DI´PTYCHA
DI´PTYCHA (
δίπτυχα,
from
πτύσσω,
to fold ), two
writing tablets (
tabulae or
tabellae,
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Diptycha Consularia of Clementinus, A.D). 513. (Labarte.)
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[p. 1.644]also called
pugillares), fastened together at the back by means of wires,
which answered the purposes of hinges, so that they opened and shut. The
insides of such tablets were covered with wax for the purposes of writing,
and with a raised margin round each to prevent the wax of one tablet rubbing
against the wax of the other. The outside was made of different materials,
such as wood, ivory, or parchment. [For authorities, see
TABULAE Similar tablets were
used by the Greeks. Herodotus (
7.239) speaks of
a
δέλτιον δίπτυχον, made of wood and
covered with wax; and even in Homer (
Hom. Il.
6.169) we read of a
πίναξ πτυκτός.
The
Diptycha Consularia, frequently mentioned in
the later times of the empire, were made of ivory, and were presented by the
consuls to the emperor and their friends on the day on which they entered
upon their office. Other magistrates, such as the quaestors, also
distributed diptycha on the same occasion (Symmach.
Ep.
2.81), but from the time of Theodosius this privilege was confined to the
Consules ordinarii. (Claudian,
de
Cons. Stilich. 3.346, Symmach.
Ep. 5.56, 7.76,
9.119; Cod. Theod. 15.8, 1.) These diptycha contained the portraits and
names of the consuls, with other representations in bas-relief. Several of
these diptycha are still extant--61 in all, according to Marquardt; the
oldest bearing the date of 406 A.D., and the
latest of 541. The specimen on the preceding page, figured by Labarte,
represents one tablet, the other being nearly the same. On it Clementinus,
consul A.D. 513, is represented seated on a curule chair, between the
figures of Rome and Constantinople, holding the map of the Circus, and
giving with it the sign for the beginning of the games. Above him are his
signet, name, and title, surmounted by a cross and portraits of the Emperor
Anastasius and the Empress Ariadne. Under him are two boys, emptying bags of
presents, namely, coins, diptychs, and palm-branches. (There are several
works on the Consular Diptychs, a list of which is given in
Becker-Göll,
Gallus, ii. p. 462;
Marquardt,
Privatl. d. Römer, p. 546.)
[
W.S]
