In preparation of the attack, inhabitants hastily filled the defense-walls with gravel and sand. The excavators who conducted the study were amazed to find such a vibrant and varied array of religious paintings in Jewish, Christian, and pagan temples. One of such exceptional findings was a regular Roman style house along the defense wall. The building was small and looked pretty much like a typical house since Christianity was illegal at the time. If Dura had survived after this meager building would have been replaced with a much more impressive structure.
The best-preserved part of the complex is the baptistery room a place with a font used for baptism. The paintings covering its walls are rather crude compared to the ones in the neighboring pagan temple and a synagogue.
The wall paintings on the sides focus on the life of Christ and his miraculous events Christ and Peter walking on water, Christ healing paralytic, Maries visiting tomb of Christ , all of which send a positive message for converts. Note, however, that all viewers had to be familiar with the Scriptures in order to interpret the scenes. The most interesting, but worst preserved painting appears in the arch above the baptismal font.
It shows an image of the good shepherd carrying a sheep on his shoulders surrounded by his flock—which reinforces the borrowed symbolism discussed earlier. Below the Good Shepherd, one can barely notice a tree flanked by two silhouetted figures that represent Adam and Eve.
Paired with the good shepherd, it is the earliest instance of typology used in visual art. This is especially significant since this is a poor community far from large cities—showing the breadth of this imagery across long distances.
Even more surprising, however, was the discovery of a synagogue in the same town. Synagogue from Greek meaning to gather together was a place of assembly for Jews and not a house of God the House of God was the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. The Dura Synagogue was situated nearby along the same defense wall as the Christian building, but was much more elaborate and grand, indicating that the Jewish community was larger and wealthier than the Christian one also Judaism was legal, so they could afford more prominence.
Shocking the archaeologists who excavated the synagogue, its main room used for housing of the Torah first 5 books of the Hebrew Scriptures was entirely covered with images. Until then, scholars thought that Jewish culture was aniconic does not accept images in agreement with one of Mosaic Commandments.
Here, however, very skillfully executed frescoes were arranged on the walls in three bands of fifty-eight individual scenes. They portray a variety of themes such as narratives of Jewish heroes Crossing of the Red Sea, Drowning of the Pharaoh and scenes of liturgical significance Menorah in the Temple of Solomon, Temple of Aaron.
The Dura images are the earliest discovered Jewish paintings to date. Similar to the images in the baptistery the message is positive and encourages devotion. Devoid of action, the viewer focuses on the message, which they can identify with ease.
Importantly, the creator uses both Jewish and Roman pictorial traditions. For example, a Corinthian portico frames a menorah and Moses is shown as a combination of an Old Testament patriarch bearded, traditionally associated with Jewish men and a Roman patrician only Roman aristocracy could wear a toga.
This indicates that the Duran Jewish community was well acquainted with the Roman cultural traditions and saw them as fitting to represent both the menorah and Moses. In addition, this period was a time of serious religious competition. In this small peripheral town, there are more than ten religious communities to choose from! These beautiful images with their positive messages were part of this effort.
More specifically, the Christian images come from the Old Testament, linking the relatively new religion to the more established religion of Judaism. This early experimentation resulted in adoption of the basilica plan, a design derived from secular Roman examples that has still influences Christian architecture until this day. The Church of Santa Sabina is the quintessential example of the mature basilica type. Standard basilica design includes three clearly basic units: a nave, two aisles, and an apse that were useful for Christian purposes.
The nave and aisles could be easily extended longitudinally as well as laterally to accommodate the growing community. The focal placement of the apse originally a place for the statue of the Roman emperor helped to direct attention to the most important part of the church, where the Eucharist was performed. In addition, the basilica type was devoid of references to pagan cults since it was a secular building. This made it particularly fitting for the adoption by Christianity.
Unlike Roman or Greek temples, Christian churches were plain on the outside typically a brick exterior and represented a spiritual heavily space on the inside, covered with colorful marble, sparkling mosaics of precious stones, glass, and gold.
The Christian church uses columns to support its interior, and are typically made from spolia reused materials sourced from abandoned pagan temples. In these churches, Christians introduced brick arches instead of horizontal architraves solid piers of square form. In sum, while the design of Santa Sabina was inspired by Roman architecture, the early Christians did not merely copy it, but consciously adapted and altered it according to their needs.
Like Christians, Jews also built places of worship based on the model of Roman basilica. Using the basilica plan, this synagogue had a central nave with an apse to display the Torah, aisles on both sides, and a line of columns. 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 figure 2. 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.
Figure 3. 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 BCE portrait of the fifth century BCE playwright Sophocles. Skip to main content. Module Early Christian Art.
Search for:. 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. Free Which biblical story prefigured Christ's resurrection? A Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. Answer: B Jonah and the Whale. Free What was the vestibule of Old St.
Peter's in Rome called? A atrium. Answer: B narthex. Answer: A You need to subscribe to get the answer. A Crucifixion. How does Santa Costanza mirror Imperial Roman architecture? Answer: You cannot see the question answer before you subscribe, please create an account and subscribe to one of our plans to get access to the answer.
Why are catacombs significant for the history of Early Christian art? Describe a templon and explain its function. What Roman imperial attributes were used to identify Christ? What is the historical significance of the Vladimir Madonna? Describe the features of this mosaic that makes it an example of the Early Christian style.
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Powered by WordPress. Skip to content. True False status: not answered correct: false your answer: 2 A cubiculum is a catacomb chamber. True False status: not answered correct: true your answer: 3 God appears as an old man in the synagogue frescoes at Dura-Europos.
True False status: not answered correct: false your answer: 4 Early Christian art routinely stresses idealized bodies over narrative clarity.
True False status: not answered correct: false your answer: 5 The first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures are known as the Pentateuch. True False status: not answered correct: true your answer: 6 Which of the following attributes did Christ assume after Christianity was officially recognized?
Crucifixion b. Jonah and the Whale b.
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