Mitologie storico-artistiche. Il canone 82 del Trullano e la pittura altomedievale romana

The Quinisext Council was summoned at Constantinople by the emperor Justinian II in 691/692. It was mainly aimed at issuing new disciplinary canons that would enforce the deliberations of the ecumenical councils of 553 and 680. Canon no. 82 strictly forbade the symbolic representation of Christ in the form of a lamb. Such a prohibition drew the attention of the scholarship, and several art historians tried to discern what degree of impact it had on the production of wall-paintings in early medieval Rome. The figure of pope Sergius I and the role he played throughout the whole affair of the Roman reception of the council have been the subject of significant scholarly contributions. The Church of Rome and the western Christianity replied to the Council in Trullo by overtly bringing into question the validity of some of the canons it pretended to enforce. Even the ‘ecumenicity’ of the council was discussed at length, especially by canonists and historians of the Church. The substantial presence of easterners in the clergy of early medieval Rome undoubtedly accounted for the liveliness of this debate. Nonetheless, according to the conclusions provided by the recent historiography, the traditional interpretation of the Canon no. 82 as an antiRoman religious and political “manoeuvre” proves to be excessively schematic. Such a reading still largely affects the scholarly approach to several early medieval wall-painting contexts of Rome and their dating. This study aims therefore at reconsidering the reflections of the Quinisext in the field of art history by means of a more balanced reading of its historical frame and the available textual sources