Hetoimasia

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The empty throne with cushion, crux gemmata and cloth, flanked by Saints Peter and Paul. Arian Baptistery, Ravenna, early 6th century.

The Hetoimasia, Etimasia (Greek ἑτοιμασία, "preparation"), prepared throne, Preparation of the Throne, ready throne or Throne of the Second Coming is the Christian version of the symbolic subject of the empty throne found in the art of the ancient world, whose meaning has changed over the centuries. In

Eastern Orthodox art to the present.[1]

The motif consists of an empty throne and various other symbolic objects, in later depictions surrounded when space allows by angels paying homage. It is usually placed centrally in schemes of composition, very often in a roundel, but typically is not the largest element in a scheme of decoration.[2]

Buddhist 2nd century empty throne, attacked by Mara.[3]

The empty throne in pre-Christian art

Symbolic base showing an empty throne, with a cuneiform inscription and depiction of Tukulti-Ninurta I 13th century BCE Assur, Iraq. Pergamon Museum, Berlin.
Roman Empire, 80 AD. Silver Denarius. On the obverse : Effigy of Emperor Titus ; on the reverse : curule seat surmounted by a crown.
instruments of the Passion
.

The "empty throne" had a long pre-Christian history. An

cherubim above it, as an empty throne.[6] A throne with a crown upon it had been a symbol for an absent monarch in Ancient Greek culture since at least the time of Alexander the Great,[7] whose deification allowed secular use for what had previously been a symbol for Zeus, where the attribute placed on the throne was a pair of zig-zag thunderbolts.[8]

Early

dharma wheel or Buddha footprint
, as well as a cushion.

Like the Greeks and other ancient peoples, the Romans held ritual banquets for the gods (a ritualized "

theoxenia"), including the annual Epulum Jovis, and the lectisternium, originally a rare event in times of crisis, first held in 399 BCE according to Livy, but later much more common.[10] A seat for these was called a pulvinar, from pulvinus ("cushion"), and many temples held these; at the banquets statues of the deity were placed on them. There was a pulvinar at the Circus Maximus, on which initially statues and attributes of the gods were placed after a procession during games, but Augustus also occupied it himself (possibly copying Julius Caesar), building a temple-like structure in the seating to house it.[11] Thrones with a jewelled wreath, portrait or sceptre and diadem sitting on them were among the symbols used in the Roman law courts and elsewhere to represent the authority of the absent emperor; this was one of the monarchical attributes awarded by the Roman Senate to Julius Caesar.[12]

A seat with jewelled wreath is seen on coins from the

Emperor Titus onwards, and on those of Diocletian a seat with a helmet on it represents Mars.[13] Commodus chose to be represented by a seat with the club and lion skin of Hercules, with whom he identified himself. The empty throne continued to be used as a secular symbol of power by the first Christian Emperors, and appears on the Arch of Constantine
.

Later non-Christian uses of the empty throne motif include the "Bema Feast", the most important annual feast of Persian Manichaeism, when a "bema" or empty throne represented the prophet Mani at a meal for worshippers.[14] In the Balinese version of Hinduism, the most prominent element in most temples is the padmasana or "Lotus Throne", an empty throne for the supreme deity Acintya.[15]

In the Ashanti Empire, the Golden Stool was used as a symbol of authority for the kings. It was considered so sacred that it was not allowed to touch the ground (but only placed on a blanket) or seated on its own throne.

Christian art

Romanian Orthodox
church, with crown of thorns around the cross.

There are several elements found in the image which reflect its changing meaning. The throne itself is always present, and is often backless and armless. In Ancient Greek, a "thronos" was a specific but ordinary type of chair with a footstool, and there is very often a footstool in the image. There is often a prominent cushion, and a cloth variously interpreted as Christ's mantle (especially when of imperial purple) or a

crown of thorns, which first appears as an isolated motif in this context.[17] This seems to have originated as a victor's wreath around or over the cross, part of the early emphasis on "Christ as Victor" found in much cross imagery, but later to have been transmuted into the crown of thorns. It has also been suggested that the wreathed cross motif also was the origin of the Celtic cross
.

The dove of the

Voroneţ Monastery in Romania of 1547.[19]

Meaning of the image

Byzantine miniature of about 880 of the First Council of Constantinople in 381

The image was one of many aspects of imperial

bishop's throne from which the cathedral takes its name, which, unless the bishop happens to be present and sitting in it, functions as a permanent reminder of his authority in his diocese
.

In the earlier versions the throne is most often accompanied by a cross and a scroll or book, which at this stage represents the Gospels. In this form the whole image represents Christ, but when the dove of the Holy Spirit and the cross are seen, the throne appears to represent God the Father, and the whole image the

Dormition in Nicaea.[22] From about 1000 the image may bear the title hetoimasia,[23]
literally "preparation", meaning "that which has been prepared" or "that which is made ready", and specifically refers to the "sign of the Son of Man" and the Last Judgement. By this time the image usually occurs in the West only under direct Byzantine influence, as in Venice and Torcello.

Some Early Christians had believed that the True Cross had miraculously ascended to Heaven, where it remained in readiness to become the glorified "sign of the Son of man" (see below) at the Last Judgement. The Discovery by Helena had displaced this view as to the fate of the actual cross, but the idea of the return at the Last Judgement of the glorified cross remained, as in a homily by Pope Leo the Great (d. 461), which was incorporated in the Roman Breviary.[24]

Early examples

Icon in ivory, with archangels, cross, spear and sponge, and "Hetoimasia" inscribed above the throne, Constantinople around 1000

Although it is assumed that other examples existed earlier, the earliest surviving Christian hetoimasia is in the earliest major scheme of church decoration to survive, the mosaics in

Nicosia, Cyprus.[27]

Elsewhere it may occupy the centre of a frieze below a larger composition in the apse

Baptistry of Neon (late 5th century) in Ravenna is exceptional in using repeated hetoimasia images in a circular dome frieze of eight images, four each of two types appearing alternately: a hetoimasia with cross in a garden and an altar containing an open book, flanked by two chairs.[28]

The 6th-century "throne-reliquary" in rather crudely carved

gospel book, making actual the hetoimasia images with open books.[29]

Later use

During the Middle Byzantine period the etimasia became a standard feature of the evolving subject of the

Last Judgement, found from the 11th century onwards.[30] As in the Western versions descended from the Byzantine images, this was on several tiers, with Christ in Judgement at the top, and in the East the etimasia almost always in the centre of the tier below, but occasionally above Christ. This basic layout has remained in use in Eastern Orthodoxy to the present day, and is found both on church walls and as a painted panel icon. The etimasia was normally omitted in Western versions, except in works under direct Byzantine influence, such as the early 12th century west wall of Torcello Cathedral
.

Last Judgement
, following what had become a standard composition in its main elements, including the etimasia.

Another context in which the etimasia sometimes appears from the Middle Byzantine period is

twelve apostles seated round the outer rims, with flames on their heads and rays connecting them to the central throne. Below the apostles pairs of figures representing the "nations", with tituli, stand between the windows. Similar images are found in the Chludov Psalter and elsewhere. However, in this case the etimasia did not become part of a conventional composition, and it is not found in modern icons of the Pentecost.[31]

It has been suggested that the empty stool with a cushion in the foreground of Jan van Eyck's Annunciation in Washington may suggest the empty throne; van Eyck characteristically uses domestic fittings to represent doctrinal references.[32]

Scriptural references

The image has been regarded as illustrating a number of different passages from the Bible. For the later Byzantines the etimasia was the "sign of the Son of man" of Matthew 24:30: "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory".[33] The understanding of the image as a symbol for the Second Coming also drew on Psalms 9:7: "But the Lord shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment".[34] where the Septuagint has "ἡτοίμασεν" ("hetoimasen") for "prepared".[35] Psalm 89:14:"Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face" is another relevant passage, using the word in the Septuagint (instead of the "habitation" of the King James Version), giving "ἑτοιμασία τοῦ θρόνου" or "preparation of your throne".[36] Throne imagery is found above all in the Book of Revelation, especially chapter 4, although the throne therein is already occupied.

Terminology

The Greek verb ἑτοιμασεν ("hetoimasen") means "to prepare" or "to make ready". It will be seen that the name "hetoimasia", meaning "preparation" or "that which has been prepared", with "throne" ("thronos" in Greek) only implied,[37] is more appropriate to the Eastern images after about 1000 than to those before. The use of the name for both groups was established in the 19th century by the French art historian Paul Durand (from 1867), and despite protests has stuck.[38] In more modern Orthodox contexts "etimasia" and "prepared throne" are typically used, and in art history relating to the earlier group "hetoimasia" and "empty throne" - exclusively the latter in non-Christian contexts where a more specialized term is not used. There are various other transliterations and translations: "hetimasia", "throne made ready" etc.

Notes

  1. ^ Schiller, II, 186.
  2. ^ Hall, 94
  3. ^ Krishan, pp. 1 and 5, fig 4a caption
  4. ^ Berlin relief
  5. ^ Hall, 95
  6. ^ Haran, 247-249, and later in the chapter. See his notes for further literature
  7. ^ Syndicus, 151
  8. ^ Hall, 95, coin 1st century CE from Cilicia
  9. ^ Example from the V&A museum. The alternative theory, first advanced by Huntington (see her final paragraph), sees these images as depictions of an actual relic-throne of the Buddha as an object of worship at major Buddhist sites, but this remains controversial.
  10. ^ Ramsay, 344
  11. ^ Humphrey, 78-80
  12. ^ Humphrey, 79; Hall, 95; Hellemo, 107; Fishwick. See Temple 10, note 12 for detailed studies
  13. ^ Hellemo, 107
  14. ^ The Cambridge history of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods
  15. ^ Davison and Granquist, 8-9, Baliblog, with images
  16. ^ Schiller, I, 132
  17. ^ Schiller, II, 187, noting the exception of a single occurrence in the Utrecht Psalter.
  18. ^ Hall, 94, where both are illustrated, and 141
  19. ^ Voroneţ Monastery, feature with good image (in Romanian)
  20. ^ Hall, 95
  21. ^ Beckwith, 116-118
  22. ^ Parani, 196
  23. ^ Parani, 196
  24. ^ Werner, 35 and note 42
  25. ^ Beckwith, 111, and 37 on date
  26. ^ Soper, 154-157
  27. Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, subscription or library access required
    (accessed November 8, 2010).
  28. ^ Morgan, 8. It is also known as the Orthodox Baptistry. See also Weinryb, 44, 48-51.
  29. ^ Buckton, 98-105
  30. V&A Museum, notes on ivory Last Judgement [1]
  31. ^ Demus, 55-57, and plate 13; also Parani, 196. See here for further details]
  32. ISBN 0-521-34016-0
    . Entry pp. 75-86, by Hand.
  33. ^ See Hellemo, 102-104 for arguments that the earliest examples also carried this meaning (he disagrees)
  34. ^ Schiller, II 98 & 187
  35. ^ Psalms 9:7: καὶ ὁ κύριος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μένει ἡτοίμασεν ἐν κρίσει τὸν θρόνον αὐτοῦ Biblos website
  36. ^ Temple, 8-9, Biblos website
  37. ^ Contrary to many sources who should know better, and say hetoimasia "means" empty throne etc.
  38. ^ Hellemo, 104-105

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to hetoimasia.

Further reading

The main literature is in German - see the list given here.

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