisers of the Antiquity of Their Religion, and Yet Admit of Novelties into It Everyday,” in The Apology of Tertullian, vol.31 of The Ancient & Modern Library of Theological Literature, William M Reeve, 6th ed. (London and Sydney: Newberry House, 1889), 21, https://www.tertullian.org/articles/reeve_apology.htm . 
   5. Gary Vikan, “Art and Marriage in Early Byzantium,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 44 (1990): 146, 147, 151, https://doi.org/10.2307/1291624 . 
   6. John Chrysostom, “The Kind of Women Who Ought to be Taken as Wives,” in Women in Early Christianity: Translations from Greek Texts, Patricia Cox Miller (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 2005), 271, ProQuest Ebook Central. 
   7. Thomas Yan, “The Division of Sexes in Roman Law,” in From Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints, ed. Pauline Shmitt Pantel, Vol.1 of A History of Women in the West, series eds. Georges Duby and Michelle Perrot, trans. Arthur Goldhammer (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press, 2002), 91. 
   8. Gary Vikan, “Art and Marriage in Early Byzantium,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 44 (1990): 147, 157, https://doi.org/10.2307/1291624 . 
   9. Ernst H. Kantorowicz, “On the Golden Marriage Belt and the Marriage Rings of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 14 (1960): 9,11, https://doi.org/10.2307/1291142 . 
   10. Ormonde Maddock Dalton, Catalogue Of Early Christian Antiquities And Objects From The Christian East: In The Department Of British And Mediaeval Antiquities And Ethnography Of The British Museum (London: BMP, 1901), 21 (Ring 129), https://ia600306.us.archive.org/15/items/catalogueofearly00brit/catalogueofearly00brit.pdf . 
   11. Beth Harris and Steven Zucker, “Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna,” SmartHistory, filmed April 2021, video, 5:13, https://smarthistory.org/santapollinare-nuovo/ . 
   12. ”Icons Explanation. The “Theotokos of Passion” Icon,”  Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, accessed July, 22, 2021, https://www.antiochpatriarchate.org/en/category/24/ . 
   13. Alicia Walker, “Myth and Magic in Early Byzantine Marriage Jewelry,” in The Material Culture of Sex, Procreation, and Marriage in Premodern Europe, eds. Anne McClanan and Karen Encarnación (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 62, 64, 65-66, 67, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-08503-0_4 . 
   14. ”Amulet,” British Museum, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1938-1010-1
   15. Alicia Walker, “Myth and Magic in Early Byzantine Marriage Jewelry,” in The Material Culture of Sex, Procreation, and Marriage in Premodern Europe, eds. Anne McClanan and Karen Encarnación (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 65-66, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-08503-0_4 . 
   16. Gary Vikan, “Art and Marriage in Early Byzantium,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 44 (1990): 155-157, https://doi.org/10.2307/1291624 . 
   17. Andrew L. Goldman, “The Octagonal Gemstones from Gordion: Observations and Interpretations,” Anatolian Studies 64 (2014): 176, 182, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0066154614000088 .
   18. 18. Lois Drewer, “Recent Approaches to Early Christian and Byzantine Iconography,” Studies in Iconography 17 (1996), 9-10, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23923639

Acknowledgements:

Anne-Sarah thanks Dr. McGuire and Dr. Lodwick of University of California at Santa Cruz for feedback she received on her research done to establish the meaning of the star below the bride’s feet.  Pointing out the Annunciation and the Magi,  Dr. McGuire suggested a  wish for safe childbirths. It was a very logical connection, yet I thought it to be too vague for the economy of a bezel. The star probably connected the bride to Mary, but how? Looking up in the Byzantine iconography, I learned that starting 700-800AC Mary’s veil was depicted with three stars symbolizing her triple virginity.  Our back-and-forth debate determined me to keep looking for the missing link – an early depiction of Mary with only one star.  Once, the argument became stronger, the line of thought accurate and logic, the implementation time came. Dr. Lodwick’s unconditional support and her many patient answers helped me better my writing and formatting. Thank you.  

References:

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1. British Museum. ”Amulet.” Accessed July 22, 2021. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1938-1010-1 .
2. British Museum. “Finger-ring AF.232.” Accessed July 22, 2021. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_AF-232 .
3. Chrysostom, John. “The Kind of Women Who Ought to be Taken as Wives,” in Women in Early Christianity: Translations from Greek Texts, edited by Patricia Cox Miller, 270-272. Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 2005. ProQuest Ebook Central.
4. Dalton, Ormonde Maddock.  Catalogue Of Early Christian Antiquities And Objects From The Christian East: In The Department Of British And Mediaeval Antiquities And Ethnography Of The British Museum. London: BMP, 1901. https://ia600306.us.archive.org/15/items/catalogueofearly00brit/catalogueofearly00brit.pdf .
5. Drewer, Lois. “Recent Approaches to Early Christian and Byzantine Iconography.” Studies in Iconography 17 (1996): 1-65. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23923639 .
6. Goldman, Andrew L. “The Octagonal Gemstones from Gordion: Observations and Interpretations.” Anatolian Studies 64 (2014): 163-97. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24878355 .
7. Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East. ”Icons Explanation. The “Theotokos of Passion” Icon.” Accessed July 17, 2021. https://www.antiochpatriarchate.org/en/category/24/ .
8. Harris, Beth and Zucker, Steven. “Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna.” SmartHistory. Filmed April 2021. Video, 5:13. https://smarthistory.org/santapollinare-nuovo/ .
9. Kantorowicz, Ernst H. “On the Golden Marriage Belt and the Marriage Rings of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 14 (1960): 1-16. https://doi:10.2307/1291142 .
10. “Chapter VI: That The Romans Are Mighty Praisers of the Antiquity of Their Religion, and Yet Admit of Novelties into It Everyday.” In The Apology of Tertullian, 20-24. Vol. 31 of  The Ancient & Modern Library of Theological Literature. 6th edition. Translated by William M Reeve. London and Sydney: Newberry House, 1889. https://www.tertullian.org/articles/reeve_apology.htm .
11. Vikan, Gary. “Art and Marriage in Early Byzantium.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 44 (1990): 145-63. https://doi:10.2307/1291624 .
12. Walker, Alicia. “Myth and Magic in Early Byzantine Marriage Jewelry.” In The Material Culture of Sex, Procreation, and Marriage in Premodern Europe, edited by Anne McClanan and Karen Encarnación, 59–78. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-08503-0_4 . 
13. Yan, Thomas. “The Division of Sexes in Roman Law.” In From Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints, edited by Pauline Shmitt Pantel, 83-138. Vol.1 of A History of Women in the West, series edited by Georges Duby and Michelle Perrot. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press, 1994.