Mappa (Roman) Explained

In Ancient Rome,^[1] a mappa was a white cloth or napkin used by the presiding magistrate (a consul, a praetor, or sometimes a dictator) to signal the start of a chariot race at a hippodrome by tossing it down into the arena.^{[2] [3] [4]} Its use is attested to beginning in the early years of the Roman Empire, though chariot races pre-date it by hundreds of years. Any piece of white cloth could serve as a mappa. Roman consuls were often depicted on coins holding a mappa in their raised right hand, and the mappa therefore became represented as an item of imperial regalia.^{[5] [6]}

In the early Byzantine period of art history, following the fall of Rome and the Western Roman Empire, it becomes difficult to distinguish between a mappa and an akakia (a piece of cloth consisting of a roll of purple silk which held a small amount of symbolic dust). Prior to the reign of Justinian II in the 7th century CE all such ambiguous cloths were probably mappas, while following him they were consistently akakias. The mappa was an item of pagan regalia, and the akakia was a Christian replacement for it in a symbolic drift.^{[7] [8]}

Notes and References

1. Wild . J. P. . 2002 . The Textile Industries of Roman Britain . Britannia . en . 33 . 1–42 . 10.2307/1558851 . 1558851 . 1753-5352.
2. Book: Houston, Mary G. . Ancient Greek, Roman & Byzantine Costume . 2003-01-01 . Courier Corporation . 978-0-486-42610-5 . 124 . en.
3. Strittmatter . Eugene J. . 1923 . Classical Elements in the Roman Liturgy . The Classical Journal . 18 . 4 . 195–207 . 3288702 . 0009-8353.
4. Book: Sebesta . Judith Lynn . The World of Roman Costume . Bonfante . Larissa . 1994 . Univ of Wisconsin Press . 978-0-299-13854-7 . 35 . en.
5. Mitchell . Jillian M. . Tickling the Ivories: Aristocratic Representation in Late Antique Rome . 69–71.
6. Hoek . Annewies van den . 2005 . Anicius Auchenius Bassus, African Red Slip Ware, and the Church . Harvard Theological Review . en . 98 . 2 . 171–185 . 10.1017/S001781600500091X . 154313600 . 1475-4517.
7. Book: Hagit Amirav. Bas ter Haar Romeny. From Rome to Constantinople: Studies in Honor of Averil Cameron. Gilbert Dagron. From the Mappa to the Akakia: Symbolic Drift. 2007. Peeters.
8. Book: Leo III to Nicephorus III: 717-1081. Alfred Raymond Bellinger. 1973. 169.