Stephaton
Stephaton,orSteven,is the name given in medievalChristiantraditions to theRomansoldier or bystander,unnamed in the Bible,who offeredJesusa sponge soaked invinegarwine at theCrucifixion.In later depictions of the Crucifixion, Stephaton is frequently portrayed withLonginus,the soldier who pierced Jesus' side with a spear.
It is not to be confused with aXylospongium,a sponge that is soaked in vinegar attached to a stick the Romans used after defecating.
Gospel accounts
[edit]The account ofJesusreceiving a sponge soaked in vinegar while on the cross appears in all four of thecanonical gospels,with some variation. In bothMark 15:35–36andMatthew 27:47–48,just after Jesus says "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me", a bystander soaks a sponge in vinegar and raises it on a reed for Jesus to drink.Luke 23:36–37mentions that the attendant soldiers offer Jesus vinegar while mocking him – moving the mocking motif that occurs earlier in Mark and Matthew to the Crucifixion.[1]InJohn 19:28–30,Jesus declares "I thirst" (one of hislast words) and is given the vinegar-soaked sponge "onhyssop".[2]
The significance of the act is unclear, though it is usually interpreted as an act of mercy on the part of the soldiers (William Chester Jordan suggests that the word used for vinegar (oxos) may have been slang for wine).[3]Others have theorised it may have beenposca,a mixture of water, vinegar and wine consumed by common soldiers and the lower classes in the Roman world.[4][5]The episode may also allude toPsalm 69:21: "In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."[1]
Medieval interpretation
[edit]Many medieval Christian writers saw the offering of vinegar wine as an act of torture rather than mercy.[3]A tradition, supported bySt. Augustineand otherChurch Fathers,developed that the sponge-bearer was a Jew.[3]
In art
[edit]The soldier who offered Jesus the sponge is often paired withLonginus,the name later given to the unnamed soldier who pierced Christ's side with a spear during the Crucifixion. It is not known when or how the name "Stephaton" originated for this character, though it had become common well before the end of the first millennium.[6]
In an iconographic tradition originating inByzantine art,and continuing inCarolingianandOttonian art,[7]indepictions of the Crucifixion,he was regularly shown alongside Longinus, with their actions shown simultaneously, though in the Biblical narrative, these took place at different times (Stephaton's occurs before Jesus' death, Longinus' occurred after.) This is also seen inIrish art[8]Colum Hourihane and others suggest the images should not be read as a simple narrative, but rather a mix of symbolism and representation typical of medieval art.[9]
Medieval Christian artists indicated that the sponge-bearer was irredeemably wicked (unlike Longinus), through conventions like showing him on Jesus' left-hand side, without a halo, and/or with some kind of physical deformity.[3]
References
[edit]- ^abJohnson, Luke Timothy, and Daniel J. Harrington (1991)The Gospel of Luke,p. 375 and note. Liturgical Press.
- ^Moloney, Francis J., and Daniel J. Harrington (1998).The Gospel of John,p. 501 and note. Liturgical Press.
- ^abcdJordan, William Chester (1987). "The Last Tormentor of Christ: An Image of the Jew in Ancient and Medieval Exegesis, Art, and Drama".The Jewish Quarterly Review.78(1/2): 24, 25, 33, 34.doi:10.2307/1454082.ISSN0021-6682.JSTOR1454082.
- ^Guilford, Gwynn (September 2, 2018)."My favorite beverage is a 2,000-year-old energy drink from ancient Rome".Quartz.
- ^Preskar, Peter (November 20, 2022)."The Roman Posca — The Jesus Christ's Last Drink".
- ^Schiller, 93-94
- ^Schiller, 93-94, 101, 105
- ^Schiller, 102-103;[1]
- ^Schiller, 93-94;[2]
- Schiller, Gertrud,Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. II,1972 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London,ISBN0-85331-324-5