medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
In a certain mosaic of the resurrected Christ
> appearing to his disciples, the disciples are wearing
> togas which have what appears to be an upside down L
> near the lower hem. I'm sure I've seen this L-shaped
> figure in other artwork, too, but I can't find it
> mentioned in my reference books. Can anyone explain
> what it means?
The short answer is "no". Collectively, these Greek letters, which commonly occur
on the lower portion of Apostolic garments in Early Christian art, are known as
gammadia, after "gamma", the most commonly represented of them. But what their
significance was is unknown. Apparently, however, actual garments with such
letters on them have been found in biblical archaeological sites in Palestine, and
one theory is that they simply represent "period costume" from biblical times.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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