IMC 2026: Sessions

Paper 831-a:

According to a tradition not supported by written sources, it was on the occasion of the wedding of Frederick II of Swabia with Isabella of Brienne, celebrated on 9 November 1225 in the cathedral of Brindisi, It was a gift from the emperor to the city where the marriage with the daughter of the king of Jerusalem was celebrated. The relics of Saint Theodore of Amasea were transferred to Brindisi from Euchaita, Asia Minor, wrapped in a double-weave shamite. From the Greek hexamitos, the precious fabric, which is characterized by a compact, satin and shiny appearance, is made up of six threads.

The silks that have survived represent only a part of the huge quantities of fabrics circulating in the Mediterranean and Europe during the Middle Ages. Being used by the high clergy and to wrap the holy bodies, whose devotion allowed them to be preserved, they in turn become secondary relics through contact with the sacred remains. This silk is a symbol of a region which, once again, affirms its anything but peripheral role in the empire through the Mediterranean sea.

Paper 831-b:

Il Volto Santo, the Holy Face, is a sculpted crucifix reputed to contain a collection of Christ’s relics, including a thorn from the crown, nails from the Cross, locks of hair, and phials of blood. Venerated as an acheiropoieton, or an image not made by human hands, the crucifix was believed to have miraculously journeyed from the Holy Land to Lucca, Italy in the eighth century.

This paper reconsiders the origins of the Volto Santo and argues that the legend and its associated relic cult took shape during the eleventh-century Lucca in response to growing papal influence in the region. Rather than viewing the crucifix as a static object of devotion, this study approaches it as a temporal artifact - one that potentially reframes sacred time and apostolic authority to reflect local political and economic concerns. By tracing its emergence and evolving function, this paper explores the ways in which temporal claims - linking Lucca to the time of Christ - helped legitimize local authority and religious prestige.

Paper 831-c:

The third-century synagogue at Dura-Europos, with its striking cycle of figural wall paintings, challenges assumptions about Jewish aniconism in Late Antiquity. This paper explores how the synagogue's imagery functioned as more than just a narrative decoration; it visualised Jewish conceptions of sacred time. Scenes such as the Exodus, Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones, and the crossing of the Red Sea invoked layers of temporality: historical memory, liturgical reenactment, and eschatological hope. Arranged around the Torah niche, the paintings created a visual liturgy that invited worshippers to inhabit biblical time in the present. Drawing on both archaeological analysis and rabbinic literature, this paper argues that the Dura murals express a localised theology of time, developed in response to the diaspora's existence and influenced by Roman visual culture. The synagogue became a space where the mythic past and redemptive future were brought into dialogue with the present moment of communal worship. In this way, the art of Dura-Europos represents not an exception, but a deliberate attempt to reconcile temporal fragmentation through visual means, a painted theology of continuity across rupture.