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Early Christian Art

The beginnings of an identifiable Christian art can be traced to the end of the second century and the beginning of the third century. Considering the Old Testament prohibitions against graven images, it is important to consider why Christian art developed in the first place. The use of images will be a continuing issue in the history of Christianity. The best explanation for the emergence of Christian art in the early church is due to the important role images played in Greco-Roman culture.
As Christianity gained converts, these new Christians had been brought up on the value of images in their previous cultural experience and they wanted to continue this in their Christian experience. For example, there was a change in burial practices in the Roman world away from cremation to inhumation. Outside the city walls of Rome, adjacent to major roads, catacombs were dug into the ground to bury the dead. Families would have chambers or cubicula dug to bury their members. Wealthy Romans would also have sarcophagi or marble tombs carved for their burial. The Christian converts wanted the same things. Christian catacombs were dug frequently adjacent to non-Christian ones, and sarcophagi with Christian imagery were apparently popular with the richer Christians.
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, marble, 359 C.E. (Treasury of Saint Peter's Basilica)
Junius Bassus, a Roman praefectus urbi or high ranking government administrator, died in 359 C.E. Scholars believe that he converted to Christianity shortly before his death accounting for the inclusion of Christ and scenes from the Bible. (Photograph above shows a plaster cast of the original.)

Themes of Death and Resurrection

A striking aspect of the Christian art of the third century is the absence of the imagery that will dominate later Christian art. We do not find in this early period images of the Nativity, Crucifixion, or Resurrection of Christ, for example. This absence of direct images of the life of Christ is best explained by the status of Christianity as a mystery religion. The story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection would be part of the secrets of the cult.
While not directly representing these central Christian images, the theme of death and resurrection was represented through a series of images, many of which were derived from the Old Testament that echoed the themes. For example, the story of Jonah—being swallowed by a great fish and then after spending three days and three nights in the belly of the beast is vomited out on dry ground—was seen by early Christians as an anticipation or prefiguration of the story of Christ's own death and resurrection. Images of Jonah, along with those of Daniel in the Lion's Den, the Three Hebrews in the Firey Furnace, Moses Striking the Rock, among others, are widely popular in the Christian art of the third century, both in paintings and on sarcophagi.
All of these can be seen to allegorically allude to the principal narratives of the life of Christ. The common subject of salvation echoes the major emphasis in the mystery religions on personal salvation. The appearance of these subjects frequently adjacent to each other in the catacombs and sarcophagi can be read as a visual litany: save me Lord as you have saved Jonah from the belly of the great fish, save me Lord as you have saved the Hebrews in the desert, save me Lord as you have saved Daniel in the Lion's den, etc.
One can imagine that early Christians—who were rallying around the nascent religious authority of the Church against the regular threats of persecution by imperial authority—would find great meaning in the story of Moses of striking the rock to provide water for the Israelites fleeing the authority of the Pharaoh on their exodus to the Promised Land.

Christianity's canonical texts and the New Testament

One of the major differences between Christianity and the public cults was the central role faith plays in Christianity and the importance of orthodox beliefs. The history of the early Church is marked by the struggle to establish a canonical set of texts and the establishment of orthodox doctrine.
Questions about the nature of the Trinity and Christ would continue to challenge religious authority. Within the civic cults there were no central texts and there were no orthodox doctrinal positions. The emphasis was on maintaining customary traditions. One accepted the existence of the gods, but there was no emphasis on belief in the gods.
The Christian emphasis on orthodox doctrine has its closest parallels in the Greek and Roman world to the role of philosophy. Schools of philosophy centered around the teachings or doctrines of a particular teacher. The schools of philosophy proposed specific conceptions of reality. Ancient philosophy was influential in the formation of Christian theology. For example, the opening of the Gospel of John: "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God...," is unmistakably based on the idea of the "logos" going back to the philosophy of Heraclitus (ca. 535 - 475 BCE). Christian apologists like Justin Martyr writing in the second century understood Christ as the Logos or the Word of God who served as an intermediary between God and the World.

Early representations of Christ and the apostles

An early representation of Christ found in the Catacomb of Domitilla shows the figure of Christ flanked by a group of his disciples or students. Those experienced with later Christian imagery might mistake this for an image of the Last Supper, but instead this image does not tell any story. It conveys rather the idea that Christ is the true teacher.
Christ draped in classical garb holds a scroll in his left hand while his right hand is outstretched in the so-called ad locutio gesture, or the gesture of the orator. The dress, scroll, and gesture all establish the authority of Christ, who is placed in the center of his disciples. Christ is thus treated like the philosopher surrounded by his students or disciples.
Comparably, an early representation of the apostle Paul, identifiable with his characteristic pointed beard and high forehead, is based on the convention of the philosopher, as exemplified by a Roman copy of a late fourth century B.C.E. portrait of the fifth century B.C.E. playwright Sophocles.
Essay by Dr. Allen Farber

Additional resources:
Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), Yale University Open Course videos
New Testament Reading Room, Tyndale Seminary
"From Jesus to Christ," Frontline PBS site
"The Fathers of the Church," biography and texts from the Catholic Encyclopedia

Want to join the conversation?

  • leaf orange style avatar for user Jeff Kelman
    Christianity in its early stages was referred to as a "cult", but later on became referred to as a "religion." What accounts for this difference? When does a spiritual group "graduate" (for lack of a better term) to being a religion and why? Is this merely a reflection of the size of the group and thus their acceptance in mainstream society?
    (10 votes)
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  • piceratops ultimate style avatar for user Quinn McLeish
    How did Christianity becoming the state religion cause a change from cremation to inhumation?
    (7 votes)
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  • blobby green style avatar for user acrowell
    Great and comprehensive look at early Christian art in Europe, however nothing is included about the earliest uses of art and symbolism in early Christian Aksum (Ethiopia). What are some of the earliest uses of Christian symbolism on the continent of Africa especially in the Aksumite empire?
    (7 votes)
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    • duskpin ultimate style avatar for user Миленa
      Khan Academy art history follows the AP Art History curriculum, which means that there are some blatant and annoying omissions (for example, a total lack of traditional Russian/Slavic art or very little Asian art in general, but plenty of focus on the minute details of Venetian Renaissance art).

      In any case, for info about Ethiopian Christianity, try these quality essays from the Met: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/acet/hd_acet.htm

      Christianity in the Roman Empire was actually stronger in North Africa than in Western Europe -- an entire host of early Christian saints and thinkers came from there, so the omission is indeed strange (those include: St. Athanasius, St. Cyril, St. Monica, St. Cyprian, Tertullian, St. Augustine, and Origen). For explicitly 'Roman North Africa and Christianity' I can't recommend anything general, but the monastery of St. Catherine at Sinai deeply fascinates me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Catherine%27s_Monastery
      (8 votes)
  • blobby green style avatar for user nickrpack
    Only slightly off-topic. What font is this article in? It's great and I'd like to know. Thanks! :D
    (3 votes)
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  • starky seed style avatar for user Zane Osegi
    why are these made at of stone
    (2 votes)
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    • aqualine tree style avatar for user David Alexander
      The ones that we can see today were made of stone, because those made of other things, like wood, paper mache, or clay, rotted away.
      A Sarcophagus is a box into which a body is placed until all of the flesh (sarco) is eaten (phag) away and only the bones (ossia) remain. The bones are placed in an "ossuary" and the sarcophagus (flesh-eater) is available for re-use for someone else's body.
      A sarcophagus made of something like wood, hay or stubble would rot away with the flesh it contained.
      (4 votes)
  • blobby green style avatar for user elena.melena.mariah
    In the end of this essay, Dr. Farber states that the early representation of Paul is based on the convention of the philosopher as he states, can be seen in the portrait of Sophocles. How does he draw this conclusion? What visual, stylistic, or formal evidence is there for this statement?
    (2 votes)
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    • leaf orange style avatar for user Jake Suzuki
      The iconography of the philosopher in the Greco-Roman world was very codified. You could tell someone was a philosopher, or trying to oass themselves off as one, at a glance.
      To that end, comparing the image of St. Paul to Sophocles here, stance of the two are nigh identical, however you could say that's more evident of contrapasto than a philosophical bearing the two share.
      The beard, a plentiful and well documented icon of the philosopher is also shared between the two. Roman emperors appropriated the Greek beard for the ends of giving themselves more cultural clout as "thinking men."
      St. Pauls strong features are also indicative of the Veritas tradition of portraiture which also was strobgly influenced by the depiction of philosophers.
      Its these cultural signs for "learned", "teacher", and "philosopher" that the representation of St. Paul evolved from.
      (1 vote)
  • blobby green style avatar for user marcus ngo
    How do Christian arts contribute to a community and individual?
    (1 vote)
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  • blobby green style avatar for user ID7170
    What is the most likely reason why artwork depicting religious themes of Christianity was not common or popular in the Classical Period?
    (1 vote)
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  • piceratops ultimate style avatar for user Riley hale
    what day was mary assumed in to heaven
    (1 vote)
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  • starky seedling style avatar for user Martha Young
    The last paragraph mentions to compare Paul on the left with Sophocles on the right. But I don't see the two pictures side by side. That would be interesting.
    (1 vote)
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