DIPTYOH
23
DIPTYCH
arose between profane and ecclesiastical (liturgical)
diptychs, the former being frequently given as pres-
ents by high-placed persons. It was customary to
commemorate in this way one's elevation to a public
office, or any event of personal importance, e. g. a
man-iage. The consuls, on the day of the installation,
were wont to offer diptychs to their friends and even
to the emperor. Those presented to the latter often
had a border of gold and were quite large. Their tab-
lets often exhibited on a central plate the portrait of
the sovereign, surrounded by four other plates. The
(undated) Barberini ivory at the Louvre is thus con-
structed and once served as an ecclesiastical diptych
(see below). Some believe it to be the binding of a
book offered to the emperor. Strzygowski holds it to
be of Egyptian origin and thinks that the portrait is
that of Constantine the Great, defender of the Faith.
The oldest dated consular diptych is that of Probus
(406); it is kept in the treasury of the cathedral of
Aosta, Piedmont. The latest is that of the Eastern
consul, Basilius (541), one tablet of which is at the
UHizi Museum in Florence and the other at the Brera
in Milan. The Theodosian Code (384) forbade the
offering of ivory diptychs to any but the regular (i. e.
not honorary') consuls. The tablet at the Mayer
Museum in Liverpool, bearing the image of Marcus
Aurelius (d. 180), is prior to this enactment. The
consular diptychs are recognizable by their inscrip-
tions or by the figure of the consul which they bear.
On the diptych of Boetius at Brescia (487) and several
others of the same type, the consul is clad in a trabea
(a kind of toga) ; he holds in his left hand the scipio
(consular sceptre) and in his right the mappa circensis,
or white cloth which he used to wave as the signal for
the games in the circus. These games (ludi) or other
liberalities offered to the people by the consul were
frequently represented on the tablets of the diptychs.
There is less certainty concerning the diptychs of
officials other than consuls, e. g. praetors, qusestors,
etc. The diptych of Rufius Probianus V. C. (i. e. inr
clarissimus) mcarius urbis Romce, in the Berlin Mu-
seum, is the most precious relic of this class, and prob-
ably dates from the end of the fourth century.
Among the diptychs of private individuals that of
Gallienus Concessus, discovered at Rome on the Es-
quiline, exhibits only the name of its owner. Others
were richly ornamented and reproduced often some of
the masterpieces of ancient art. Thus on a diptych in
theMayerMu.seum, Liverpool, are seen ^fcculapius and
Telesphorus, Ilygieia, and Amor. The most beautiful
of the profane diptychs was carved at the time of a
marriage between the Symmachi and the Nicomachi
(392 to 394, or 401). It represents on each leaf (one
of which is at the South Kensington Museum and the
other, in a very damaged condition, at Cluny) a
woman performing a sacrifice. Many of the profane
diptychs were preserved in the treasuries of the
churches, where they were eventually used for liturgi-
cal purposes or enshrined in book-bindings or in gold-
smith work. The diptych of Boetius, among others,
bears, on the interior, some liturgical texts and relig-
ious paintings, attributed to the seventh century.
The Liege diptych of the consul Anastasius (517), one
leaf of which is at Berlin and the other at South Ken-
sington, bears an inscription of forty-two lines and the
pvaycr Comynunicantes from the Canoii of the Ma.ss.
Another of the same consul (in the Bibliothcque Na-
tionale, Paris) has a list of the bishops of Bourges. .\t
the cathedral of Monza, Lombardy, a diptych repre-
sents in the dress of consuls King David and St. tireg-
ory the Great. It is perha])s an ancient consular
diptych, transformed in the eighth or ninth ccriturv;
according to .some it appears to lie of cci-lc.-ji.ist ical ori-
gin. Many carved diptychs reproduced purely relig-
ious subjects. f)n a dii)tych in the treasury of
Rouen cathedral the figure (if St. Paul is exactly the
same as that on a sarcophagus in Gaul. A diptych
leaf in the treasury of Tongres was evidently influenced
by the carvings on the cathedra of St. Maximinus at
Ravenna, and seems to have belonged to an ancient
episcopal see. Certain diptychs with religious sub-
jects, e. g. the Holy Sepulchre and the holy women at
the Tomb of Christ (Milan), an angel (British Mu-
seum), probably date from the fourth or fifth century.
Diptych leaves divided into five compartments have
generally served as a cover for copies of the Gospels.
The diptychs, though often clumsily executed, are
important for the history of sculpture, there being a
good number of them extant, and several being accu-
rately dated. At different periods in the Middle Ages,
numerotis diptychs or triptychs of ivory were made,
to serve as little devotional panels.
The liturgical use of diptychs offers considerable interest. In the early Christian ages it was custom- arj' to write on diptychs the names of those, living or dead, w'ho were considered as members of the Church, a signal evidence of the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. Hence the tenns "diptychs of the living" and " diptychs of the dead ' '. Such liturgical diptychs varied in shape and dimensions. Their use (sacrce tabula, tnatriculw, libri vivorum et morluoruni) is at- tested in the writings of St. Cyprian (third century) and by the history of St. John Chrysostom (fourth century), nor did they disappear from the churches until the twelfth century in the West and the four- teenth century in the East. In the ecclesiastical life of antiquity these liturgical diptychs served various purposes. It is probable that the names of the bap- tized were written on diptychs, which were thus a kind of baptismal register. The "diptychs of the living" would include the names of the pope, bishops, and illustrious persons, both lay and ecclesi- astical, of the benefactors of a church, and of those who oiTered the Holy Sacrifice. To these names were sometimes added those of the Blessed Virgin, of mar- tyrs, and of other saints. From such diptychs came the first ecclesiastical calendars and the martyrolo- gies. The "diptychs of the dead" would include the names of persons otherwise qualified for inscription on the diptychs of the living, e. g. the bishops of the com- munity (also other bishops), moreover priests and laymen who had died in the odour of sanctity. It is to this kind of diptychs that the later necrologies owe their origin. Occasionally special diptychs were made to contain only the names of a series of bishops; in this way arose at an early date the episcopal lists or catalogues of occupants of sees. Whatever their im- mediate purpose the liturgical diptychs admitted only the names of persons in communion with the Church; the names of heretics and of excommvmicatcd mem- bers were never inserted. Exclusion from these lists was a grave ecclesiastical penalty ; the highest dignity, episcopal or imperial, would not avail to save the offender from its infliction. The content of the diptychs was read out, either from the ambo (q. v.) or from the altar by a priest or a deacon. In this respect a variety of customs obtained in different churches and at different periods; sometimes the diptychs were simply laid on the altar during Mass, and when read publicly, such reading did not always occur at the same stage of the Mass. The order of which traces are now seen in the Roman Canon of the Mass was the fixed usage of the Roman Church as early as the fifth century. In that venenblc document a long passage after the Sanctus corresponds to the ancient recitation of the diptychs of t\w living; it contains, as is well known, mention of tho.se for whom the Ma-ss is offered, of the pop<', of tlie Ijishop of the diocese, of the Ble.ssed Virgin, and of several .saints. At Ka,ster and at Pente- cost the Ihini- ii/ilur furnished a proper occa.sion to mention the names of the newly baptized, now men- tioned only as a body. Finally the recitation of the "diptychs of the dead" is still recalled by the Me- mento which follows the consecration.
