Orient or Rome: The Porphyry Groups at St. Mark's, Venice, as Test Case

Abstract

In 1901 Professor Josef Strzygowski of Graz University published a highly controversial book entitled Orient oder Rom: Beiträge zur Geschichte der spätantiken und frühchristlichen Kunst (Orient or Rome: Contributions to the History of Late Classical and Early Christian Art), in which he argued that Roman influences were relatively unimportant in the development of early Christian art. A much more important source, he argued, was what he called the Orient, and in particular Egypt. With this article, which appeared one year later, Strzygowski attempted to consolidate this argument on the basis of porphyry figure groups located in St. Mark's, Venice, and the Vatican Library. He proposes sources for these figures that point to the East and to Egypt, which he itemizes in terms of material, motif, and craftsmanship. Far from accepting the thesis of the decline of the oriental impulse and the complete victory of the Greco-Roman tradition, Strzygowski argues for the resurgence of Ancient Egyptian culture in the late Roman and early Christian period.