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
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