In Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...

 a consular diptych was a particular type of diptych

Diptych

A diptych di "two" + ptychē "fold") is any object with two flat plates attached at a hinge. Devices of this form were quite popular in the ancient world, wax tablets being coated with wax on inner faces, for recording notes and for measuring time and direction.In Late Antiquity, ivory diptychs with...

 (a pair of linked panels, generally in ivory, wood or metal and decorated with rich sculpted decoration) which could function as a writing tablet but was also intended as a deluxe commemorative object, commissioned by a consul ordinarius and then distributed to reward those who had supported his candidature as rewards and to mark his entry to that post.

History

The chronology of such diptychs is clearly defined, with their beginnings marked by a decision by Theodosius I

Theodosius I

Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...

 in 384

384

Year 384 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Ricomer and Clearchus...

 to reserve their use to consuls alone, except by an extraordinary Imperial dispensation, and their end marked by the consulship's disappearance under the reign of Justinian in 541

541

Year 541 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Basilius without colleague...

. Even so, great aristocrats and Imperial civil-servants bypassed Theodosius's ban and produced diptychs to celebrate less important posts than the consulship – Quintus Aurelius Symmachus

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus was a Roman statesman, orator, and man of letters. He held the offices of governor of Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and consul in 391...

, for example, distributed some to commemorate his son's quaestor

Quaestor

A Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed....

ian then praetor

Praetor

Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...

ian games in 393

393

Year 393 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Augustus...

 and 401

401

Year 401 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vincentius and Fravitus...

 respectively.
The oldest diptych that can properly be called a consular diptych, held in the cathedral treasury at Aosta

Aosta

Aosta is the principal city of the bilingual Aosta Valley in the Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel, at the confluence of the Buthier and the Dora Baltea, and at the junction of the Great and Little St. Bernard routes...

, is one commissioned by Anicius Petronius Probus, consul in the Western Empire in 406 – it is unique not only for its extreme antiquity but also as the only one to bear the portrait of the Emperor (Honorius

Honorius (emperor)

Honorius , was Western Roman Emperor from 395 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the eastern emperor Arcadius....

 in this instance, to whom the diptych is dedicated in an inscription full of humility, with Probus calling himself the emperor's "famulus" or slave) rather than that of the consul.

Later, consular diptychs systematically carried either a more or less elaborate portrait of the consul on the most richly decorated examples or a dedicatory inscription to him within a geometric and vegetal scheme on the simpler examples. The simpler examples were probably produced as a series from models prepared in advance, with the more sophisticated (and thus more expensive) diptychs reserved for the inner circle of the Roman aristocracy. The workshops responsible for their production were to be found in the Empire's two capitals at Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 and Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, but the fall of the Western Empire

Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....

 in 476

476

Year 476 was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Basiliscus and Armatus...

 was probably responsible for the disappearance of western production at the end of the 5th century, with all surviving consular diptychs of 6th century date originating from Constantinople. The most common motif on 6th century consular diptychs from Constantinople shows the consul, standing, presiding over the consular games which marked his entry to the consulship.

By their very nature consular diptychs are a valuable tool for the prosopography

Prosopography

In historical studies, prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a historical group, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable, by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line analysis...

 of the late Roman Empire as well as for the study of the art of this period. Large numbers of them have survived to the present day, in many cases due to their re-use as book covers for medieval ecclesiastical manuscripts. Some were also used in churches as grand bindings for lists of bishops and similar records. The Barberini Ivory

Barberini ivory

The Barberini ivory is a Byzantine ivory leaf from an imperial diptych dating from Late Antiquity, now in the Louvre in Paris. It is carved in the style known as late Theodosian, representing the emperor as triumphant victor...

 is a much rarer Imperial diptych, probably of Justinian.