Ships, Monsters and Jonah Author(s): Marion Lawrence Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 66, No. 3 (Jul.

, 1962), pp. 289-296 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/501457 Accessed: 13/03/2009 06:15
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Ships,

Monsters

and

Jonah

MARION LAWRENCE
PLATES 77-78

Among the many fine Roman sarcophagi in the Ny Carlsberg Museum in Copenhagen is one of peculiar interest. It belongs to the category that shows life and manners and has a lively scene of three ships with full sail on a stormy sea1 (pl. 77, fig. i). Two of them are heading out of the harbor toward the lighthouse at the extreme right, the third is entering and seems about to collide with the middle ship. An empty rowboat and a man or boy swimming among dolphins in the center foreground in tumultuous waves tell the story of disaster, as a man in the bow of the left hand ship is bending over in an attempt at rescue. The three sailors in the central ship nearest the drowning man are, however, too concerned with trying to avoid a collision to give assistance. The standing one holds the sail as they shift the tack, one steers and the forward one watches the approaching ship. Rigging and manoeuvers are explicitly shown. As Professor Lionel Casson analyzes them in his Ancient Mariners the entering boat is on a starboard tack, the crew back the sail to lose wind and veer to starboard,and the jib, a spinnaker, is still drawing full. This ship is square-rigged with a projecting forefoot. The central boat has its mast stepped well forward and is a sprit rig; the sailors here shorten sheet to veer to port and pass on the inside on a close reach, a manoeuver that would work well if both ships are perfectly synchronized. The
1 F. Poulsen, Catalogue of Ancient Sculpture in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Copenhagen I95I) 558-59, no. 787, pl. 67. This gives the measurements and dates the sarcophagus as 2nd or 3rd century. L. Casson, The Ancient Mariners (New York I959) 219-22, pl. 13, a,b, and fig. 6; A. A. M. Van der Heyden and H. H. Scullard, Atlas of the Classical World (London 1959) 129, no. 308. For a drawing which shows the figures on the end see J. J. Bachofer, "R6mische Grablampen," Gesammelte Werke 7 (Basel I958) pi. 46. 2H. Thiersch, Pharos (Berlin I909) fig. I6 a,b; G. Lugli and G. Filibeck, II porto di Roma imperiale e l'agro portuense (Rome 1935) figs. 7-1; G. Stuhlfauth, "Der Leuchtturm von Ostia" RdmM 53 (1938) I39-63. He omits the Copenhagen sarcophagusso he evidently shared Thiersch's belief that it did not represent Ostia. G. Calza, La Necropoli del Porto di Roma nell'lsola Sacra (Rome 1940) fig. 83; R. Meiggs, Roman Ostia (Oxford I960). 3Calza, op.cit. 203, fig. 107. He dates this in the middle of the 3rd century from the arrangement of the girl's hair which he compares to portraits of Salonina, wife of Gallienus. He

third ship is square-rigged again and with rounded hull. It also has a jib but one of miniature size. On the shore behind at the extreme left is a building with a man, standing in the open door, who wears a short tunic and holds a platter with fruit or cakes. Is this a reference to the funeral banquet? Around the corner is another man and above, on a roof or balcony, are three figures only one of whom is watching the scene. Balancing this at the opposite end stands a tall slender lighthouse, the two lower stories square, the upper one circular with a flame on top. One would like to recognize in this structure the lighthouse at Ostia, built by Claudius on the foundation of a huge ship he had had sunk at the mouth of the harbor. We have a number of representationsof this on coins, mosaic pavements of Ostia and other objects.2They show it, however, with four storeys-as does the interesting sarcophagus found in Tomb 90 of the Isola Sacra which depicts a traveler landing from a sailboat and then dining in a tavern.3The famous ship relief of the Palazzo Torlonia, however, shows a lighthouse with five storeys, if we count the circular drum on top from which rises a large flame. This furthermore has a colossal statue on the uppermost rectangular level.4 Moreover a bronze medallion of Commodus, of the harbor of Ostia, shows a very slender lighthouse like ours which seems to have only three storeys.5 Thiersch thought that
sees in it a mixture of symbolism, i.e. the journey of the soul and the funeral banquet, with an actual event in the man's life. R. Calza and E. Nash, Ostia (Florence 1959) figs. II4,58. The measurements given by G. Calza, m. 1.40 long, 0.62 high, 0.33 deep, indicate a sarcophagus and neither a cover (Stuhlfauth 148-49) nor a funerary relief (Meiggs pl. 26). 4 T. Schreiber, "Die Hellenistischen Reliefbilder und die augusteische Kunst" Jdl Ix (1896) 99, fig. 6; Casson, op.cit. pl. I2; Van der Heyden and Scullard, op.cit. 129, no. 3II; Meiggs, op.cit. pl. 20. There is no certainty of course that this representsthe port of Ostia, but the evidence points to an Italian harbor with the Roman eagle above by the statue of Fortuna, and a Roman ship with two representationsof the she-wolf and Romulus and Remus on its sail. The sarcophagus in the Belvedere of the Vatican with a harbor scene, W. Amelung, Die Sculpturen des VaticanischenMuseums 2 (Berlin I908) 49-62, no. 20, pl. 5, may be dismissed since it has neither sailboats nor a lighthouse. Add above Lugli, op.cit. pl. i. 6 Meiggs, op.cit. pl. I8 d. Compare also the lighthouse on the Column of Trajan, Thiersch, op.cit. fig. 34.

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the lighthouse on the Copenhagen sarcophagus represented the Pharos at Alexandria, which the incoming ship has left, and that it is consequently balanced by the tower at the port of arrival.6This theory is difficult to disprove since the Ostia lighthouse to a great extent was modeled upon its famous precursor, but it seems unlikely-it does not fit the rendered story, which is obviously taking place within a harbor. One must, I believe, credit the three storeys to the frequent inaccuracy on the part of ancient and mediaeval artists in representing architectural monuments. It reads clearly enough as a lighthouse and that is sufficient. There is, however, one curious feature about this scene which I am at a loss to explain. All the sailors are nude. This is not true of the Torlonia relief where they are properly clothed in tunics, including the stevedores in their hot task of unloading wine jars. But on the numerous renderings of the ship of Jonah, as we shall see, one frequently finds nude sailors interspersed with clothed ones. Nothing certain is known of the provenance of the ship sarcophagus in Copenhagen. It was purchased in the late Igth century at the Villa Borghese in Rome, but Platner said that it came from Ostia.7 The classical symmetry and antithetical balance of the composition is in sharp contrast to the casual and narrative arrangement of the relief from the Isola Sacra on the one hand, and the crowded, all-over pattern of the Torlonia harbor scene on the other. The execution is also of high quality, careful and precise with much attention to tiny details. It can be dated, I believe, early in the second half of the third century from the nudes, the drilled technique of the hair which is very short and caplike, and the drapery folds of the chiton on the man in the doorway. Whether it was made for the youth who fell overboard or, as seems to me more likely, for one of the skillful sea-captains, we shall probably never know.
6 ibid. 7f. 7 E. Platner, Beschreibungder Stadt Rom (Stuttgart 1842) 3, part 3, 231, no. 12. 8 Neither its provenance nor its present location is known.

The front of another ship sarcophagus which showed boats and a lighthouse was formerly in the Palazzo Vaccari-Bacchettoniin Rome8 (pl. 77, fig. 2). Here, however, the scene is quite different since this tomb was made for the young boy, Julio Filo Cyrio, whose portrait bust appears in a medallion at the right. The inscription on the plaque below tells us that he was only seven years and five days old and that his father, Julio Filo Cyrius made it. Most appropriately cupids man the boats, while a Psyche reclines in the pose of the sleeping Ariadne in the one at the left and another makes music with pipes in the ship next the bust. This alone has a sail which is partly furled half way up the mast. The cupid with this Psyche pulls a large net, while a child catches a fish from a smaller boat in front of the lighthouse. In the boat left of center a cupid makes more music with cymbals while his companion, who is without wings, is about to spear a dolphin seen full face like the one at the extreme left of our first sarcophagus. He holds a long trident. In the waves at the left another child is swimming. This may be another cupid but no wings are visible. Terminating the scene at the extreme left is a slender palm tree with two large bunches of fruit and next it two buildings with arched openings, a free standing, circular tower in between. On the top of the building towards the center are two trumpeting tritons. Next comes a slender column with forked top, then an extremely large bird next the sail. Visconti suggested that that may be the soul of the deceased child, or simply a bird that he had as a pet and of which he was fond. Collignon interpreted it as a bird of good augury. At the far right is the lighthouse with the proper four storeys and a flame on top. This would seem then to be the voyage of the soul to the Elysian fields, accompanied by music and combined with the marine delights of swimming and fishing. The voyage proceeds from the security of the town be-

of Alexandria and the building at the left with the temple of Isis and the Mausoleum of Alexander. In the second article Visconti compared the portrait bust with that of an Egyptian boy wearing a long lock of hair on his right. In the photoR. Lanciani, "Ricerche topografiche sulla citta di Porto," An- graph this seems to be something on the background wall nali Ist. corr.Arch. (i868) I58ff, described it as on the steps since it appears on both sides. M. Collignon, "Essai sur les of the Palazzo Alberghini. C. L. Visconti, "Fronte di sarcofago monuments grecs et romains relatifs au mythe de Psyche," con Tritoni etc.," BullCommArchMun I (I872) 263ff, pl. 4, I Bibl.'coles franc.Ath.et Rome 2 (I877) 434; F. Matz u. F. von and "Di un busto di fanciullo egiziano," BullCommAC (x88I) Duhn, Antike Bildwerke in Rom 2 (Leipzig i88i) no. 2785; 48f. Visconti gives the inscription: "D. M. Julio Filocyrio filio S. Reinach, Repertoirede reliefs grecs et romains 3 (Paris I912) bene merenti dulcissimo q.b.ann.VII D. V. Julius Filocyrius 229, no. I; Stuhlfauth, op.cit. 147, pl. 31, fig. i, believed the pater fecit." He tried to identify the lighthouse with the Pharos lighthouse to be the one at Ostia.

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AND JONAH

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hind to the lighthouse ahead.9 It is hard to judge style from an inadequate photograph, but this example, although more carefully executed, would seem to be about the same date as the sarcophagus from the Isola Sacra and therefore ca. 250. Other sarcophagi of this type with ships manned by cupids were apparently not uncommon. Fragments of one of these, made also for a child, are in the Vatican10 (pl. 77, fig. 3). Here there are three boats, but the one at the left is in lower relief and was probably originally on the end of this vase-shaped sarcophagus. This means a gap which may have held another ship. The central one alone has a mast, although the upper part is lost and has been wrongly restored. All the boats are manned by small boys while two more swim in the foreground among dolphins. Two date palms appear behind and at the right, also a building with three windows through one of which a face looks out. Sea-horses decorate all the boats, one in relief and two others as figureheads. The only passenger, the boy seated in the forward ship, probably represents the deceased child. The standing putto is turning towards him with a gesture of welcome or arrival, his arms are raised but the right hand is broken. I have been unable to identify the object in his left hand. The seated child furthermore wears a wreath
9 Collignon, op.cit. 337 interprets the palm trees and buildings as the isles of the blessed to which funeral ships are conducting the deceased. Ships occur frequently in this connection in both Greek and Roman funerary art. See B. Schr6der, "Studien zu Grabdenkmalern der r6mischen Kaiserzeit," Bonnerlb Io8 (I902) 66ff; F. Cumont, Recherches sur le symbolisme funeraire des romains (Paris 1942) i68ff; W. Altmann, Die rdmischen Grabaltdreder Kaiserzeit (Berlin 1905) 252ff, who gives many references. Charon's ship appears among many other subjects on the lower register of the sarcophagus found in 1955 in Velletri; R. Bartoccini, "II sarcofago di Velletri" RivlstArch N.S.7 (1958) fig. o0, I67, fig. 50. For Christian examples see F. Cabrol, Dictionnaire d'archeologie chretienne et de liturgie 12, part I (1935) Navigation et Navire.

or coil of hair which distinguishes him from the others. The workmanship on the whole is good, but with coarser drill work for the hair and waves and for the ornament of the central ship. It seems to date somewhat earlier than our last example.1l A ship with billowing sails on a stormy sea and, at least once, a lighthouse occur in Christian art with the popular theme of Jonah. The sarcophagus which tells the story most completely is the famous one in the Lateran Museum, no. II912 (pl. 77, fig. 4). Found in the Villa Medici on the Pincian, it was taken first to the Vatican and has been known ever since its publication in 1632 by Antonio Bosio in Roma Sotterranea.One of the earliest and finest of Christian sarcophagi, it shows a large ship left of center, square-rigged and very similar to the left-hand ship on the Copenhagen sarcophagus, its quadrated sail and ropes indicated with precision. The rendering of the sea in which dolphins also are swimming is, however, closer to that of the Palazzo Vaccari example. The sailors, two of whom are nude, are thrusting the lithe and naked Jonah, posed with arms outstretched like a diver, toward the open jaws of the whale, a fierce monster with large snout, horn-like ears, and a long tail which coils upward in three great loops to end in a crescent. Part of his snout, the curved top of the ship's

graphs of any of these. Another sarcophagus in the Palazzo Colonna (Matz no. 2867) shows a semi-recumbent woman, the deceased(?), in a ship with furled sail and a young man apparently navigating it. Above at the right a figure rides in a biga and below is a reclining woman, Terra(?), with a basket of fruit, K. O. Miiller u. F. Wieseler, Denkmdler der alten Kunst 2 (G6ttingen I835) pl. 73, no. 931. On the left end is a four-storied lighthouse, Thiersch, op.cit. fig. I2. Matz also describes a small fragment in the Palazzo Corsetti with a sailboat carrying a bearded man, no. 2868. Since this article went to press I have discovered two more sarcophagi with lighthouses in the center between two ships. One is built into the exterior of the choir of Pisa Cathedral, standing on its end, P. Sanpaolesi, 11 Campanile di Pisa (Pisa 1956) pl. 42. The other, 10 Amelung, op.cit. I (I903) which has no mariners but boats full of wine jars, was dis771-72, pl. 82; Visconti, op.cit. (1872) pl. 4, no. 2. The piece has been extensively restored. covered recently in the catacomb of Praetextatus,A. Ferrua in The cupid at the left, half of his ship and its prow are later Triplice Omaggio a Sua Santita Pio XII (Vatican City I958) 2, additions. pl. 4c. 12 0. Marucchi, I monumenti del museo cristiano Pio-Latera11A fragment of another sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum, no. 465, shows a lighthouse with five storeys at the nense (Milan 910o) pl. 18 no. i; G. Wilpert, I sarcofagi cristext 204ff; P. right and a ship with furled sail rowed by a cupid and a tiani antichi I (I929) pl. 9, no. 3; 2 (I932) nude boy, R. Garrucci, Storia dell'arte cristiana 5 (Prato I879) Gerke, Die christlichen Sarkophage der vorkonstantinischenZeit pl. 395, no. io. Matz-von Duhn, op.cit., list eight other frag- (Berlin I940) 38ff, pl. I, nos. 1-3, pl. i6, no. 3. See Wilpert ments, nos. 2786-2793, as at Palazzo Corsetti, Studio Canova, for the older bibliography. Both Wilpert and Gerke discuss Via Aquari, etc. etc. They also describe a complete sarcophagus Jonah iconography at some length. The latter's identification of in the Abbey of Ferentillo, p. 219, which sounds very much the small central scenes as Moses or Lot is highly doubtful, his like the Palazzo Vaccari one with three ships, one of them a attempt to establish a date in the first half of the third censailboat, music-making cupids and Psyche, dolphins and a tury by stylistic comparison with the Endymion sarcophagus in swimming cupid in front and elaborate buildings and a palm the Lateran unconvincing. tree as background. I have not been able to obtain photo-

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prow, the lower left-handcorner of the sail, the execution is so excellent that Wilpert dated this heads and right arms of the sailors and Jonah's sarcophagusin the second century. Subsequent as scholars have assignedit to the third, and I would right arm and beakednose are all restorations, are all but a few of the headson this sarcophagus.13 place it shortly after 250 and thus approximately in Copenwith the ship sarcophagus The secondincidentin the storyis shown immedi- contemporary ately to the right. The whale, who has reversed hagen. Wilpert suggested that it may have been his directionand unwound his tail somewhat,is made for a bishop, which would accountfor the spewing out Jonahwho has turned aroundinside two scenes of fishing ("And I will make you to his belly and emergeshead first,againlike a swim- become fishers of men," Mark I.I7), the Good arms.The front of his face Shepherd mer with outstretched wardingoff the wolf and the prominence is restored.Above appearsthe third scene where given to St. Peter.The Raisingof Lazarus,Noah, Jonahsleepsin the relaxedpose of Endymionwith and Jonah himself are popularcatacombsubjects a luxuriantgourd vine archingover him." Round which stressthe deliverances of the early liturgies aboutarea numberof smallscenes. Wilpertcounted and are therefore for any devoutChrisappropriate no less than seven.The sea, which runs almostthe tian.17 shows not only entire length of the sarcophagus, The threeincidentsof the Jonahstoryappearin well a miniature similarform on a child's as but the usualdolphins supports in the Musarcophagus ark in which Noah prays, while the dove brings seum at (pl. 78, fig. 5). Here also Copenhagen18 him a large branch.Two fishermenare at the ex- a ship with full sail battlesa stormysea. There are treme right, one of whom is catching a big fish two, not three sailors,one clothed,the other only while a second one seems to be waiting to be the latterholdingJonahin a morehorizontal nude, caught; in front a heron is also fishing from the position than on the previousexample,while the shore, accompanied by two snails, a lizard and a whale grimacesbelow. He is of the same form as is receiving crab.At the left end anotherfisherman Lateransarcophagus, on the althoughthe coils of Above this is the Raising a fish from a companion. his tail are fewer. Again he is repeatedreversed of Lazarus (his figure and the head and left arm at The of Christare restored),in the centerPeter smiting and is shown spewing up Jonah the right. and therecenter in the two however, tails, overlap the rock and his Arrest,and at the right end the his flockfromthe wolf.15 by obscurethe clarity of movement seen in our GoodShepherd protecting A narrowstone floor providesa base for some of last example.Above Jonahreclinesunder the vine the upperscenesbut it is not continuous-it is in- in much the samepose as before.Two winds with on eitherside of the sail. A small terruptedfirst by the sail and then by the rocky long hornsblow mound for Jonah's sleep.It suggests,however,how fishermanwith a cap and basket,as before,sits in the doubleregister sarcopha- front of a rustic hut, fishing behind the whale's typeof EarlyChristian to be their one seem makes this and arose pre- tail. At eitherend, in much largerscale,is a Good gus in Shepherdwhose pedum goes up awkwardlybeoccurs detail rather a cursor.16Finally amusing are carethe sun and of the classical personification wind, hind the lamb'sneck. Heads and drapery and as the the latter's horn broken, found above the billowing lessly executed, workmanship a whole is in sharpcontrast to thatof the Lateransarcophasail. not due entirelyto its later date. In spite of the heterogeneous scenes the com- gus, its inferiority a simsarcophagus position is carefully balanced, the Jonah story form- Wilpertcalledthe Copenhagen The whale. on the and of the one in the Lateran dated it crescent a plifiedcopy centering ing great
13 Wilpert's pl. 9, no. 3, outlines the restorationswith white ink. 14 M. Lawrence, "Three Pagan Themes in Christian Art," De Artibus Opuscula XL, Essays in Honor of Erwin Panofsky, M. Meiss ed. (New York I96I) 324-27. See also E. Stommel, "Zur Problem der friihchristlichen Jonas Darstellungen," lbAuChr i (1958) II2-I5, which appeared after my article had gone to press. 15 This is a rare scene but occurs also on the ivory casket in Brescia which has as well the incidents of the Jonah story (J. Kollwitz, Die Lipsanothek von Brescia [Berlin-Leipzig I933]).

16 A. Soper, "Latin Style on Christian Sarcophagi of the Fourth Century," ArtB I9 (I937) I48ff, figs. 4-I5. 17 Lawrence, op.cit. 326; C. R. Morey, Early Christian Art 18 Poulsen, op.cit. 590-91, no. 832, pl. 72. This was bought in 1889 in Rome and was said to have been found at the Porta Angelica. Wilpert, op.cit. I, pl. 59, no. 3; 2, 205; Gerke, op.cit. 38-51, pl. 2, no. i; L. von Sybel, Christliche Antike 2 (Marburg I909) II3, pl. 6, first connected this sarcophagus with Lateran 1 9.
(Princeton 1942) 6I-62.

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to the second half of the third century. It is more probably early fourth. Another Jonah sarcophagus has recently come into the British Museum. Since I published this in a previous article I will discuss it very briefly here.19 Like our last example the whole front is devoted to the single story but the emphasis now is clearly on the outsize figure of Jonah reclining under the gourd, which, with its portrait head, must represent the deceased. The ship, here with furled sail, balances him on the left, but although the whale menaces in the water, Jonah is not entering his mouth nor being thrown to him; instead he stands confident, holding a rope as if about to leap overboard. The sea-monster also, although appearing twice, is much smaller and less prominent. I believe this can be dated in the third quarter of the third century. As far as I know these are the only examples extant that are truly "Jonah sarcophagi," where the story is told so fully and is the major theme of the trough, centralizing the design and giving two representations of the whale.20 Frequently the scenes are telescoped as on the fine early sarcophagus in Sta. Maria Antiqua in Rome. Here the ship also has furled sails, and there are two sailorsboth of them clothed and one in the orant position of prayer.21The whale is of the same type as before but again reduced in size, and he has already spewed up the prophet who reclines at the right. Jonah is however a subsidiary theme, and the story curves around the end so that only half the boat
19 Lawrence, op.cit. 325-26, figs. 4, 5. I believe it should be dated to the third quarter of the third century. 20 A small fragment in Sta. Maria in Trastevere, Wilpert, op.cit. 2, text, fig. I20; Gerke, op.cit. pl. 2, no. 2, has been restored by the former scholar, pl. x16 no. 2, as a curious composite of the Lateran and Copenhagen sarcophagi. Unfortunately only Jonah under the gourd vine survives, flanked by the three Hebrews, an angel and the fiery furnace. The ends of two tails indicate, however, that this may well have been another "Jonah sarcophagus." 21 Wilpert, op.cit. pl. I, no. 2, pl. 3, no. I; Lawrence, op.cit. 324-25, figs. 2, 3. The orant sailor becomes increasingly frequent, see my pl. 78, fig. 9. 22 A few other early sarcophagi give Jonah a prominent position on the front, Wilpert, op.cit. I, pl. 4, no. 3, pl. 57, no. 5. For double frieze examples, pl. 122, no. 3, pl. 86, no. 3; covers, pls. I6I, no. 3 to x80, no. 2, pi. 300, no. 3. 23 The curious high relief from Tarsus now in the Metropolitan Museum is an exception, as Jonah is being swallowed feet first although he emerges as usual head first. This was found in 1876 and given to the museum the following year. W. Lowrie, "A Jonah Monument in the N.Y. Metropolitan Museum" AJA 5 (190o 55-57, figs. i, 2; 0. Wulff, Altchristliche und

is visible from the front; the main emphasis is given to the orant and the seated philosopher who occupy the center. For the most part the Jonah story was relegated to the cover, since it stretchesout horizontally and fits neither between the columns of the columnar sarcophagi nor with the tight composition of many vertical figures of the Latin frieze type of the fourth century. Occasionally it was placed on the ends or tucked under the medallion of the double register examples.22Innumerable examples of these covers exist, many of them fragmentary. Jonah almost always goes into the whale head first and naked, although he may emerge clothed.23A fragment of one of these covers shows a curious combination of Christian and pagan imagery. It is in the Terme Museum24 (pl. 78, fig. 6). At the left stands an orant sailor in a boat with a furled sail which anachronisticallyis steered by a cupid. Next comes a lighthouse which Stuhlfauth accepted as Ostia although it seems to have only three storeys, then the whale, and finally the reclining Jonah under an arbor with large gourds. The three episodes of Jonah's story also appear over and over again in Rome in the catacomb paintings, his popularity rivaled only by the orant and the Good Shepherd, so it is not surprising to find him on so many sarcophagi. Although occurring chiefly in Italy, the Jonah theme is also shown on a number of terracottalamps found in North Africa, in frescoes, ivories and stone carvings in Egypt, and on a wide variety of other objects scattered over western Europe. Tracing his iconographical
Byzantinische Kunst (Berlin 1914) 149, calls it the top of a grave stele and compares it convincingly with a fourth century stele with Orpheus, in Athens, fig. 14I. C. Bonner, "The Story of Jonah on a Magical Amulet," HThR 41 (1948) 3Iff, tries to explain this curious iconography by a rabbinical tradition that the sailors dipped Jonah into the sea feet first in the hope of stilling the tempest. I am indebted to Mr. W. Forsyth for these last two references. Another example of Jonah going in feet first is on the mosaic discovered in Tomb M in the excavations under St. Peter's in the I940's, A. Ghetti, A. Ferrua, E. Josi e E. Kirschbaum, Esplorazioni sotto la confessione di S. Pietro in Vaticano (Vatican City 1951) 2, pl. 12 b. For the clothed Jonah see 0. Mitius, Jonas auf den Denkmdlern des christlichen Altertum (Freiburg I897) 79ff; Morey, op.cit. 65; C. R. Morey, "Notes on East Christian Miniatures," ArtB 11
(I929) 27-28. 24 Wilpert, op.cit. pl. x63, no. 3; Gerke, op.cit. pl. 28, no. x; Stuhlfauth, op.cit. pl. 31, no. 3. Another fragmentary cover in

the Lateran from near Spoleto shows a ship manned by three evangelists, (Jo)annes, Lucas, and Marcus appear inscribed on the side, with Christ at the rudder, traces of a lighthouse are at the right. Wilpert, op.cit. i, text, fig. 52; Stuhlfauth
p. 151.

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forms is obviouslyfar beyond the scope of this as the Odyssey. So far as I am aware no ancient The reader may havenoticedthatthe seamonster who threatensJonah does not look at all like a whale, with his dragon-like head,long uprightears and tail that curls like an eel's. He is called Kr)TO, in the Greektext, both of the book of Jonah(I.I7: and in the passagein St. Matthew (I2.40) 2.10), which likens Christ's threedays in the heartof the earthto Jonah's threedaysin the whale'sbelly.The translatorsof the King James'version, however, used "greatfish"for the Old Testamentstory but "whale"for the referencein the Gospels.Pliny's Natural History, describingwhales who belch out a sort of deluge, mentions not only the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea but also a whale which came into the harborof Ostia in the time of Claudius, temptedby the wreck of a ship with a cargo After glutting itself for a number of of hides.26 the whale, days Pliny says,had furroweda hollow in the shallow water and had been banked up with sandby the wavesso thatit projected far above the water like a capsizedship and was quite unable to turn around.Pliny then tells how sailors the mouth of the harborwith nets but, barricaded before they succeededin killing the whale, one of their boats sank, filled with water from the beast'ssnorting. The reductioad absurdumcomes with Lucian's True History where a great whale, a hundredand fifty miles long, swallows the voyagers,ship and all.27Inside they find an island with a coast line of twenty-seven miles, and on it a forest with all kinds of trees, a temple of Poseidon,etc., as well as many strangepeople.After living therefor nearly two yearsthey finallyescapeby settingfire to the forestwhich burnsfor seven days and seven nights without the whale apparently noticingit. This is a Jonahand one wonderswhether storyto out-Jonah Lucianis not parodying the Old Testamentas well
25 Mitius, op.cit., lists 177 examples; Cabrol, op.cit. 7 part 2 pp. 2572f has 207. For an even more complete coverage consult the Index of Christian Art, Princeton University.

artist's illustration of this book has survived if one ever existed. One may however look for sea-monsters swallowing or disgorging men in Greek and Roman Art. A black-figured vase found in Taranto in 1949 shows Herakles in front of a huge fish covered with large scales, its open jaw rising far above his head. He seems to be thrusting something curved into the fish's mouth or pulling it out. Is this the rescue of Hesione as Brommer thinks or is it, as Professor Margarete Bieber has suggested, Herakles trying to force Nereus to tell him how to find the apples of the Hesperides? In the latter case Nereus has turned himself into a fish instead of the usual man-headed seamonster, and the curved object would be his tongue.28 Another Greek vase, a red-figured cup by Duris in the Vatican, affords an even closer parallel to Jonah29 (pl. 78, fig. 7). Here a great monster, again covered with scales but whose tail is out of the picture, is forced by Athena to disgorge Jason who is half swallowed, his arms and hair hanging down limply. The Golden Fleece appears in a tree above. This beautiful vase is certainly a rare variant of the famous story. Large fish with sea-horses,sea-lions, sea-dragons, sea-griffins and other marine animals appear frequently frolicking on the many Roman sarcophagi adorned with nereids, tritons and similar creatures to conduct the deceased soul across the sea to the Isles of the Blessed.30 Although these fish have large heads none that I have found have the peculiar mouth of the whale and are therefore probably meant to be dolphins. One of them on a sarcophagus in the Vatican is, however, represented as enormous and, interestingly enough, is in front of a lighthouse which here has only two storeys.31 Monsters like the one who swallows Jonah occur among the rollicking creatures. Cupids ride two

29 E. Pfuhl, Malerei und Zeichnung der Griechen 3 (Munich, 1923) pl. I64, no. 467; C. Kerenyi, The Heroes of the Greeks (London, 1959) fig. 62. 26 30 A. Rumpf, "Die Meerewesen auf den Antiken Sarkophag9.5-5. 27 I.3Iff, 2.Iff. I wish to thank my colleague, Professor reliefs," C. Robert, Die Antiken Sarkophagreliefs5 part i (Berlin I939) 94-99, 112-15 on the origin of the ketos, pi. I3, no. Evelyn Harrison, for drawing Lucian to my attention. 28F. Brommer, "Die Konigstochter und das Ungeheuer," 46, pl. 20, no. 57, pl. 46, no. 120, pl. 58, nos. 307, 318, pl. Marburger Winckelmann-Program (I955) 5ff, pl. 3. He lists 60, no. 3I5. J. Toynbee and J. Ward Perkins, The Shrine of both of Andromeda and of Hesione. He inter- St. Peter and the Vatican Excavations (New York 1958) pl. 29. many examples 31 Rumpf, op.cit. pl. 9, no. 28. He dates this sarcophagus prets the curved object as a sickle. For Nereus see K. Shepard, The Fish-tailed Monster in Greek and Etruscan Art (New in the first quarter of the fourth century. York 1940) 2, Iiff, 36f.

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of them on a garland sarcophagus in the Terme ing a boy head first36(pl. 78, fig. 8). Here for once but these have forepawsand are thus it has the enormous head of the whale. The scene Museum,32 meant to be sea-dragons. Jonah'smonster looks naturalistic, with its rowboat from which the probably also occasionally has legs, as on the Sta. MariaAn- men, two on each rope, are pulling a large net full the Jonahexamplein the British of fish, the land with buildings behind them. A tiquasarcophagus, Museumand the cover in the Terme (pl. 78, fig. youth swims in the water and another fishes from of the type seemsindisputable. the shore. Slightly to the left in the upper center 6), so the derivation It suggests some prehistoricamphibiancreature, one sees the three-quartersrear view of a boy standwhose traditionlingered on in the Mediterranean ing on a rock which looks somewhat like a large world. turtle. The mosaic is obviously late: I should judge ketos has a in Greek art. It from its style the early fourth century, and thus Jonah's long history is he as a rule who threatens Andromedaand He- contemporary with our next example. sione.We even have an early Corinthianamphora In the Constantinian basilica of Aquileia is a in Berlin where the monster is labeled K/?rog, famous mosaic pavement which shows a similar while Perseus stridestowardshim with Andromeda scene.37 Here also fishermen draw on a big net behind.33 head from a small rowboat, but the scene has been Unfortunately only the dragon-like is in the picture.In the many renderingsof this transferredfrom the realm of reality for two of the storyin Roman frescoesthe maiden is chainedto boatmen are cupids. Fish of all kinds and birds the rock, usually with her arms outspread,the abound. The motif of a figure, here a cupid, seen ketos cavortingin the water below, and the same in three-quartersrear view and standing on a rock, is true as a rule of Hesione. There is, however,a is repeated. But the main subject now is Jonah, frescoin the Casadel Centenario in Pompeiiwhere whose story is told in the familiar three episodes. the monsterhas the girl in the sea and has wrapped his tail aroundher, althoughhe is not swallowing He goes head first into the mouth of a very disher.34This is probablyHesione, since the man tinct ketos from a boat manned by three sailors, one of whom in a long tunic with marked clavae stridingout on the tree trunk with a large stone prays in the stern (pl. 78, fig. 9). To the right the in his hand looks like Herakles. In two Pompeian frescoes of Nilotic scenes prophet, now clothed, is disgorged onto a conpygmies are being swallowed although not by a venient platform; slightly above and still further ketos. The first, the famous one today in the Mu- to the right he lies on another platform under the seum in Naples, shows a pygmy half consumed customary trellis. How long the ketos survives and when a true the other, now in the Temple by a hippopotamus, fish or whale replaces him in representations of of Apollo, depicts a small figure disappearing in the Jonah story are questions that can not be conthe mouth of a crocodile.35 Among the many marinesceneson mosaicpave- sidered here. Certainly the ketos is found in the ments there is, however,one with fishermenfrom east as late as the end of the tenth century; he is the Baths of Hippo-Diarrhytus, taken to the Mu- seen disgorging Jonah in three important Byzansee Alaoui in Tunis, where a largefish is swallow- tine manuscripts, the Paris Psalter Gr.I39, Paris
32ibid. pl. 3, no. I6. Rumpf dates this sarcophagus in the early third century. Compare also the cover of a Dionysiac sarcophagus found under St. Peter's, Toynbee, op.cit. pl. 28. Here the tail coils twice but ends in a trifork. Both of these examples seem closer to the form on the Jonah sarcophagi than the cover at S. Sebastiano cited by Wilpert, op.cit. pl. i6i, no. I. 33 Shepard, op.cit. pl. 5, no. 38. I wish to thank my colleague, Dr. Jane Henle, for bringing this vase to my attention. 34C. M. Dawson, Romano-Campanian Mythological Landscape Painting (New Haven I944) pl. 24, no. 6I, who follows M. Rostovtzeff, RM 26 (19II) 54, pl. 30, in identifying this as Herakles and Hesione. 35 G. E. Rizzo, La pitture ellenistico-Romana (Milan 1929) pl. 151; S. Reinach, Repertoire de peintures grecques et romaines (Paris 1922) pl. 377, no. 5. I wish to thank Professor P. H. von Blanckenhagen for calling my attention to the latter example and for other helpful suggestions. A stucco relief with a Nilotic scene of pygmies, listed by Reinach, Rep.Rel. 3, pl. 271 as in the Museo Kircherianoin Rome, is drawn as showing a crocodile swallowing a boy feet first. However the photograph of this plaque, which has gone to the Ny Carlsberg Glypototek in Copenhagen, shows a fine crocodile but with its mouth closed and no child visible, N. von Rohden u. H. Winnefeld, Die Antiken Terrakotten 4, part 2 (Berlin 191) pi. I40. 36 P. Gauckler, Catalogue du Musee Alaoui, Musees de l'Algerie et de la Tunisie 15, Suppl. (Paris I9I0) I5, pl. 5. 37La Basilica di Aquileia (Bologna 1933) I98ff, 262ff, pls. 42-44; see p. 204 for the dedicatory inscription in the center of this mosaic.

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and as leviathan playingwithin lingianmanuscripts,

Gr.5Io and the Menologion of Basil II, as both the wide sea in Psalm o04 of the Utrecht Psalter.39 Mitius and Morey pointed out.88 In the west he How much longer he disports himself in northern adorns two twelfth century pulpits at Ravello; he waters is a problem for another study. appears above the Canon Tables of some CaroBARNARD COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

3s Mitius, op.cit. pls. x, 2; Morey, ArtB Ii (1929) figs. 30, 33. table, however. E. T. DeWald, The Illustrations of the Utrecht 89Morgan Library, Exhibition of Illuminated Manuscripts Psalter (Princeton I932) pl. 95. Also E. Bertaux, L'Art dans (New York I934); Ms. 728, 3-4, fig. x is of another canon 1'Italie m&idionale (Paris I904) figs. I8I, 225.

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FIG. I. Copenhagen,Ny CarlsbergGlyptotek, sarcophagus

FIG. 2. Sarcophagus front, formerly Rome, Palazzo Vaccari

FIG. 3. Rome, Vatican, Chiaramonti, fragments of child's sarcophagus

FIG. 4. Rome, Lateran, sarcophagus

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FIG.5. Copenhagen,Ny CarlsbergGlyptotek,child's sarcophagus

FIG.7. Rome, Vatican, vase by Duris

FIG.

9. Aquileia, Basilica,detail of mosaic pavement