Un ejemplo de apropiación semántica de la iconografía imperial en el siglo VI: el tema de la Ascensión de Cristo

The iconography of the Ascension of Christ, is a recurring theme in numerous supports, monumental or not in the late antiquity. This image of the triumph of the God-Man over death was forged during the fourth and fifth centuries, clearly in imitation of the parallel concept of imperial apotheosis. However, it is during the sixth century that, in Eastern territories, it assumes the formal characteristics that will define the iconographic model of the following centuries. On the one hand, our target is to highlight the precedents that give rise to this iconographic type in the sixth century and to justify the reasons why the theme of the Ascension reaches its maturity in that century in the East while in the West the theme seems to fall. On the other hand, we would like to emphasize the context and the ideological sources that explain both the late appearance of the subject at the end of the fourth century, as well as its importance in the struggles for the definition of an orthodoxy boosted but not always controlled by the imperial court.