inscription and depiction of
Tukulti-Ninurta I 13th century BCE
Assur,
Iraq.
Pergamon Museum,
Berlin. , 80 AD. Silver
Denarius. On the obverse: Effigy of
Emperor Titus; on the reverse:
curule seat surmounted by a crown. known as the
Virgin of Vladimir, with
instruments of the Passion. The "empty throne" had a long pre-Christian history. An
Assyrian relief in Berlin of c. 1243 BCE shows King
Tukulti-Ninurta I kneeling before the empty throne of the fire-god
Nusku, occupied by what appears to be a flame. The
Hittites put thrones in important shrines for the spirit of the dead person to occupy, and the
Etruscans left an empty seat at the head of the table at religious feasts for the god to join the company. A somewhat controversial theory, held by many specialists, sees the
Israelite Ark of the Covenant, or the figures of the
cherubim above it, as an empty throne. A throne with a crown upon it had been a symbol for an absent monarch in Ancient Greek culture since at least the time of
Alexander the Great, whose deification allowed secular use for what had previously been a symbol for Zeus, where the attribute placed on the throne was a pair of zig-zag thunderbolts. Early
Buddhist art used an empty throne, often under a
parasol or
Bodhi Tree, from before the time of Christ. This was, in the traditional view, an
aniconic symbol for the Buddha; they
avoided depicting the Buddha in human form,
like early Christians with God the Father. Alternatively, it has been argued that these images represent actual
relic-thrones at the major pilgrimage sites which were objects of worship. The throne often contains a symbol such as the
dharma wheel or
Buddha footprint, as well as a cushion. Like the Greeks and other ancient peoples, the Romans held ritual banquets for the gods (a ritualized "
theoxenia"), including the annual
Epulum Jovis, and the
lectisternium, originally a rare event in times of crisis, first held in 399 BCE according to
Livy, but later much more common. A seat for these was called a
pulvinar, from
pulvinus ("cushion"), and many temples held these; at the banquets statues of the deity were placed on them. There was a pulvinar at the
Circus Maximus, on which initially statues and attributes of the gods were placed after a procession during games, but
Augustus also occupied it himself (possibly copying
Julius Caesar), building a temple-like structure in the seating to house it. Thrones with a jewelled wreath, portrait or
sceptre and
diadem sitting on them were among the symbols used in the Roman law courts and elsewhere to represent the authority of the absent emperor; this was one of the monarchical attributes awarded by the
Roman Senate to Julius Caesar. A seat with jewelled wreath is seen on coins from the
Emperor Titus onwards, and on those of
Diocletian a seat with a helmet on it represents
Mars.
Commodus chose to be represented by a seat with the club and lion skin of
Hercules, with whom he identified himself. The empty throne continued to be used as a secular symbol of power by the first Christian Emperors, and appears on the
Arch of Constantine. Later non-Christian uses of the empty throne motif include the "Bema Feast", the most important annual feast of Persian
Manichaeism, when a "bema" or empty throne represented the
prophet Mani at a meal for worshippers. In the
Balinese version of
Hinduism, the most prominent element in most temples is the
padmasana or "Lotus Throne", an empty throne for the supreme deity
Acintya. In the
Ashanti Empire, the
Golden Stool was used as a symbol of authority for the kings. It was considered so sacred that it was not allowed to touch the ground (but only placed on a blanket) or seated on its own throne. ==Christian art==