The symbolism of the Lycurgus Cup

Maja Miziur-Moździoch

Published: 2017-01-01

Vol. 55 (2017)

The symbolism of the Lycurgus Cup

Maja Miziur-Moździoch

Abstract

The Rothschild Lycurgus Cup from the 4th c. AD is one of the most renowned masterpieces of late Roman glass workmanship. It represents a type referred to as ‘cage cups’ (diatreta) and belongs to a rare group of dichroic glass. It depicts the punishment of king Lycurgus for his hubris against Dionysus. The focus of the paper is on the iconography of the decoration and its symbolism. The frieze on the Lycurgus Cup is compared to other representations of the myth on ancient vases and mosaics in order to get a broader view of the theme. Moreover, the paper introduces a different interpretation related to a possible other usage of the cup

Keywords:

Lycurgus, Dionysus, vase painting, mosaics, glass

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Miziur-Moździoch, M. (2017). The symbolism of the Lycurgus Cup. Archaeologia Polona, 55, 99–111. Retrieved from https://journals.iaepan.pl/apolona/article/view/274

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

Beeson, A. 1997. Achilles on Vectis. A new interpretation of a mosaic panel from Brading, with notes on other Romano-British representations of the subject in mosaic, Mosaic 24: 13–16
Bruneau, P. 1966. Lycurgue et Ambrosia sur une nouvelle mosaïque de Délos, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 90 (2): 391–427
Chirnside, D. 1965. The Rothschild Lycurgus cup: an analytical investigation. In Proceedings of the 7thInternational Congress on Glass, Comptes Rendus 2, Brussels, 1–6
Elsner, J. 2013. The Lycurgus cup. In Ch. Entwistle and L. James (eds), New Light on Old Glass: Recent Research on Byzantine Mosaics and Glass, 103–111, London
Grassigli, G. 1995. L’iconografia di Licurgo. Iniziazione e trionfo Dionysiaco, Ostraka 4: 229–248
Griffith, J.G. 1983. The Myth of Lycurgus, King of the Edodian Thracians, in Literature and Art, Ancient Bulgaria 1: 217–232
Grift van de, J. 1984. De Lycurgo Insano: The Dionysiac Frieze on a Silver Kantharos, The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery: 6–15
Harden, D.B. 1963. The Rothschild Lycurgus cup: addenda and corrigenda, Journal of Glass Studies 5: 9–17
Harden, D.B. (ed.) 1987. Glass of the Caesars, Milan
Harden, D.B. and Toynbee J.M.C. 1959. The Rothschild Lycurgus cup, Archaeologia 97: 179–212
Henig, M. 2002. The Art of Roman Britain: New in Paperback, Routledge
Hordern, J.H. 2002. The fragments of Timotheus of Miletus, Oxford
Key Fowden, E. 2006. Constantine and the people of the Eastern frontier. In N.E. Lenski (ed.), The Cambridge companion to the Age of Constantine, Cambridge, 377–399
Koster, A. and Whitehouse D. 1989. Early Roman cage cups, Journal of Glass Studies 31: 25–33
LIMC: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae VI, 1992, Zürich
Magie, D. 1932. The scriptores Historiae Augustae 3, London
Matz, F. 1968. Die dionysischen Sarkophage, Berlin
Olson, S.D. 2007. Broken laughter select fragments of Greek comedy, Oxford
Quinten, M. 2011. Optical Properties of Nanoparticle Systems Mie and Beyond, Weinheim
Scott, G. D. 1995. A study of the Lycurgus cup, Journal of Glass Studies 37: 51–64
Segal, C. 1982. Dionysiac poetics and Euripides’ Bacchae, Princeton
Stern, E.M. 2011. A new window on ancient glass technology, including cameo glass and cage cup, Journal of Roman Archaeology 24: 619–626
Stuligrosz, M. 2011. Dionysiac elements in Philoxenus’ Banquet. In S. Ruciński, C. Balbuza and C. Królczyk (eds), Studia Lesco Mrozewicz, Poznań, 399–410
Tchernia, A. and Brun, J.P. 1999. Le vin romain antique, Glénat
Whitehouse, D. 1989. Roman dichroic glass: two contemporary descriptions?, Journal of Glass Studies 31: 119–121
Zanker, P. and Ewald B.C. 2012. Living with myths: the imagery of Roman Sarcophagi, Oxford–New York
Zografou, A. 2010. Magic Lamps, Luminous Dreams: Lamps in PGM Recipes. In M. Christopoulos, E.D. Karakantza and O. Levaniouk (eds), Light and darkness in ancient Greek myth and religion, Lanham, 269–294 Google Scholar