Etimasia

ETIMASIA. - From the Greek ἑτοιμασία = "preparation." The concept expressed in the verse: "iustitia et iudicium praeparatio sedis tuae" (Ps. 88, 15 and also 9, 8) has been rendered artistically in the representation of the throne.

A sarcophagus from Tusculum offers in the center the throne with a cushion on which rests the monogram of Christ enclosed in a wreath (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, I, p. 3, fig. 1; II, pp. 323, 328).

In the triumphal arch of S. Maria Maggiore the throne is richly adorned with pearls and sapphires; on the cushion lie the purple mantle and the imperial diadem; on the footstool the scroll with the seven seals (Rev. 5, 1); in the center rises the gemmed cross; at the two sides of the throne are the medallions with the busts of the apostles Peter and Paul, who are also found standing and acclaiming to the right and left of the throne itself (Wilpert, Mosaiken, pls. 70, 72). A similar vision is offered by the mosaic of S. Matrona and S. Priscus near S. Maria Capua Vetere: there in a lunette is the gemmed throne; on the cushion is laid the scroll with seven seals, while on the backrest rests the nimbed dove with wings outspread; at the sides of the throne are the symbols of the evangelists John and Matthew, while those of Luke and Mark are in a second lunette; in the third the bust of Jesus Christ between the two apocalyptic letters, and in the fourth lunette the gemmed Cross (Wilpert, ibid., pls. 76-77).

The sylloge of Lorsch has transcribed the following distich: "In trono sancti Chrysogoni," in Trastevere: "Sedes caelos Dei praefert insignia Christi - quod Patris et Filii creditur honor unus" (G. B. De Rossi, Inscriptiones Christianae urbis Romae, II, 1, Rome 1888, p. 152, n. 27). There is thus a theophany of the Apocalypse and the elevation of the Son to the right hand of the Father. At Ravenna in the 6th century, in the baptistery of the Orthodox, four gemmed thrones with the Cross, the purple and the diadem (insignia Christi) are represented in the cupola; in the baptistery of the Arians the gemmed throne with cross and purple has at its two sides the apostles Peter and Paul (Wilpert, Mosaiken, pl. 101).

In Byzantine art the throne appears with the insignia of the Passion, that is, the Cross, the lance, the crown of thorns, the sponge and the book. Thus in the mosaic of Torcello (Venice) and in the mosaic of the apse of S. Paolo in Rome.

There is also, moreover, an e. or theophany of the Lamb, as, for example, in the triumphal arch of the basilica of Sts. Cosmas and Damian erected by Felix IV (526-30) in the Roman Forum. On the throne is seated the Lamb, while behind it rises the Cross and on the footstool is placed the scroll with the seven seals (G. Matthiae, SS. Cosma e Damiano e S. Teodoro, Rome 1948, photo 18). It is found again on the front face of the ivory casket of Samagher (today in the Museum of Pola); later still on the page of the "Beatus" of Gerona consecrated to the Cross of Oviedo.

Enrico Josi