Shield and Mandorla

Author(s): G. W. Elderkin
Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1938), pp. 227-236
Published by: Archaeological Institute of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/499668
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 SHIELD AND MANDORLA

THE shield as a commemorative monument had a long history in ancient art. The
Lydian king Croesus dedicated one of gold in the temple of Pronaia at Delphi.'
There, too, the Athenians placed shields of the same precious metal on the architrave
of the temple of Apollo to commemorate their victory at Marathon.2 The dedication
of these shields, which had never served in actual warfare, developed out of the prac-
tice of setting up on a battlefield some of the shields of the vanquished. On a shield
as the symbol of victory there was sometimes added an inscribed record of the
achievement. Thus the golden shield on the temple of Zeus at Olympia bore an in-
scription saying that the Spartans had dedicated it after their victory over the
Argives and their allies.3 Such inscriptions could hardly have originated in the period
of metal shields. They must have appeared first upon leather shields, especially since
extensive use was made of animal skins as writing material.4 When shields like that
of Ajax, with several layers of bull's hide, were superseded by those of metal, the
practice of inscribing them continued. The early use of a shield of skin in recording
victory was no less natural than the use of it to record a treaty which followed the
victory. The author of "clipeum antiqui ob rotunditatem etiam corium bovis appel-
larunt in quo foedus Gabinorum cum Romanis fuerat descriptum'"5 failed to give
the real reason for calling a treaty a shield. The leather shield was the written treaty.
Besides the inscribed record of a victory there was the pictorial. The shield of the
Athena Parthenos recorded on its exterior the battle between the gods and the
giants, and on the interior the battle between the Athenians and the Amazons.
Athena had played a conspicuous part in the gigantomachy, according to Athenian
tradition, and in the victory of the Athenians over the Amazons personified the
city. It is probable that the painted shield preceded the shield sculptured in relief.
When the dedication occurred on the battlefield the shield was sometimes set upon a
tree-trunk, as is illustrated by a scene on the wall of the herolin at Trysa.6 As the
personification of victory eventually supplanted the warrior in recording on a shield
a successful battle, so she supplanted him in the task of affixing a shield to a tropaion.
The Roman coins assembled by Mironov give many variations of the motif.7 The
Nike writes on a shield which is placed against a tree or which is set upon a pillar, or
she shows a shield so supported upon which she has already inscribed the record. The
tree is primary, the pillar secondary, since one expects trees, not pillars, on a battle-
field. On other coins the tree or pillar has disappeared, and Eros serves as a support
for the shield.
Another method of commemorating victory was more personal. The victor him-
self was represented upon the exterior of the shield. The Zeus with flaming thunder-
bolt in his hand on the shield of Hyperbius alluded to the god's victory over the
giants.8 There was a portrait of Hasdrubal on his shield which Marcius found in the
1 Herodotus, I, 92. 2 Pausanias, X, 19, 3. 3Ibid., V, 10, 4.
4 Herodotus, V, 58-59. 5 Paul. ex Fest., p. 56, Muller.
6 Benndorf, Das Hero6n von Gjilbaschi-Trysa, pl. X.
Izobrazhenita Bogini Pobredy, pls. 3-4 and p. 158. 8 Aeschylus, Septem, 512-3.
227

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

OF AMERICA

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 2q8 G. W. ELDERKIN

IPunic camp.' The Romans also put portraits upon shields, Scipio having his grand-
father and father so represented. It was a common practice at Rome to dedicate
imagines clipeatae in temples,2 whence they acquired the sanctity of votive offerings.
The terra cotta shield in the Princeton Museum of Art may be an example of such a
dedication." In place of a portrait, a name might appear upon a shield, as that of
Pompey.4 The compliment to warriors was extended to others and even to women.
Thus the name of Cleopatra was inscribed upon a shield.5 A Greek inscription dis-
covered at Athens records the vote of a guild to dedicate a portrait of their proxenos,
which was painted upon a shield.6 Another such portrait on a gilded shield is men-
tioned in an inscription discovered at Sardis.7
From a single Victory supporting a shield there developed a symmetrical pair of
Victories with the shield supported between them. A sarcophagus in the Camposanto
at Pisa is an illustration (fig. I).8 This duplication of Victories, which is sufficiently

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explained by the fondness of the ancients for symmetry, finds a precedent in the
multiplication of Victories in the balustrade of the temple of Nike at Athens. The
sarcophagus cited has the shield fringed with a garland, and very appropriately,
since the garland was a symbol of victory. Such a shield, with the name of a person
inscribed upon it, may have been the prototype of the garland sculptured in relief
within which was inscribed a name. It was particularly appropriate that the name of
Mithras should be so placed.9 He was the victor in battle par excellence.
Besides standing Victories there appear frequently on Roman sarcophagi two
human figures, flying in horizontal position as they support a shield between them.

SPliny, N.II. XXXV, 3, 4. 2 Daremberg et Saglio, Dict., s.v. clipeus, p. 1259.

* Metropolitan Museum Studies 1930, p. 201, fig. Dio Cass., 42, 15; Hirtius, Bell. Alex. 58.
Dio Cass., 50, 5. 6 C.I.A. II, I, p. 080, no. 475.
Buckler-Robinson, Greek and Latin Inscriptions from Sardis, p. 03, no. XI.
8 For two Victories setting up a trophy in a relief on the cuirass of a Roman imperial portrait statue
from Corinth, see E. H. Swift, A.J.A. 1912, p. 142, figs. 3-4.
9 Rim. Mitt. 1934, p. 203. Cf. Swindler, Ancient Painting, fig. 550.

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 SHIELD AND MANDORLA 229

When the shields bear portraits the idea is that the person represented is borne either
to the isles of the blest or aloft to the skies. The motif is akin to that of the Homeric
KXMos obpaovbV 'L KE. It is possible that in some cases the motif was inspired by the
doctrine of Oriental religion that earthly existence was a fight from which the just
man issued victorious.' That the motif became more or less conventionalized for the
sarcophagus is quite probable. Exigencies of space and design demanded that the
winged figures fly toward each other in contradiction of the idea that they are mount-
ing. Such a group is clearly the source of that on a Christian sarcophagus,2 which
represents two winged figures bearing a shield with a seven-branched candlestick
carved in relief upon it. In some cases the simple motif of victory expressed by the
shield is elaborated with suggestive details. On a sarcophagus found at Cortona the
shield-bearing Victories are flanked by trophies and weeping captives.3 On another
the two flying Victories hold an inscribed tablet which has been substituted for a
shield.4

These Victories yield place to Erotes on yet other sarcophagi,5 a substitution

which continues into Christian art. The change was neither arbitrary nor the result
of decorative whim. The conception of Eros in classical literature had prepared the
way for Eros as shield-bearer. Sophocles celebrated the victory of Eros, invoking
him as "unconquered in battle."' The same idea is expressed by Vergil in omnia
vincit Amor. In Greek art of the fifth century Eros as victor conveys the same idea as
Nike. A vase-painting by Hieron of the Judgment of Paris represents flying Erotes
about to crown the victorious Aphrodite,7 while in another version of the same scene
by a painter of the Meidian circle a draped flying Nike holds a spray which must be
intended as a crown for the same goddess.8 The substitution of Eros for Victory on
the sarcophagi may have been facilitated by the conception of Eros as a symbol of
the soul of the departed.9 The Erotes, like the Victories, may hold a shield with an
inscription, or a portrait of the deceased."' Sometimes they fly over the sea, or over
earth and the sea, represented by reclining figures. One is reminded of the Nereids of
the Nereid mausoleum at Xanthus, whose flight over the sea is indicated by the
dolphins beneath them. In these sepulchral monuments Eros and Nereid carry the
soul of the departed to the isles of the blest."1 The essential detail is the transporta-
tion of the soul overseas and consequently the means of transportation may be
varied. Hippocamps and related hybrids appear as the bearers. A sarcophagus in
the Museum of Art at Princeton represents such fabulous creatures of the sea as
carrying a tablet, instead of a shield, on which are recorded names of two deceased
children (fig. 2).12 A variant of this motif is found at Ravenna, where, in a mosaic of
1 Cumont, After Life in Roman Paganism, p. 117. 2 Garucci, Storia vi, p. 166; pl. 491, 19.
3 Reinach, Rep. des Reliefs, III, 21, 1.
SRobert, Die antiken Sarcophagreliefs, III 1, pp. 32 ff.; pl. VII, no. 26.
5 Eisler, Dion. Orph. Gedank., p. 370. The Erotes carry a shield-portrait.
6 Antigone, 783 ff.
Wiener Vorlegebliiter series A, pl. V; Pfuhl, Malerei und Zeichnung, III, p. 153.
8 Nicole, Meidias, pl. VI, no. 3.
9 Angus, The Religious Quests of the Graeco-Roman World, p. 294.
10 Examples are assembled by Reinach, Rep. des Reliefs, III, 210, 252, 254, 339.
" The Nereids were the first teachers of the mysteries according to the Orphic hymn XXIV.
12 For the inscription see Buecheler, Carmina Latina Epigraphica, I, p. 241, no. 504.

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 SHIELD AND MANDORLA 231

San Vitale, shield-portraits are supported upon a shell and a pair of dolphins.'
These dolphins are ultimately to be derived from the dolphin beneath the Nereid at
Xanthus. Another sarcophagus of Roman date shows the shield of the victor sup-
ported upon cornucopiae by two Erotes (fig. 3).2 The disk in this scene must be a
shield and not a mere medallion. Five Erotes hold spear, corselet, sword and helmet,
and unless the disk is a shield, that essential piece of the panoply is lacking.
An important version of the portrait-bearing Nike was painted on the walls of a
tomb at Palmyra (fig. 4).3 The goddess stands upon a sphere and holds the shield
above her head. The narrow vertical field may seem to account for the elevated posi-
tion of the shield, but the idea is rather that the person portrayed upon the shield is
borne upwards to the gods.4 This painting was executed in the year 259 after Christ.
Earlier in the same century the Syrian priest and emperor Elagabalus sent his por-
trait to Rome with orders that it be set above the statue of Victory in the senate-
chamber.5 His idea was apparently that Victory was raising him to his solar god.
The motif of two Victories symmetrically supporting a shield underwent remark-
able modification in a relief from Laurentum (fig. 5).6 Two figures inscribed Europa
and Asia support with one hand a large shield, while with the other they pour a
libation at an altar beneath the shield. An inscription records the victory over
Darius at Arbela, while on the shield is depicted the battle. The altar here occupies
the place of the pillar, without serving its function. The substitution of personifica-
tions of continents for Victories enriches the representation. Europe and Asia ac-
knowledge the importance of Alexander's victory over the Persians by pouring a
libation. Another version of the motif is found in the frontispiece of two manuscripts
of Terence, which were written in the ninth century (figs. 6-7).7 These frontispieces
are derived from a common source, an early manuscript of the plays. They represent
the poet. Each bust is surrounded by a broad circular border, which, in the manu-
script at Paris, seems to have been in origin a garland. This, in turn, is set in a light
square frame of wood, the prototype of which is found in the Hellenistic-Roman age.
A grave stele from Smyrna 8 and a sarcophagus from Kertch 9 show the same frame.
It is possible that the finer editions of the Greek dramas were illuminated with
portraits of their authors. Statues of the great Athenian dramatic poets including
Menander, who inspired Terence, were set up in the theatre at Athens, apparently
before the stage-front. These statues were frontispieces to the plays when presented;
the miniatures would be frontispieces to the plays when read. Both portraits of
Terence are held upon their pedestals by comic actors. The substitution of actors for
Victories at once clearly defines the activity in which the person portrayed was vic-
torious, i.e. comedy. Variant versions of this motif are found on Roman sarcophagi,1o
J Berchem et Clouzot, Mos. Chrt., p. 152, fig. 194. For a purely Christian interpretation of a pair of
dolphins near a shield see Wilpert, Sarc. Crist. I, 1999, pl. XVII, 9; Testo, p. 185. The sarcophagus is
dated about 400 A.D.
2 British Museum, Catalogue of Greek Sculpture, III, 1904, p. 327.
3 Strzygowski, Orient oder Rom, pp. 11 f. 4Cf. Eurip., Iphig. in Aulis, 1608.
J. S. Hay, The Amazing Emperor Heliogabalus, pp. 99-100.
6 Reinach, RMp. des Reliefs, III, 218; Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. s.v. Asia.
7 Morey and Jones, The Illuminated Manuscripts of Terence.
8 Rubensohn, Jdl. 1905, p. 47, no. 130. 9 Rostovtsev, Antich. Dek. Zhivopis, pl. 92.
0o Reinach, Rp. des Reliefs, III, 210, 3.

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 SHIELD AND MANDORLA 233

where the shield portrait is held by Erotes upon three masks or rests upon three
masks which are set upon a table or pedestal. Since there were contests of comic
poets in the Athenian and other Greek theatres, with a prize for the victor, the ap-
propriation of the "victory motif" for a portrait of a successful poet was natural
enough. Terence, who in four of his six extant comedies adapted plays by Menander,
may owe to the editions of the great Athenian the idea of a comic poet's portrait as a
frontispiece.
Strzygowski observes that the Palmyrene Victory holding a "medallion" above
her head is the pagan prototype of the Christian angel with a medallion-portrait in
the same position.' The object is a shield, rather than a medallion, because Victories
carried shields. In a mosaic of the ninth century in the basilica of St. Prassede at
Rome four angels upon globes hold above their heads a shield-portrait of Christ.2
The transition from the Palmyrene Victory, raising aloft the imago clipeata of a
deceased person, to the angel of the mosaic who raises the imago clipeata of the de-
ceased and risen Christ was easy and natural, especially since the type of the angel in
Christian art developed out of the pagan Victory appearing first in the fourth cen-
tury.3 The early Christians used pagan pictorial language just as naturally as they
used pagan written language to express their ideas to the Greeks and Romans whose
religion was inseparable from art. The circular shield was suited to the bust-por-
trait, but was occasionally used for the full figure in Christian art. A fragmentary
sarcophagus of the fifth century had at the center of one long side two angels in
horizontal flying posture, who held a shield-portrait of the seated Christ.4 On yet
another 5 a garland with fillet attached takes the place of the shield, this, too, an-
other symbol of victory, borrowed from Roman art.6 Since the pagan shield was
circular or oval, Christian art used both forms for the mandorla, the oval being the
one preferred. The grave stele of Rhynthon of the fourth century B.C. illustrates the
oval type, with the interior surface painted.' The Bawit fresco of the Virgin holding
a mandorla toward the spectator (fig. 8) 8 is a Christian reuse of the Victory holding
a shield, so that one may see what is represented upon it. Another, but rare type of
mandorla, which is pointed at the top and the bottom is derived from the circular
shield. The same pointed shape is seen upon a Panathenaic amphora, where it is the
result of the painter's unsuccessful attempt to represent a circular shield in oblique
view.9 On another Panathenaic vase the wheels of a chariot take the same form for
the same reason.10
Christian mosaics at Ravenna offer variations of the shield-portrait which corre-
spond to those of pagan art." One in the archiepiscopal palace depicts four angels,
holding above their heads a monogrammed clipeus,12 which should be compared with
1 Orient oder Rom, pp. 14, 26; Grabar, L'Empereur dans l'Art Byzantin, p. 11, n. 5.
2 Berchem et Clouzot, Mos. Chret., p. 237, fig. 300; cf. fig. 134. 3 Poulsen, Christusbild, p. 81.
4 Wilpert, Sarc. Crist. I, 1929, pl. XLIII, 4; cf. Testo, p. 54. 5 Ibid., p. 57, fig. 24.
6 Pfuhl, Malerei und Zeichnung, III, p. 303, no. 687.
7 Swindler, Ancient Painting, p. 200, fig. 466.
8 Cledat, Mem. de l'Inst. fran. de Arch. orient. du Caire 1904, pl. 98; Cook, Art Bulletin, 1923, pl.
XIII, fig. 15.
9 Swindler, op. cit., fig. 347; cf. Daremberg et Saglio, Dict., s.v. clipeus, p. 1~52, fig. 1644.
10 B.S.A. xiii, pl. 5. 11 I wish to thank Miss Helen Woodruff for her helpful criticism of these pages.
12 Berchem et Clouzot, Mlos. ChrNt., p. 117, fig. 134.

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 234 G. W. ELDERKIN

an imperial shield in the Hermitage.' On this is the figure of a warrior, whose shield
has a large Christian monogram. This monogram is an abbreviation for the name of
Christ and a substitute for the portrait of Christ. The monogram on the shield served
exactly the same purpose as the initial lambda on shields of the Lacedaemonians.
One bearer was a soldier of Christ, the other of the Spartans. To be grouped with
these shields are those held by Abrasax on Gnostic gems, which are inscribed with
the name of lao.2 The shield which Victories hold on the sarcophagus at Pisa previ-
ously cited (fig. 1) bears the name of the deceased. In mosaics of the sixth century
at Ravenna two angels hold a shield upon which is a cross.3 The idea is that the cross
is victorious. It is a symbol, serving the same purpose as the monogram or the por-
trait of Christ.
Among other early Christian monuments which reconsecrate the motif of the
Victory bearing a shield-portrait are the ampullae at Monza.4 In their representa-
tion of the ascension Christ is seated in a mandorla, which four angels hovering in
air hold by the rim (fig. 9). The horizontal position, particularly of the lower pair, is
that of the flying Victories on a Roman sarcophagus, who lift the shield-portrait of
the deceased.5 In one example (fig. 9a) the lower angels turn their heads back, as do
the Erotes on a Roman sarcophagus.6 The latter, however, do so because of the
figures behind them, and thus contribute to the unity of the composition. This is a
Greek principle, observable also in the Victories on the sarcophagus at Pisa (fig. 1).
When a pair of figures bearing shield or tablet is the entire group they face the
center.7 It is thus apparent that the angels who turn their heads back without any-
thing to look at have been excerpted from a Roman composition of several figures.
The mandorla of the ampullae is oval. An oval shield with a full-length figure of
Athena appears on a Roman sarcophagus in a scene of Erotes making armor, but it
is without mystic significance.8
The earliest and most remarkable mandorla in eastern art is in a miniature of the
Rabula gospels, which are definitely dated to the year 586-7 (fig. 10).9 A standing
figure of the bearded Christ holds an open rotulus in his left hand. There is no scrip-
tural warrant for this rotulus,10 which seems to be attested for the figure of Christ in
art as early as the second century.', It has been appropriated from the bearded
figures of pagan sarcophagi, as was the type of the mandorla. It is stated by Cook 12
' Venturi, Storia i, p. 501, fig. 440; Grabar, op. cit., pl. XVII, 2.
2 Cumont, Textes et Monuments, II, p. 451.
3Berchem et Clouzot, op. cit., pp. 150-151, figs. 190-191.
4 Garucci, Storia vi, pls. 433, no. 10; 434, no. 2; 435, no. 1.
6 Reinach, RMp. des Reliefs, III, 21, 1. 6 Ibid., 339, 1. 7 Ibid., 339, 3. 8 Ibid., 27.
For an analysis of this mandorla see W. Neuss, Das Buch Ezechiel, pp. 154 ff.
10 Cf. Mark XVI, 19; Luke XXIV, 50-51; Acts of the Apostles, I, 2-11; Gospel of Nicodemus 16; Pistis
Sophia, The First Document, G. Horner's translation, p. 3.

'1 Tertullian writes that in his city there was exhibited a picture bearing the inscription Deus Chris-
tianorum Onokoites (Apologeticus, XVI, 12). The figure had ass's ears, wore a toga and carried a roll,
liber. Such caricature would have been pointless unless there were representations in painting of Christ
clad in a toga, and holding a rotulus. The date of such a serious picture must have antedated the conver-
sion of Tertullian which occurred about 175. He says that he laughed at both the shape and the name
onokoites. Glover's translation (Loeb) "The God of the Christians ass-begotten" misses the insult.
'OOKolT?7 is active exactly
12 Art Bulletin 1923, p.like
41.aV6pOKOiT?7s and appEVOKOIT7rs. The insult is Greek.

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 9236 G. W. ELDERKIN

that the Majestas Domini with throne and mandorla was inspired by the visions in
Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation. This is true only of the lower part of the
Rabula ascension, where wings, wheels and the heads of man, lion, ox and eagle are
combined to meet the requirements of the involved vision of Ezekiel. This hotch-
potch has no classical tradition behind it as have the mandorla, the drapery of the
Christ, his gesture and the rotulus in the upper part of the miniature. The text of the
Rabula gospels is Syriac, but the miniatures were copied or adapted from Greek
originals, along with the name Longinus inscribed in Greek in the scene of the cru-
cifixion.' The resemblance of the mandorla to a shield is not confined to form but
includes the color scheme as well, which is blue with a white border.2 The shield of
a warrior on a sarcophagus of 300 B.C. is likewise blue with a light border.'
The history of the shield of glory was essentially continuous from classical to
Christian art. At first, victory was commemorated by placing a shield on a tree or
post on a battlefield, the shield being that of the vanquished. This commemoration
was made definite by an inscription upon the shield. The addition of Nikes amplified
the symbolism. From the commemoration of a victorious army to that of a single
person as the representative of the victors was an easy step. His portrait appeared
upon the significant shield. When the victor died, winged figures bore his shield-
portrait, that is, the victor to the isles of the blest. This motif was available for the
early Christian miniaturist who had been converted from paganism or had executed
commissions for both pagans and Christians. As Greek temples were reconsecrated
to Christian use, so was Greek art.
G. W. ELDERKIN
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

1 G. Biagi, Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, pl. I and p. 7.

2 Garucci, Storia iii, p. 62. 3 J.H.S. 1883, pl. 37.

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