L’Adorazione dei Magi nella brattea d’oro del Museo archeologico di Locri: aspetti e significati di un'iconografia teofanica in continuità con l’antico

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to the image of the Adoration of the Magi imprinted in the center of a thin golden bractea exposed at the Archaeological Museum of Locri, in Calabria. Dating back to the early Byzantine period, the lamella is not an isolated case, rather, it fits into a wider context of bracteates made with the same technique and bearing different sacred representations dating back to the same time (6th – 10th-century) and found throughout the southern part of the Peninsula, especially in the Ionian Calabria. It also belongs to a wider context of precious artifacts (coins, amulets, medallions and jewelry in general) that bear the same theophanic representation and that is believed to protect against evil those who possess them by virtue of the depictions they contain. It would seem that these small objects have spread in the West thanks to the practice of pilgrimages: the story of the Magi, in fact, becomes exemplum and archetype for Christian pilgrims who, like the three Kings, they face a long journey to reach the Holy Places in Palestine. Through the iconographic analysis of the scene of the Epiphany, the document proposes to signal and motivate the interdependence between these small objects and the monumental depictions of the scene, offering an explanation to the diffusion of the image. It will also try to demonstrate the continuity between Greek-Roman pagan culture and Christian art of the early centuries through the deepening of two important aspects: 1. the dependence on pre-existing models of the image of the enthroned Virgin and the offering Magi; 2. the apotropaic value conferred on this kind of Christian objects related to magical-religious practices banned by the Church.