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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture It is interesting, also, to see how early Christian beliefs appeat to be combined in the third century mosaic of Christ as a sun god in the ceiling mosaic of the tomb of the Julii, in the necropolis under St. Peters, Rome. The triumphant Christ/god is in his chariot and has rays shooting from his head aas he is pulled aloft by two rearing horses. Vines in the background suggest a Dionysian connection. yrs, t. ault On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 18:12:04 -0600 Jim Bugslag <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and >culture > >> I came across an interesting footnote (where, gosh, where?!!! - >> Harnack??? Peterson??) which stated that the earliest pictures of >>the >> Christ were modelled on Alexander the Great's image. > >Dear George, >The earliest pictures of Christ, in the 3rd-century catacombs, for >example, are >intentionally generalized images embedded in narratives. They were >not modelled >on any prestigious precedent but, rather, are indistinguishable from >the way other >figures are represented. I don't know where this "Alexander the >Great" theory >comes from either, but it was meant to apply, I imagine, to such >4th-century images >as the Christ in the Traditio Legis on the sarcophagus of Junius >Bassus. >> > Then it seems just natural that >> the image was changed from Alexander's to Zeus' well known depiction >> from the Iliad, with long locks and beard, taken as guidance by >> Pheidias himself > >Since much of this transformation took place (so far as is >ascertainable from what >survives) in or around Rome, I'm not sure that these Greek models >would be >germane. Roman images of Jupiter, the father of all the gods, may >have been >modelled on Greek examples such as you mention, but it was in the >context of the >newly expanding phase of Christianity within the Roman Empire after >the Peace of >the Church that direct, iconic images of Christ and/or God began to >appear. The >"horizon of expectation" was thus that of Roman religion in general. > Nevertheless, >at some later point, Pheidias' cult image of Zeus from Olympus was >taken to >Constantinople, I believe. >> >> Is this silly and/or completely speculative? > >It is certainly not silly, but a great deal of our interpretation of >the development of >Early Christian art is, necessarily, speculative. A pair of works >you may want to look >at in this respect are two small apse mosaics in the Church of S. >Costanza in Rome, >which was probably originally built as the mausoleum of Constantine's >daughter >Constantia in c.350. These apse mosaics are in terrible condition, >but it is generally >considered that they were probably added in the early 5th century, >when other >potentially Trinitarian images of God begin to appear (e.g. the apse >mosaic of S. >Pudenziana in Rome). One of these apse mosaics depicts the Traditio >Legis and >features the young, beardless figure of Christ. The other probably >depicts God >handing down the law to Moses and features the more mature, dark >haired and >heavily bearded image of "God". There certainly appears to be some >intended >connection here between iconography and doctrine. >Cheers, >Jim Bugslag > >********************************************************************** >To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME >to: [log in to unmask] >To send a message to the list, address it to: >[log in to unmask] >To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion >to: [log in to unmask] >In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write >to: >[log in to unmask] >For further information, visit our web site: >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html