medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Bernadette,
At least since the 6th century, narrative scenes of the Crucifixion balance Longinus
(eventually St Longinus) piercing Christ's side with Stephaton giving him vinegar to drink from
a sponge on a long pole, to either side of the Cross. Because Longinus is good and
Stephaton is bad, Longinus is placed on Christ's right hand side (our left as viewers), which
was considered his favoured side, whereas the evil Stephaton is relegated to the sinister, left
side of Christ. There was, thus, a long tradition of the chest wound being on Christ's right
side. There well may be more to it than that, but this, I am fairly sure, goes a long way
towards explaining its origin.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
On 3 Sep 2008 at 19:26, Charles Giguere wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
>
> I noticed - to be truthful, it was pointed out to me - that in the
> Pietas at The Cloisters in N. Y., the wound in the side of Christ is
> invariably on the right-hand side, this not being specified in St.
> John. Is this the rule in all Pietas?Does any learned member of this
> group know why?
>
> Bernadette Filotas
>
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