Reviews

Art in Spain and Portugal from the Romans to the Early Middle Ages

“…61 Meanwhile local elites who profited from this industry developed the towns. 62 During the Julio-Claudian and Flavian periods Astorga acquired an urban centre with a forum and 60 For the status of a conventus, see Fear, 1996, 41-46, and Edmondson, 2006, 256-60. 61 Richert, 2005.…”

“…61 Mining contracts over a wider area, and as part of a diverse economy that included olive oil, grain, wine, horses, and textiles, might begin to make sense of the elaborate villas of Hispania. 62…”

“…The buckles discovered in Spain copy the form and detail of Italian examples to a remarkable degree, 61 and the copper-alloy buckles may be imports from mainland Italy or Sicily. 62 Visigothic law codes refer to merchants from across the sea (transmarini negotiatores) who bring gold, silver, garments, and ornamenta, which may have included buckles. 63 A piece of Byzantine jewellery, a gold bracteate or medallion, has been found in southwest Spain at Medellín, upriver from Mérida on the Guadiana.…”

“…The cross emphasises its Byzantine pretensions by adapting the phrase, 'In this sign conquer', which, according to the early Christian chronicler, Eusebius, appeared in a dream to Emperor Constantine before the battle at Milvian bridge. 62 The designation of Alfonso II as 'humble servant of Christ' is unusual amongst kings of Asturias, but was used by Byzantine emperors including Theophilos, Alfonso II's contemporary. 63 Helmut Schlunk, who studied the technical aspects of the cross most closely before it was damaged, believed that the workmanship was foreign.…”

“…The work was finished in twelve months, not by imperial order nor by oppression of the people, but by the insistent vigilance of Abbot Alfonso and the brothers, when García held the sceptre of the realm with Queen Mumadona in era 951 [913] and consecrated by Bishop Gennadius on [November 13]. 62 The site on which the church of San Miguel was built, the ancient place (hic locus antiquitus), constitutes one of the main themes of this brief text. Another inscription with almost exactly the same wording, and also lost, was recorded at the monastery of San Martín de Castañeda (Sanabria, Zamora), except that the abbot was John, the king Ordoño II, and the date 921.…”