Representations and Roles of Adolescence with a Focus on Apocryphal Imagery

The aim of this paper is to explore how adolescents are shown in imagery derived from apocryphal writings.1 To set this in context, first, it discusses approaches to interpreting adolescence; second, it looks at some of the complexities of defining adolescence, at a brief survey of legal issues and at areas of responsibility; third, it turns to pictorial representation and reviews how adolescence is depicted in contexts other than apocryphal ones, both biblical and historical. Finally, it focuses on a selection of imagery related to the Virgin, Christ, and their family from apocryphal stories not included in the canonical texts. Anthropologists have often analysed adolescence as a period of preparation for adulthood, seeing it in adult terms, yet a more recent trend is to focus on the agency of youth and to assess the cultural practice of youth apart from its adult framework.2 In a related way, in terms of viewing images, one can focus on the agency of the young and attempt to understand an image from the perspective of the children and adolescents depicted. Yet how should the terms child and adolescent be defined or used and how should the identification of a child or an adolescent be undertaken? The terms are applied in a broad sense to refer to those people who have not reached maturity, yet when does this occur and what conditions identify it? How are such stages in life depicted? Is it possible to visually distinguish a child from an adolescent or an adult, or to differentiate an adolescent from an adult? It is only generally with datable portraiture that one can calculate the age of the child or adolescent depicted and, in most cases, one is left to rely on inferred information to establish age. When some identification of adolescence is achieved then the image can be interpreted through an understanding of the historical setting, with the aim of focusing on the standpoint of youth. Contemporary definitions of childhood and adulthood differ, geographically and in a range of contexts, and similarly classifications of stages in life in Byzantium appear to have fluctuated and to have had various readings. Present day distinctions

The aim of this paper is to explore how adolescents are shown in imagery derived from apocryphal writings.¹ To set this in context,first,itdiscusses approaches to interpreting adolescence; second, it looks at some of the complexities of defining adolescence, at abrief survey of legal issues and at areas of responsibility;third, it turns to pictorial representation and reviews how adolescenceisdepicted in contexts other than apocryphal ones, both biblical and historical. Finally, it focuses on as election of imagery related to the Virgin, Christ,and their family from apocryphal stories not included in the canonicalt exts.
Anthropologists have often analysed adolescencea saperiod of preparation for adulthood, seeing it in adultterms,yet amore recent trend is to focus on the agency of youth and to assess the cultural practice of youth apart from its adultframework.² In ar elated way, in terms of viewing images, one can focus on the agencyo ft he young and attempt to understand an imagef rom the perspective of the children and adolescents depicted. Yethow should the terms child and adolescent be defined or used and how should the identification of achild or an adolescent be undertaken? The terms are applied in abroad sense to refer to those people who have not reached maturity,y et when does this occur and what conditions identify it?H ow are such stages in life depicted?I si tp ossible to visuallyd istinguish ac hild from an adolescent or an adult, or to differentiatea na dolescent from an adult? It is onlygenerally with datable portraiture that one can calculate the ageofthe child or adolescent depicted and, in most cases, one is left to relyoninferred information to establish age. When some identification of adolescence is achieved then the imagecan be interpreted through an understandingofthe historical setting,with the aim of focusing on the standpoint of youth.
Contemporary definitions of childhood and adulthood differ,geographicallyand in arangeofcontexts, and similarlyclassifications of stages in life in Byzantium appear to have fluctuateda nd to have had various readings.P resent dayd istinctions between maturity and immaturity are altered in certain legal and moral contexts, as well as societal ones. Society is comfortable with this multifaceted view,though it is often discussed, and childhood or adolescence is not perceivedasadefined entity.In Byzantium, there are arangeo ft erms usedf or thoseb etween childhood and adulthood.³ There is at endency to think that we should be able to make hard and fast distinctions in historicalc ultures and yeti nt hem we see the same variable use of terminology, regulations and expectations. In present culture, adolescence is often associated with aperiod of adjustment,alienation or rebellion, but there is no justification in necessarilyt ransferring such associations to ah istorical setting.A dolescenceshould perhaps be seen as aperiod of physical, cognitive and societal change with arecognition that humans continue changinginall these ways,though perhaps less rapidly, throughout theirl ives.⁴ Byzantine religious and secular lawe pitomisedt he manifold interpretations of maturity in children. Boys and girls wered eemed to gain religious maturity at the ageo ft en, although this was not applied consistently, and it was onlya tt he age of twelve that they had to confess before taking communion, implying perhaps that before then they werenot responsible for their actions, although therewereseveral variances on this rule.⁵ Byzantine lawfollowed Roman in determiningthat puberty began at the ageo ff ourteen for boys and twelve for girls, and at this time they could marry.⁶ Not strictlyadhered to,however,children could be betrothed and married youngert han this and at the ageo fs even they wered eemed responsible to approveaprospective marriage.⁷ They remained minors until the ageo ft wenty-five, subjectt ot he authority of al egal guardian, unless released by special appeal.⁸  Forr ecenta nalysis on the terminology and understanding of adolescencei nByzantium, see D.
Ariantzi, Terminologische und sozialhistorische Untersuchungenz ur Adoleszenz in Byzanz (6.-11. Jahrhundert).T el I. Theorien, Konzepten arrative Quellen. JÖB 31 (2013) 1-31, with as ummary of terms 30 -31.  See Ariantzi, Adoleszenz 14 -28.  D.Cambridge 1928); some texts, such as Ecloga II. 1state the ages as fifteenand thirteen (ed. E. H. Freshfield, AManual of Roman Law: The Ecloga Publishedby the Emperors Leo III and Constantine VofI sauria at Constantinople AD 726. Cambridge 1926).  Ecloga I. 1and repeated in the ProchironI .7 .8;in: E. Patlagean,L'entrée dans l'âgea dulteàByzancea uXIIIe-XIVesiècles,in: L'Historicitédel'enfanceetdelajeunesse. Paris 1986,263 -270, here 265; Patlagean,L ' enfant 87-89.  See Patlagean,L'entrée 264-5; G. Prinzing, Observations on the Legal Status of Children and the Stageso fC hildhoodi nB yzantium, in: Becoming Byzantine. Children and Childhoodi nB yzantium, Adolescencewas aperiod in which much responsibilitycould be granted. Byzantine children often participatedinwork, either at home(particularlythe girls), or in a familyw orkshop or beyond the familya rena.⁹ Frequently, young men and women took on obligations at an earlya ge.H owever,b oys from affluent families appear to have had, in certain contexts, an extended period of what we would call adolescence, during which they wereeducated, before they assumedfull adultresponsibility.This is less apparent in girls who often married youngand apparentlyparticipated in adultl ife in terms of bearing children. But perhaps ap eriod of cultural adolescence in Byzantium could be experiencedb yy oung mothers?I ssues such as this are very hard to determine. However,imperial practice givesanindication of cultural attitudes, at least in court circles, to responsibility.S everal emperors came to the throne when adolescent.Sixteen seems the most acceptable agefor aboy to succeed, although sometimes with the assistance of an overbearing mother or adviser.¹⁰ To give examples of how imperial adolescents could have manycommitments,John Vwas aged nine when he succeeded to the throne with regents and fifteen when he married.¹¹ His first son, Andronikos IV,was born in 1348 when he was aged sixteen.¹² Andronikos was then made co-emperor in 1355 aged sevenand the next year he married Maria, the nine-year-old daughter of the tsar of Bulgaria, when John Vh imself was stillo nlyt wenty-four. ¹³ Having summarised some of the complications in defining adolescence, for the sake of clarification, one could arguet hat ab iological approach is the least subjective and, although ages of puberty vary historicallyand geographically, thatthe term child should be used for thosewho are generallybelow the onset of puberty,that is twelve for girls and fourteen for boys (the Ancients and the Byzantines recognised that girls matured earlier than boys), and the term youth or adolescent for those beyond that age. However,t he ageo ft welve in culturalt erms for both boys and girls indicatesatransition to increased responsibility and is perhaps am ore judicious choice. Adolescence mayb es een as continuingu ntil the ageo fm ajority,t wenty- Representations and Roles of Adolescencew ithaFocuso nA pocryphalI magery five,but it is necessarilyaflexible time period, with variations for boys and girls and children from different economic and culturalb ackgrounds.¹⁴ Turning to the pictorial depiction of adolescence, Iwould like to review three aspects; first,beauty and its relation to youth, second, Christ' youth, and third, imperial offspringintheir youth. Ihavelooked at parts of this material before in the context of the depiction of children, perhaps justifiablyaschildhood and adolescenceas discussed are challenging to delineate.¹⁵ However,af urther appraisal is helpful in refininga nd defining aspects of adolescencea nd its connotations and, in relation to girls, my views have changed.¹⁶ However,before looking at the depiction of adolescence in more detail, it is useful to establish some principal tenetsabout the depiction of youth and ageinByzantium and to recognisethatthere are certain formulas. Forinstance, regardingthe portrayal of individual prophets,apostles and saints, as is well-known, Byzantine artists tended to adhere to an iconographic tradition. These figures are usuallyshown consistentlya so ld, young,orm iddle aged with uniformf eatures.I nD ionysius of Fourna'seighteenth-century description of the appearance of the twelve apostles,the four evangelists and the seventy apostles,the main iconographic feature supplied is the absenceo rl ength of the beard, followed by the colour of the hair.¹⁷ Dionysius does not refer to age, but the presenceo fw hiteh air and al ong beard must indicate old agea nd the absence of ab eard implies youth, as for the most part the men are not eunuchs.
There are numerous examples in various media, metalwork, ivories, panel paintings, mosaics, wall paintingsand manuscripts in which the iconography is oftenvery consistent,s uggesting the practitionerss hared iconographic and stylistic devices. This essayu ses examples from several media but to give some continuity often returns to illuminations from an eleventh-centuryl ectionary,D ionysiou, cod. gr.5 87 m.,w hich wasp robablym ade in Constantinople.¹⁸ In this manuscript,t he apostles are shown at various ages and can be identified by comparisons with other examples. Fori nstance, in the scene of the Washing of the Disciples' Feet, Peter and Andrew are depicted advanced in years (Peter is next to Christ and Andrew  ForP atlagean, boysf romt he ages of 14 to 25 were 'jeunes gens' (neoi), see Patlagean,L ' entrée 264.  Hennessy,Children 3,6,7,11,14,35,38,39,42,53,73,91,107,180,199,210,214 Kessler.Chicago 1971,2 47-270, here2 69. is nearby taking his sandalo ff), and John and Philip are typicallyy oung(John is at the far right and Philip just aboveh im), beardless and boyish, even one might say adolescent ( fig.1).¹⁹ Judas is also shown as young,asfor example in the samemanuscript in the Betrayal scene.²⁰ Often af eature of youth is beauty.I ti ss triking how manyr epresentations of male saints, and af ew Old Testament figures also, are showna sc onsistently young and good looking (clearly asubjective assessment,but appearingfine featured and well-formed). It seems that there was ac ultural affinity towardsa esthetically pleasing males who had not yeta ssumed facial hair and al ook of maturity,w hat Representations and Roles of Adolescence with aF ocus on Apocryphal Imagery one might potentiallyc all adolescence. The beardless face, smooth skin and short hair indicate youth. In literature,b eauty is associatedw ith closeness to God, and often it is also linked with youth. The martyrs Demetrios, George,P rokopios, Panteleimon, Sergios and Bakchos are all shown as young,perhaps to conveythe idea that their livesw erec ut short for their loveo fC hrist.²¹ Males served in the armyf rom a young age, oftenfrom sixteen, so ayouthful warrior saint is not necessarilyincongruous. One could arguethat these figures are aged between sixteen and twenty five,the ageo fm aturity.T or eturn to the lectionary, Dionysiou cod.g r. 587m ., in individual standing portraits of the saints, George is shown as young and elegant and Demetrios as very youthful ( fig.2).²² In the mid-twelfth-century church dedicated to Saint Panteleimon at Nerezi, several youngm ale saintsa re exquisitelya nd attractively portrayed. The churchw as built in 1164 by ag randson of Alexios IK omnenos, named Alexios Komnenos Angelos. Panteleimon himself is positioned to the right of the apse and appears very young,d elicate and sensitive, with pale skin, scarcelym ore   vol. 1, fol. 151v,f ig. 265, p. 444) than ab oy,n ot yeth aving reached manhood.²³ It is apparent that beauty is associated with spiritual purity and with youth through texts.Panteleimon's Vita drawsattention to his youth and his great beauty.²⁴ Also, Bishop Theodore of Edessai sd escribed as elegant,w ith ac omelyb ody, cheeks 'just blooming with down',w hich show the beauty of his soul.²⁵ It is this stagei nl ife, verging on manhood but still in boyhood, that seems to be attractive.
This beauty has threatening aspects. There are manyt extsthat warn against the presenceo fb oys and young men in monasteries for fear of temptingt he monks, indicating that child and adolescent boys wereviewedassexuallyattractive.This cautioning stems from earlyt ypika, such as Christodoulos' foundation typikon for St. John on Patmos.²⁶ Registeringt hatb oys and beardless youngm en as well as girls and young women wereseen as sexuallytempting, the question must arise whether the images of the young male saints depict as exual element of attractiveness, perhaps to both men and women. As far as Ik now,t here are no texts that describe such images as having sexual appeal, but then such references mayh aveb een taboo.²⁷ Other cases suggest an attraction towardsy outh, since certain religious figures are depicted as much younger thani ndicatedi nt he main texts about them. Fori nstance, Moses is often portrayeda savery young man, with ah airless face, youthful features and ag eneral air of grace and loveliness.Thiso ccurs from the very earliest images in the catacombs and on sarcophagi. However,i nother earlyinstances he is shown as either young and bearded or as mature.²⁸ Twot hirteenth-century icons from SaintC atherine'sm onastery in Sinai, showingM oses before the burning bush and receiving the tablets of the law, depict him as very youthful and, in the latter,inDoula Mouriki'swords, 'as almostanephebe'.²⁹ In the first,untying his sandal before the burning bush, he has asmooth, serious face and short slightlyuntidyhair but an apparentlystrong body. In the second, reachinguptoGod to receive the tab- lets, his face is equallyserious, but slightlymorerounded, his bodyisentirelyenveloped in his garment and he appears boyish. Other Old Testament figures traditionally represented as young and attractive are Daniel and Solomon.
Af urther figure who withoutt extual basis is consistentlys hown as ay outh is Prochoros, traditionallyo ne of the deacons assigned to take care of the poor (Acts 6:5), and depicted as the scribe for John the Evangelist on Patmos. This tradition is associatedwith the Acts of John of Prochoros, an apocryphal text,and so perhaps should come later in the discussion but is placed here in the context of youthful male saints.³⁰ Kurt Weitzmann has suggested that the imagew as created for the Vita of John by SymeonMetaphrastes at the end of the tenth century.³¹ From the menologion it was incorporated into lectionaries and Gospel Books.³² In this and all pairingso f John and Prochoros, John is shown as very old and Prochoros as atender adolescent. An example from amenologion is in an eleventh-or twelfth -centurymanuscript,BL Add. Ms.11870,whereP rochoros sits at John'sf eeti nscribing the words receivedb y John as the old man looks up to the hand of God.³³ An example from alectionary,in which John and Prochoros appear in the first evangelist portrait,isinDionysiou cod. gr.587 m. (fig.3).³⁴ Prochoros is seated on ared cushion on the left as he writes on a scroll. He wears ab lue chitona nd whiteh imation with ap urple sash.H is hair is short,t hough longer in the back, and his youth is emphasised by an arrown eck and perhaps at ouch of downyh air on his chin. In contrast,J ohn, standing on the right and looking backa nd up to God'sh and is whiteh aired, balding and bearded. An example from aGospelBook is in the thirteenth-century, Dionysiou, cod. 4, where avery small Prochoros is seated humblybeneath John'spointing hand, recordinghis words that are being inspired from on high. Prochoros is slight,with shortbrown hair and wears al ong blue chiton and green himation.³⁵ On the facing page, they again appear together, similarlya geda nd youthful, in an initial on the opening pageo f John'sG ospel.³⁶ While clearlyn ot exclusively found in monastic manuscripts, the pairing seems to be particularlyp opular in them. It perhaps serves to idealiset he elderlya nd youthful male relationship that was forbidden in monasteries,b ut also shows the significant role of scribe held by an adolescent.I na ccordance with other young saints, Prochoros is attractively depicted with fine features and agraceful air. As with the male saints, texts often emphasise the beauty of females aintsa nd this beauty is also associatedw ith being young.I ni mages, determining the ageo f the sanctified girls and women is often problematic. They tend to be portrayed with no signs of aging, perhapsjustacertain maturity conveyedthrough the covering of their hair,but except in unusual cases, with an air of timelessness. Typical examples are the various femalesaints depicted on the west wall of the narthex at Hosios Loukas, probablyd atable to the eleventh century,w hich include Saints Anastasia, Thecla, Febronia, Eugenia, Agatha, Irene, Catherine, Barbara, Euphemia, Marina and Juliania, all relativelyy oung and attractive with smooth skins and large eyes. Could these male and femalee xamples suggest that there are certain conventions in depicting idealised beauty which perhaps can be defined as adolescence? Turning to portrayals of Christ,the onlyc anonicale vent that occurs in his adolescent years is when, at the ageoftwelve,heg oes up to Jerusalem with his parents and teaches the doctors in the temple (Luke 2:41-50). The ageofthirteen, in Judaism now linked with the BarM itzvah, was from the first or second century associated with the ageofmajority in respect to following the Torah. In this sense he is gaining moral responsibility.A sm entioned, in Byzantine society twelve was, in some contexts,the agethat children assumedmoral accountability.Christ teachinginthe temple is not aparticularlyw idespread image. Perhaps the earliest extant example is in Paris, cod. gr.5 10,amanuscript in which manyo ft he Old Testament figures are shown as adolescent.³⁷ Af urther earlye xample is in Tokalı New Church in Göreme, Cappadocia, dated to about 960,i nw hich the painting is damaged but Christ looks mature, having as ubstantial bodya nd robust knees with no reference to adolescence.³⁸ In this scene in Dionysiou, cod. gr.5 87 m., ay oung Christ with short hair and round face, dressed in dark and mid-blue sits centrallyo nacurved marble bench like as ynthronon and teachesf our older men, two on each side. He is depicted with the puer senex features,with his hairline slightlyreceding to suggest amaturity beyond his years.³⁹ Alater example is in St Nicolaos Orphanos in Thessaloniki, dated to the fourteenthc entury, wheret he scene is shown in relation to the Akathistos Hymn.⁴⁰ Christ is seated looking youthful, with af ull head of shorth air and delicate features.
Particularlyfrom the eleventh century,this visual appreciation of youth extends to images of the adolescent Christ in the form known as Christ Emmanuel. Fori nstance, in Dionysiou cod. gr.587 m., aboy Christ is employed in an initial letter omicron.⁴¹ Dressed in ab luec hiton and purple himation, he again has puer senex features but still seems very young,p erhaps about aged ten ( fig.4). In another initial, the letter Ta tt he beginning of the Gospel of Luke, he appears once more in the  Fol. 165 r ,L.Brubaker, Vision and meaninginninth-century Byzantium: image as exegesis in the homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus. Cambridge 1999,fig.21, 83 -6; for further discussion, see E. Antonopoulos, Παιδαριογέρων: ἡἀ πεικόνιση τῆςπ ρ ώ ιμης σοφίας,i n: Lest emps de l'histoire en vue d'une histoire de l'enfancee td el aj eunesse. Athens 1998, 215-231, on the scene, 219a nd on Paris cod.g r. 510,2 25.  G. de Jerphanion,Une nouvelle province de l'art byzantin: les églises rupestres de Cappadoce (Bibliothèque archéologique et historique 5 -6). 5v ols.i n7parts .P aris 1925-1942, vol Underwood. New York, 1966,4vols., vol. 4, 201, fn. 30.  shows Euphrosyne, who is the great niece of Michael VIII and the daughter of the foundress as an adolescent.⁴⁵ It has aseries of portraits on twelve folios. In one, Euphrosyne is depicted with her mother,Theodora,a nd is shown shortert han Theodora, with as maller,m ore youthful face, clearly not fullyg rown, yetn ot ac hild ( fig.8in Brubakera rticle).⁴⁶ Her reliance on her mother,a nd the direction she receivesf rom her,i se mphasised by the wayT heodorag rasps her wrist,a si fl eading her forward to present her to the Virgin, imaged on the facing page. It seems likely that the portrait wasm ade when Euphrosyne was about fifteen or sixteen (she was born in 1285 or 1286), at the time the convent was first functional ca. 1300.Afinal images hows the assembled thirty or so nuns of the community,g rouped together in rows one abovethe other(folio 12r). In the front row are five young nuns: although they are dressed similarlytotheirelders, they are clearlysmaller and wear adifferent headdress.⁴⁷ Afurther example of aseries of illuminations showing adolescence and changes in life, is in Vatican, gr.1851, which contains the partial text of apoem, describing af oreign princess comingt ow ed the son of the Byzantine emperor, and seven illuminations.⁴⁸ In as cene showing the girl'sa rrival,s he appears at the top left in as imple gold dress with ar ed cloak around her shoulders and loose blonde hair hangingdown her back, slender and shorter thanthe women who greet her ( fig.  19 in Brubakera rticle).⁴⁹ In the adjacent scene, she appears to be standing on a splendid red and gold platformo rp erhaps couch, being dressed by the women of the court in an elaborate gown of the samec olours,a nd in the register below she wears ac oronet in af ormal frontal seated pose. In af urther image, she is shown in at ent meeting the daughter of the emperor, who is slightlyt allert han her but who alsoh as hair falling down her back in ab lack plait,i mplying that she also is young.⁵⁰ The scene belowshows them sitting togetherapparentlytalking.The bride's youth however,isagain suggested by her slightlysmaller face and figure. The groom also, in an earlier miniature, is shown as youthful, standing by the side of his father, dressed in as imilar loros,a nd although onlyh alf ah ead shortert han the emperor, Representations and Roles of Adolescence with aF ocus on Apocryphal Imagery slight and fine featuredw ith al ong plaitl ayingo ne ach shoulder.⁵¹ This unusual manuscript,which has no real parallels, givesanuanced picture of ab oy and two girls involved in diplomatic alliances.H owever,t hese figures mayw ell, according to our earlier definitions, be children and not adolescents.I th as been argued that the boy might be one of the threef igures:e ither Alexios II Komnenos who married in 1179,w hen he was aged ten and his bride nine; or Andronikos II Palaiologos who first married in 1272, when he was aged 14 and his bride 12; or Andronikos IV who married in 1356,when he wasagedeight and his bride nine. Regardlessofspecific age, the illustrations show adistinct recognition of the individuals' liminal place in life.⁵² Having reviewed some reasonablywell-known examples, it is apparent then that in representations of saints, both male and female, of certain Old Testament figures, of Christ and of members of the imperial family, youthfulness is distinctly portrayed, with qualities between childhood and maturity.The example of Prochoros showed how an apocryphal role was highlydevelopedinimagery with an emphasis on adolescence. As seen in Prochoros, compared to illustrations of canonicaltexts, those of apocryphal ones perhaps have less rigid iconographical traditions and mayc onvey lifelike portrayals that reflectculturalrealities or suggest biological, spiritual and societal changei nt he transitions from childhood to adulthood.
This material is explored here through depictions of Christ and his family. Quite who is part of his familyi salittle complex. Accordingt ot he Gospels of Mark and Matthew Christ was said to have had four brothers and some sisters: 'Is not this the carpenter,t he son of Mary,t he brother of Jacob, and Joses, and of Juda,a nd Simon?A nd are not his sisters here with us?' (Mark 6:3).⁵³ 'Jacob the Younger' and Josesa re also mentioned as the children of aM ary,w ho is commonlyh eld to be the Virgin, present at the crucifixion (Mark 15:40). In both contextsJ acob is mentioned first,perhaps implying either that he is the eldest or his importance as ad isciple, to be inferred from canonical texts (Galatians 1:19) as well as the Gospel of Thomas (logion 12).⁵⁴ He was the first BishopofJerusalem.⁵⁵ The mennamedasJacob the  Fol. 7r.  Forabrief summaryo ft he arguments,s ee, C. Hennessy.The Vatican Epithalamion, in: ACompanion to Byzantine Illustrated Manuscripts,e d. V. Tsamakda. Leiden 2017,1 77-182.  Also Matthew 13:5 5-6.  The Gospel of Thomas is as econd-century text found at Nag Hammadi, Egypt.The logion reads: The disciples said to Jesus: We know that Youwill depart from us. Who is to be out leader?Jesus said to them, Wherevery ou are, youa re to go to James the Righteous for whose sake heavena nd earth came intob eing; The Nag HammadiL ibrary in English.L eiden 1977,1 19;f or the Coptic, see U. Just and Jacob the son of Alphaeus are also conflatedw ith Jacob the Less/Younger (Mathew10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15). Who exactlyw erethese siblings? In Byzantium, the common interpretation was that they were the sons of Joseph, born to him by a prior marriage, thus conservingM ary'sv irginals tate. There are three other main interpretations. Helvidius, in the fourth century,suggested the siblingswereborn to Joseph and Mary,which was refuted by Jerome who developedthe theory of aline coming through Mary of Cleophas, the proposed daughter of Anna'ss econd marriaget o Cleophas; thus they werecousins,not siblings, to Christ.Afurther branch to the familywas added in the ninth century,which included James (Jacob) the Great and John the Evangelist as sons of Mary Salome and Zebedee, Mary Salome being the daughter of Salome (a man) who was Anna'sthird husband.⁵⁶ In the west,these three interpretations are illustratedi ns everal contexts.
In Byzantine illustrations of Christ'sInfancy,the six children of Joseph by his deceased wife, four sons and two daughters,a re not depicted. Rather one, sometimes two and occasionallyfour brothers are included in various scenes.However,one, occasionallylabelled Iakobos (Jacob/James), takes am ore prominent role. Jacob'sr ole is partiallyderivedfrom the Infancy GospelofJ ames(Jacob) atext probablyoriginating in the second century, which onlym entions two sons and no daughters,a nd in the narrative does not highlight Jacob.⁵⁷ The text was interpreted as being written by Jacob the brother of Jesus duetoanaddition at the end of the text,which states that it was written by him in Jerusalem (Infancy Gospel 25:1 -3).⁵⁸ Afurther text,the Story of Joseph the Carpenter,o riginated in Egypt,p erhaps in the fifth century.Written in the voice of Christ,i tr efers to the four sons and twod aughters (Carpenter 2).⁵⁹ Here Jacob is the youngest,f or 'Now Justusa nd Simeon, the elder sons of Joseph, were married,a nd had families of their own. Both the daughters werel ikewise married, and livedi nt heiro wn houses. So there remained in Joseph'sh ouse,J udasa nd Jacob the Less,a nd my virgin mother' (Carpenter 11). No ageo ft he children is givenb ut Joseph'sw ife has onlyj ust died when the Virgin turns twelve,a s' Now when righteous Joseph became aw idower,m ym other Mary,b lessed, holy, and pure, was alreadyt welve years old( Carpenter 3). In the Pseudo-Matthew,w hich was populari nt he west and probablyd eveloped at the beginning of the seventh, eighth or even ninth century,t herea re alsof our sons, and two daughters (Pseudo-Matthew 42:1).⁶⁰ The text was composed from the InfancyGospel of James and the Infancy GospelofThomas in addition to some other influences.⁶¹ However,the Pseudo-Matthew was not am ajor sourceo fi conographyi nB yzantium.
Perhaps the earliest representationo ft he brothers is on the sixth-century ivory front cover of the Etchmiadzin Gospels,inthe scene of the Journey to Bethlehem.⁶² In this unusual image, Joseph is walking beside the donkey,c lasped by the Virgin, while one son walks behind and another is on the far sideo ft he donkey at the front.T he brothers seem to be beardless,w hich might suggest they are youthful. The figure on the far side of the donkey,while described as ason by Lafontaine-Dosogne mayb ea na ngel.⁶³ This tradition reappears in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, which describes how when Joseph and Mary weregoing to Bethlehem (no sons mentioned), ab eautiful boy in whiter aiment appeared, and interpreted avision had by Mary and then 'the angel ordered the beastt os tand,f or the time when she should bring forth was at hand'.⁶⁴ The angel is pictured in as imilar location and pose on the ivory on the Chair of Maximianus, as cene wheret here are no sons,a nd on an ivory panel in the Louvre, the angel stridesf orward holding ac ross and leading the donkey ( fig.6).⁶⁵ It is possible thatt he angel in this type of imagei st ransposed into Jacobinlater examples. Afurther earlyexample whereJ acob is shown is in the paintingsatCastelseprio, which are probablydated to the ninth century and include apocryphal scenes.⁶⁶ In the Journeyt oB ethlehem, ab oy is in front of the donkey, now onlyp artiallyv isible, and so again his agei si ndeterminate, although he appears to be wearingashortt unic, something usually worn by servants,c hildren, or youths. In afurther ninth-century example, an enamel reliquary box, the Paschal Cross in the Vatican, dated 817-24,one son is shown ( fig.7).⁶⁷ He is unnamed, as are  Representations and Roles of Adolescence with aF ocus on Apocryphal Imagery all the figures on the box, and he appears to be ay outh, shown as smaller thanJ oseph, since size is oftenusedtodistinguish stature, and with abeardless face, cropped hair and short tunic. The boy is placed in aposition of servility or responsibility guiding the donkey.M oving to the earlyt enth century, in Cappadocia, in the Old Church at Tokalı kilise, Jacobi sd epicted and named,s implya sI akobos,l eading the donkey on the road to Bethlehem and alsoi nt he Flight to Egypt.⁶⁸ The Flight to Egypt is not included in the Infancy Gospels,b ut none the less, Jacob has kept up his previous role. There are numerous othere xamples. In each, his adolescent stagei sa pparent,s hown toot all to be ab oy,b ut without facial hair and wearing the tunic of youth. No examples in Cappadocia, however,s how more than one son. Ason of Joseph also appears in manuscript illuminations, such as on the opening pageofthe Gospel of Mathew in Dionysiou cod. gr.587 m, leadingthe donkey in the Flight to Egypt.⁶⁹ He is on the right wearingashort chiton and high bootsa nd walks in front leading the donkey and holding as taff on which hangsaknapsack over his left shoulder.J acob is as tall as Joseph, who follows behind, but clearly youthful with shortb rown hair and beardless face. Af urther example is in another eleventh-century text,amenologion, on Athos, Esphigmenou, cod. gr.1 4, in which there are several unusual scenes drawnf rom apocryphal texts.Abeardless but fullygrown son leads the horse/mule on the Flight to Egypt and Joseph follows behind with the Christ Child on his shoulders⁷⁰.InParis cod. gr.7 4, also eleventh century,ason in af ull length garment leadst he donkey on the Journey to Bethlehem, illustrating the Gospel of Luke, and also in ashorttunic follows the donkey which is led by Joseph in the Flight to Egypt,illustrating the GospelofMatthew.⁷¹ Although in several of these, Jacob is not named,his identitycan perhaps be inferred from those others whereh ei sn amed.
The reason for Jacob'sc onsistent inclusion in the iconographym ay be that he serves as awitness to the events, afeature that appears in other contexts wheresubsidiaryfigures act as witnesses, such as Anna'sservant in attendanceatthe Annun-ciationtoAnnaand aservant present at the Visitation.⁷² These figures do often seem young,a sf or instance, the young maid watchingt he Visitation in the bema at the sixth-centuryB asilica Eufrasiana, Poreč and ab oy witnessing the Annunciation to Anna in the fourteenth-century mosaics at the former church of Our Saviour in the Chora, the Kariye Camii,I stanbul ( fig.8 ).⁷³ Alternatively,J acob'sp resencem ay put am antle of propriety over Joseph escortingt he Virgin. Jacob does not appear in scenes of the Nativity or the Adoration, whereotherfigures are also present,suggesting that his role is that of donkey hand or protector/witness when Joseph is alone with the Virgin. His presencea lso emphasises the ageo ft he widowed Joseph (in  Treasures of Mount Athos,vol. 1, fol. 133v,f ig.2 51,p p. 442-3.  Treasures of Mount Athos,i lluminated manuscripts.2 .T he Monasteries of Iveron, St.P anteleimon, Esphigmenou, and Chilandari.A thens 1975,fol. 384v,fig.343,p.370.Other scenes areconnected with the Virgin'sy outh. She is shown walkingout from beneath aciborion to be givent oJ oseph, Treasures of Mount Athos, vol. 2, fol. 389r,fig.350,p.371;walkingwith Joseph (no sons) on the road to Bethlehem, Treasures of Mount Athos,v ol. 2, fol. 391r,f ig.3 53,p .3 72 (the latter has beneath it Mary'sv ision,a ssociated with ah omilyb yJ ohn of Damascus,n ot directlya na pocryphal text). It has been suggested that this manuscript was fromthe Studios Monastery,Constantinople, see Treasureso fM ount Athos,vol. 2, 361.  H. Omont, Évangiles avecP einturesB yzantines du XIeS iècle: Reproduction des 361m iniatures du Manuscrit grec74delaBibliothèque nationale. Paris 1908, vol. 2, fol. 108, pl. 96,vol. 1, fol. 4v,pl. 7.  On this,see R. Deshman, Servants of the mother of God in Byzantine and medieval art.  Poreč.U niversity Park, PA 2007,v ol. 1, 102-104,1 74,v ol. 2, fig.126;f or Kariye Camii, Underwood,K ariye pls. 92 -93, vol. 1, 64. the Storyo fJ oseph the Carpenter,h ei sd escribed as 'the pious old man' and he is supposedly9 0y ears old at the time of Christ'sb irth (Carpenter 4,14).
In the Kariye Camii the sons of Joseph are depicted at several stages of life but also in different configurations, perhaps suggesting that various models wereu sed for the programme. The first time one appears is in the scene whereJ oseph takes the Virgin to his home ( fig.9).⁷⁴ Joseph and the son turn to look backa tt he Virgin, and the son is slighter and less tall than his father,shorthaired and beardless,clearly ayouth. Then, in the Journey to Bethlehem amature son leadsthe donkey,mature in thathehas ashortbeard and wears afull-length chiton.⁷⁵ Next,when Joseph and Mary are counted in the census,a ll four brothers crowd behind them, one mature and bearded, two youthful and one rather indistinct.⁷⁶ In the return from Egypt,J o- Fig. 8 Annunciation to Anna,f ormer Church of Our Saviouri nt he Chora, the KariyeC amii, Istanbul (Source: CecilyH ennessy)  Underwood,K ariye scene9 7, vol. 1,Kariye scene1 00,p ls. 155,158,vol. 1,Kariye scene1 01,p ls. 163,165,vol. 1, seph carries the child on his shoulders and as on, clearlyy outhful and dressed in a short tunic, follows the donkey.⁷⁷ When Christ is taken by his parents to Jerusalem at the ageo ft welve,h ei sa ccompanied by twoo ft he brothers,o ne bearded and one beardless who wears as hort tunic.⁷⁸ Christ is dressed in al ong gold garment, which has no reference to youth but rather to his importance or sanctity.H owever, he appears fresh faced and youthful.
Afurther representation of the four brothers is in the paintingsintwo illustrated Homilies of JamesK okkinobaphos,Vatican, gr.1 162a nd Paris, gr.1 208.⁷⁹ The manu- Fig. 9 Joseph takes the Virgin to his home, former Church of Our Saviouri nt he Chora, the KariyeCamii, Istanbul(Source: CecilyHennessy)  Underwood, Kariye scene1 11, pls. 200,202,vol. 1,Kariye scene1 12,pls. 206,vol. 1, scripts illustrate six homilies on major events in the Virgin'slife. Their date is normally givena sbetween 1130 and the 1150s.⁸⁰ They depict rich details of the Virgin'sl ife (from her conception to the declaration of her innocencea fter her pregnancy is discovered), with evidence of thencontemporary childhood and adolescence. It is often said that the illustrations derive from an illustrated Infancy Gospel,but no examples of such am anuscript survive and in fact the presenceoff our sons in several scenes would suggest thatthis is not the case. In the illustrations (not in the Homilies), it is the youngest son who takes up akey role. It is possible the images are related to the Storyo fJ oseph the Carpenter and derive from an illustrated version of it.Yet,i nt he Carpenter text,the daughters are said to have left home, so their absence is justified, but two sons have left as well, and in the Kokkinobaphos manuscripts, four brothers are present in Joseph'shouse.⁸¹ However,the Carpenter text does give Jacob aspecial role, that of abereft child who is adopted by his new stepmother,Mary.The text says she 'found James the Less in his father'shouse,broken-hearted and sad on account of the loss of his mother,and she brought him up' (Carpenter 4). The youngest child in the Homilies' illustrations is interpreted as being Jacob the Less, though therei s reallyn oe vidence for this. He is neither named in the text nor in the illustrations. In the scene wherethe Virgin first enters Joseph'shouse, the two older sons look mature with beards,t he third son looks what one might justifiablyc all an adolescent, beardless,al ittle shorter than his brothers and al ittle slighter.The fourth son appears as ab oy,s ignificantlys maller with as mall round head, as lightlyr eceding hairline and an appearance similar to the puer senex features used for Christ ( fig.10).⁸² Throughout the illustrations in these manuscripts he remains aboy,distinguishedfrom his brothers.Hesometimeswears asimilar long tunic, at other times a short one. This boyishness is perhaps because in manysituations he is alone with the Virgin as aprotector,and so his lack of sexual maturity needs emphasis, but the puer senex appearance givesh im the appearance of wisdom. One could arguet hat he is about twelve and so on thatc usp between childhood and adolescence.
Often it is said that the Virgin before her maturity is depicted as as mall adult, but this is clearlyf ar from accurate.⁸³ She is frequentlys hown at distinct stages of childhood and adolescence, as in the Kokkinobaphos manuscripts. Fori nstance, she appears as alittle girl in bed and again being tucked into her cot,when present-ed to Zachariah in the temple and wheni nstalledo nt he altar.⁸⁴ Interestingly when she says goodbye to her parents,she seems fullygrown ( fig.11).⁸⁵ But then when fed by the angel on the altar she is again al ittle girl ( fig.1 2).⁸⁶ Zachariahd ecides that when she has reached the ageo ft welve,i ti sn ol onger proper for her to be in the temple, so Joseph is chosen as her betrothed. When she is givent oJ oseph, she is ac hild, but when shortlyt hereafter she leavesw ith Joseph through Jerusalem, she has become much more grown up, and when she enters his home and meets the sons, she is mature.⁸⁷ The text of the homilies refers to her with various terms, aware of the delicate situation evoked by her reachingt he ageo ft welve.F or instance, in as peech made by Joseph after he has been chosent ob etroth the Virgin, Fig. 10 The Virgin entersJ oseph'sh ouse, Paris gr. he refers to her as 'ay oung girl with ad ivine appearance'.⁸⁸ When Joseph returns from his work and sees her pregnant,h ei sp erplexed, but he still calls her 'girl' until he realises that indeeds he is pregnant,when he addresses her as 'woman '.⁸⁹ In this image, she looks full grown in height (though not ostensiblyp regnant).⁹⁰ However,l ater she is referredt oa gain as 'girl'.A sm entioned, manyd etails in the images are not derivedf rom the text and the phrasing mayn ot be directlyr elevant to the pictorial representation.
The subtle recognition of adolescencem ay be attributable to patronage.M uch recent reflection on the Kokkinobaphos manuscriptshas lent towards the Sebastokratorissa Eirene as the patroness of the manuscript. She was the widow of Andronikos (1108/9 -1142), the second son of John II.⁹¹ However,the iconographymay be related Fig. 11 The Virgin saysgoodbyetoher parents, Parisgr. 1208 to Emperor Manuel I, the youngest of four sons, who ascended the throne in 1143 aged 25.I ft his weres o, his youth in relation to his brothers might be emphasised. Manuel was twelve years younger than his eldest brother,A lexios (born 1106),a nd five years youngert han the third son, Isaac (born1 113). The inclusion of an image of Christ Emmanuel, in the burning bush might reinforce this theory since Manuel had ap articulari nterest in Christ Emmanuela nd put the imageo nh is coins.⁹² Returning to the Kariye Camii, there is also awell-developed sense of the Virgin's comingo fa ge.S he appears in various scenes as ab abya nd small child, easilyr ecognisable as she wears the familiar blue maphorion. She looks like asmall girl when she takes her first seven steps at the ageo fs ix months, after which time she is not allowed to touch the ground until she is taken to the temple.⁹³ She appears as ababy when carried by Joachimtobeblessed by the priestsonher first birthdayand when Fig. 12 The Virgin is installed on the altar,Paris gr.1208, fol. 103v; Parisgr. 1208, fol. 103v  cuddled by her parents in as cene called 'the fondling of the Theotokos' ( fig.1 3).⁹⁴ She then appears as alittle girl when at the ageofthree she is presented in the temple and fed by an angel and still as alittle girl when Joseph is chosen to betroth her by the sprouting of his rodw hen she is aged twelve (InfancyG ospel 8:3; Carpenter 3).⁹⁵ But suddenlyt hen, in departing with Joseph to his house in the scene mentioned above, she has entered what one might termadolescence, since she is no longeralittle girl, is taller while not full height and slight in body( fig.9).⁹⁶ So she is not fullymature when leaving for Joseph'shouse, but when he departs, again with ason, to engagei ns ome carpentry work, she has become mature, although accordingt o the Infancy Gospel text this occurred onlyshortlyafter.⁹⁷ Accordingtothe StoryofJ oseph the Carpenter,s he conceivesC hrist at the point when 'after the holyv irgin had spent twoy ears in his househ er agew as exactlyf ourteen years' (Carpenter 4). And  'Ηκ ολακείατ ῆ ςθ ( εοτó)κου;U nderwood, Kariye vol. 1, 71.  Underwood,Kariye scenes 89,90,91,9 2,96,122,[126][127]138,140,142;vol. 1,[69][70][71][72][73][74][79][80]The caressingoft he Virgin is perhaps incorrectlyp laced herea nd should comea fter her first steps, when she is gathered up by her mother who declaress he shall no longer walk on the ground, so that scene90follows scene 88. The Presentation in the Temple is the first of these scenes to featurenot onlyinthe Infancy Gospel (7:2), but also in the Pseudo-Matthew (4) and the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary (6). The Feedingb yt he Angela nd the Virgin Entrusted to Joseph are also in all three, Infancy Gospel (8:1,9 :1 -2), Pseudo-Matthew (6,8 ), Gospel of the Nativity of Mary (7,8 ).  Underwood, Kariye scene 97, pl. 97,pls. 143 -4, vol. 1, 81-2. This scene is onlyinthe Infancy Gospel (9:2)a nd Joseph the Carpenter (4).  Underwood, Kariye scene9 9, pls. 148 -9, vol. 1, 83 -5; Infancy Gospel (9:11).
indeeds he is mature in the census scene viewed before.⁹⁸ These representations all seem to show as ensitivea warenesso fc omingofa ge and the transitional phases in life. While the Virgin is dressed from the time of her babyhood in the same blue dress and veil, the nuanced distinctions to her sizeand facial featuresreveal adistinct recognition of the stages of maturation.
Finally, turning backt ot he EarlyC hristian period in which the non-canonical texts developedt hat gave rise to these diverse images, it is intriguing to looka t the portrayal of Christ and to consider to what extent his depiction was dependent on apocryphal texts. It was discussed how he appears youthful, as an adolescent or a 'wise beyond his years' boy,a tt he ageo ft welvet eachingi nJ erusalem, but in abroad rangeofEarly Christian and EarlyByzantine representations in other scenes, within the canonicale vents thato ccur duringh is maturity (that is after the ageo f 30), he appears beardless and with ay outhful body, even in some contextsa dolescent.Manyexamples exist prior to the sixth century in various media. On numerous sarcophagi, in manyofwhich he is performing miracles,hehas short curlyhair,fine features and no sign of abeard, whereas all the mature characters such as Peter and Paul are bearded. An example is the sarcophagus of Marcus Claudianus, in the Museo nazionale delle Terme in Rome ( fig.14).⁹⁹ Another striking example is the mo- Underwood, Kariye scene1 01, pls. 159,161,163,vol. 1,, Infancy Gospel (17:1), Pseudo-Matthew (13).  Dated to 330 -40,M useo nazionale delle Terme, Palazzo Massimo,R ome. saic of the Baptism in the dome at the Arianbaptistery in Ravenna,dated 500 -530, whereChrist appears as afleshyyouth with round shoulders and curvinghips, wavy hair and beardless.¹⁰⁰ This type of youthfulportrayal has been discussed frequently, perhaps most persuasively by Thomas Mathews who argues thatt he likenesses are related to pagan gods such as Dionysius and Apollo, among other influences.¹⁰¹ The development of the iconographyo fC hrist is beyond the scope of this essay, but it is possiblethat this type of youthful depiction was associated with aselection of texts thateither mention Christ appearing 'in the form of' aboy or achild or he is described as ayouth, as for example, 'The saviour appeared in the form of aboy of twelve years',( Acts of Peter and Andrew) and 'Is aw ab eautifuly outh covering her with this cloak' (Acts of John 76).¹⁰² His youthful depiction is possiblyexplained by texts or,a lternatively, thet exts respond to images alreadyp revalent.O nt he other hand, textsand images mayreflect aculturalesteem for idealised youth and the visual appreciation of youthfulness in boys and girls in their transition towardsa dulthood.
Having looked at some of the problems of defining what adolescence was in Byzantium and having acknowledgedt hat just in our culture it is not clear-cut,s oi t seems it was not then. Representations of youth, of girls and boys in the period between childhood and adulthood show subtle gradations between boy and man, girl and woman and appear to have been both customary and appreciated. In imagery of Christ'sfamily, his brothers and his mother,various portrayals also emphasise childhood and adolescence. In apocryphal iconography, the origin of the imagery is still not clear.Thisisasubject that could well be explored further as it seems that either various textual traditions are contributingtoitorthatthe iconographyseems to arise somewhat independentlyf rom texts and perhaps from more personalised issuesa ssociated with patronage or societal influences.