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Encyclopedia Ichnographica 1.1

Dedication

Death and the Triumphal Way
A Dedication

My father, Otto Lauf, died 24 September 1997. His death came after many years of battling diabetes and its complications, including the lose of both his lower legs. The Encyclopedia Ichnographica is dedicated to my father, for I was nearing completion of an earlier presentation of the Ichnographia Redrawn the night he died.

My father's funeral was the third I had "watched" in a month, after those of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana, and it was during Diana's funeral that a remarkable coincidence occurred. On the Thursday before the Princess' funeral in London, I nonchalantly browsed through The Princeton Journal Ritual, 1983, a book I had not taken from my library in a number of years. I was soon surprised and delighted with the discovery of an essay on ancient Rome's Triumphal Way, "Passage into the City: The Interpretive Function of the Roman Triumph" by Alan Plattus. No doubt this essay would greatly aid my ongoing research of Piranesi's Ichnographia of the Campo Marzio within which Piranesi demarks his own interpretation of the Roman Triumphal Way. The essay carefully explains the often re-enacted ritual and the many "passages" along its way: the initial passage through the wall and into the city; the circuitous route through the numerous memorial arches that have been dedicated over time, and through the many stadia and circuses where the throngs of Roman citizenry could observe the spectacle; the ultimate end of the march at the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, ancient Rome's most sacred place. I finished reading the essay late Friday night.

Otto Lauf 1923 ~ 1997

On Saturday morning, I watched (in Philadelphia via television) Princess Diana's funeral procession on its way to Westminster Abbey. As her coffin passed various memorials, including Lutyen's Cenotaph at Whitehall, I immediately recognized the trappings of Empire. I next saw Diana's coffin pass beneath an arch, and I then realized I was "witnessing" yet another re-enactment of the Triumphal Way, ending this time at the most sacred place in London.

As always, the Triumphal Way is synonymous with heroes. My father was certainly a hero for me, and he last triumphed in 1994 when he re-learned how to walk with an artificial limb. Moreover, I find comfort in thinking that my father may have now already met not only Mother Teresa and Princess Diana, but Piranesi as well.

10 October 1997

Giovanni Battista Piranesi 1720 ~ 1778

Encyclopedia Ichnographica

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