Petrified power: an initial report on the use of hard-stone Roman spolia in Norman Sicily (twelfth–thirteenth centuries)

In 1130, Roger II was proclaimed king of the newly formed kingdom of Sicily, and the 1140s were clearly the apex of his reign, which lasted until he died in 1154. Completely reorganizing his kingdom under his sole authority, the king launched a counter-propaganda campaign against Pope Innocent II (r. 1130–1143) aimed at establishing his figure as a Christian ruler with sovereign power over both the Church and the State. As part of this political propaganda, King Roger II sponsored a lavish decorative programme in the main religious and secular buildings of his kingdom,1 which showcased extensive use of Roman hard-stone spolia, especially red porphyry, imported from Rome. This was one of the largest and most ambitious projects of a systematic reuse of Roman spolia in the medieval world. Porphyry and other hard stone spolia were also employed for the pavement in the Cathedral of Palermo and later, in the Cathedral of Monreale. At the very apex of this extensive use of classical spolia are four porphyry tombs, located today in the cathedrals of Palermo and Monreale, which are believed to house the remains of the Norman and Hohenstaufen rulers (Figures 4.1a–d). These exceptional monuments are characterized by relief-carved decorations and are undoubtedly among the most important and spectacular monuments commissioned by the Norman-Swabian rulers between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Although there is little doubt that the tombs were made in the twelfth century, it is difficult to determine their exact dates of manufacture. The relative chronologies proposed by various scholars cannot be verified by the scarce and fragmented written evidence or the analysis of iconography alone. Therefore, dating the making of the sarcophagi remains extremely problematic and, in the absence of new, clear data, will not be discussed here beyond our acceptance that all were carved in the twelfth century. The skilful carving of hard stone in the medieval period also poses a wide range of caveats, especially regarding the technology employed to work this unforgiving stone. Although the technical knowledge of how to cut and polish two-dimensional porphyry slabs and thin opus sectile veneers survived throughout the Middle Ages, it is generally assumed that the know-how and tools necessary to sculpt high-relief items of porphyry had disappeared in the western Roman Empire after the fifth century of the Common Era, only to be ‘rediscovered’ during the Renaissance.