Of Greek vases and Byzantine mosaics

The curators of the British Museum’s Sicily: Culture and Conquest, Peter Higgs and Dirk Booms, have concentrated on two key periods in the island’s rich history, namely that of the Greeks (734-241 BC) and of the Normans (AD 1061-1189), with occasional forays beyond this temporal span.

The earliest Greek settlers came to Sicily seeking fertile land, space and opportunity, which were denied them in their then impoverished, overcrowded homeland. The largest island in the Mediterranean offered untold natural riches. They set up apoikia, or homes from home, initially around the safe natural harbours on Sicily’s eastern coast and later all around the island. In time these colonies became some of the greatest Greek city states of antiquity, with Syracuse the greatest of them all. Indeed, at its height, Syracuse was so strong that, in 413 BC, its navy defeated the Athenians in the city’s Great Harbour, as so memorably described by Thucydides. Other cities, such as Selinous (Selinunte) and Akragas (Agrigento) boasted some of the most beautiful Doric temples ever built, which would have been richly adorned with a multitude of votive offerings. These included bronze and marble statuary, beautifully painted vases and simple moulded terracotta effigies of the gods, such as Demeter, goddess of the harvest, whose approbation it was essential for farmers to nurture and maintain. Sicily: Culture and Conquest shows a broad range of such offerings, as well as stunning, intricately detailed coins and jewellery, although the very best Sikeliote (Greek Sicilian) vases are not on show, but remain in Agrigento and Syracuse.

After touching on the Romans (Sicily was a chief conduit through which Rome became Hellenised), the exhibition skips 1,300 years to the Normans, who landed on the island in 1061, led by Roger d’Hautville and his brother Robert, a brilliant strategist. Barely 1oo years later, the Normans had left a cultural mark every bit as splendid as that of the ancient Greeks. Their greatest legacy was architectural, including the great cathedrals of Cefalù and Monreale, and Palermo’s jewel-like Palatine Chapel, their interiors resplendent with Byzantine mosaics. Key Norman buildings were largely built by resident Muslim (mainly Fatimid) builders, often incorporating pre-existing edifices. Sicily: Culture and Conquest focuses on the multi-ethnic court in which these buildings were produced. After militarily wresting control of the island from the factious, infighting Muslim leaders (who had first arrived in ad 827), Count Roger of Sicily was politically astute enough to realise that keeping Muslims in charge of tax-collecting and general administration worked well, as, too, did their careful husbandry of the land and sophisticated irrigation systems. The show admirably highlights the Muslim contribution to Norman rule in Sicily. 

With French ecclesiastics, Greek officials, Muslim administrators and Al-Andalus intellectuals making up Roger’s court and, even more so, that of his son, Roger II, Norman Sicily became the Mediterranean superpower. The art produced in this period reflected this cultural diversity, which Sicily: Culture and Conquest brings to life. One intriguing exhibit is an inlaid tombstone for a noblewoman who died in 1148, which bears inscriptions in Arabic, Greek, Hebrew and Latin. In mosaics, the Norman kings are portrayed as Byzantine emperors, whereas at court they preferred Arab-style dress, as shown in the surprisingly effective backlit reproduction of part of the Palatine Chapel’s stunning painted wooden ceiling. However, Norman kings also wore their hair long and grew beards, arguably to be seen as more Frankish (or deliberately resembling Christ, perhaps?). The exhibition also shows that Norman kings adopted personal symbols of power which were commonly used in the Eastern Mediterranean, such as the Tree of Life and lions rampant.

The beautifully produced catalogue, with over 200 excellent colour images, fully develops all of the show’s central themes. Also rooms 90-91 at the BM are showing some charming, complementary drawings of Sicily’s Greek sites by 18th-century English gentleman archaeologists.

Sicily: Culture and Conquest offers a rich array of tasters, rather than a banquet, and is definitely worth visiting. The banquet is Sicily itself, and go there too, if you can.

Philippa Joseph is Reviews Editor at History Today and a tutor at the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education.