Abstract
According to the Neoplatonist Porphyry, the followers of Mithras regarded the midsummer solstice as the point where souls descended in genesis from the heavens into this world, while at the midwinter solstice they re-entered the heavens in apogenesis. The Sun-god Mithras oversaw this migration of souls from his seat at the equinoxes, midway between the solstices. Beyond Mithraism Porphyry attributes this notion of psychic entry and exit through the solstitial points to his Platonic predecessors, Numenios and Kronios, and in some respects even back to Plato himself. This chapter examines to what extent such a philosophy or theology is discoverable also in Imperial and Late Antique Roman buildings, notably in the domed spaces of Nero’s Domus Aurea, Domitian’s Palace, the Pantheon and (their architectural descendants) the churches of Byzantium. It is found that there are grounds for seeing the pagan Imperial buildings as designed around lighting effects at the times of the equinoxes and solstices, perhaps to enable imperial hierophanies. Perhaps reflecting this aspect of Roman domed structures, a divine hierophany is undoubtedly intended to be highlighted in the later Byzantine churches, which were designed to allow a shaft of light to fall on the altar through the apse windows at those moments in the liturgy when the Holy Spirit, represented by the beam of light, was imagined as descending to sanctify the offerings presented to God by the priest in front of the altar. These architecturally orchestrated effects could be particularly significant around the times of the winter solstice and the vernal equinox, which were associated liturgically with Christmas and Easter respectively.
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Notes
- 1.
All translations are my own.
- 2.
For a fuller analysis of Porphyry’s commentary on the Homeric passage, see Hannah (2019).
- 3.
At On the Cave of the Nymphs 28.1–7 Porphyry adds that ‘Capricorn and Cancer are near the Milky Way, having been assigned its limits, Cancer its northern, and Capricorn its southern. According to Pythagoras the people of dreams are the souls which they say are gathered in the Milky Way, which is so called from their being nursed on milk, whenever they fall into genesis.’ So here the souls are envisaged as occupying the Milky Way, which they exit from and re-enter at the supposed points of intersection with the zodiac at Cancer and Capricorn respectively. The actual points of intersection, however, lie a sign away, at Gemini and Sagittarius. This error is repeated in the early fifth century by Macrobius, in his Commentary on the Dream of Scipio 12; see Stahl 1952: 133–134.
- 4.
The dates recorded in the period up to and including Hadrian’s time are: 27 and 29 May in CE 38, 19 May in CE 58, 29 May in CE 69, 17, 19 and 20 May in CE 81, 19 and 20 May in CE 87, 19 May in CE 89, 25, 27 and 28 May in CE 90, and 17, 19 and 20 May in CE 105.
- 5.
Contrast Champeaux 1982: 207–234, who sees Fors Fortuna as a goddess bound to ideas of natural fertility, with Scheid 1990: 715 n. 54, who emphasises instead the goddess’s associations with the unexpected military victory of 293 BCE, which gave rise to the establishment of the sanctuary at La Magliana. Later, fourth century CE representations of Fors Fortuna on imperial coins reflect both the watery aspect (in one hand she holds a ship’s rudder set on a globe) and the notion of fertility (in her other hand she holds a cornucopia).
- 6.
Where Lucan imagines the Emperor residing in the Heavens depends on the meaning of the phrase ‘orbe … medio’: if orbis means ‘circle’ here, then it could be the middle of the equator or the ecliptic or even the Milky Way. If it means ‘sphere’, then Haskins (1887: 5) has suggested it means “… on the surface of the outer sphere formed by the sky at a point vertically above Rome and equidistant from the horizon in every direction …”; this is supported most recently by Roche (2009: 142–43); this would be the zenith.
- 7.
A quick investigation of the Palace on Googe Earth indicates that the orientation is about azimuth 222°, which means that the afternoon Sun would be able to shine on and into the Palace throughout the year.
- 8.
- 9.
Albeit at the slightly inaccurate latitude that was understood to apply to the city at the time: Schibille (2009).
- 10.
Ball (2003: 215) makes no mention of this possibility in his description of the structure of the dome. Nonetheless he does note the extensive use of reflected light in the Octagon Suite.
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Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Professor Giulio Magli for the invitation and material support that enabled me to participate in this conference. This research was also supported by a Marsden Fund grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand (10-UOO-064).
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Hannah, R. (2019). The Orchestration of Time in Ancient and Medieval Buildings. In: Magli, G., González-García, A., Belmonte Aviles, J., Antonello, E. (eds) Archaeoastronomy in the Roman World. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97007-3_3
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