Nonnosa und ihre Identitäten: ein spätantikes Fallbeispiel aus der Katakombe San Gennaro in Neapel

Abstract

A tomb painting in the San Gennaro catacomb in Naples depicts a late antique Christian family, consisting of father, mother and an infant daughter named Nonnosa. Referring to research on intersectionality – especially the multilevel analysis represented by Nina Degele and Gabriele Winker –, this paper aims at investigating Nonnosa’s various social identities. What can be said about Nonnosa’s gender, class, ethnicity and cultural embedding, age, religion and ontological status? And how do these systems of discrimination intersect in Nonnosa’s case? It will be shown that almost all of these elements help to construct Nonnosa as someone socially superior. The only exceptions from the rule, Nonnosa’s age and gender, are downplayed and even inverted. It has to be said, however, that this highly positive result is only valid on the level of representation. The tomb painting does not provide any information related to the level of structures or to the level of self-perception. The same goes for the level of representation’s relationship to the other levels: Here, too, we are left with more questions than answers.