LATE ANTIQUITYGARDINER CHAPTER 11-1PP. 289-295

THE LATE ANITIQUE PERIOD

During the 3rd and 4th centuries a rapidly growing number of Romans rejected polytheism in favor of monotheism

Jewish and Christian art of the Late Antique period is no less Roman than a sarcophagus w/mythological scenes

Jewish and Christian sculptures, paintings and buildings of Late Antiquity are Roman in style and technique

This art differs in subject and function

DURA-EUROPOS Crosscurrents of Late Antiquity best

seen in Roman city of Dura-Europos in Syria

Founded shortly after death of Alexander -> 2nd century BCE controlled by the Pathians -> captured by Trajan in 115 -> reverts to Parthian control -> retaken by Romans under Marcus Aurelius in 165 -> fell to the Sasanians in 256 -> abandoned after this

“Pompeii of the desert” Samuel anoints David, detail of mural paintings in

the synagogue, Dura-Europos, Syria, ca. 245-256

Figures lack volume and shadow, stand in frontal rows, and have stylized gestures

SYNAGOGUE PAINTINGS Interior of the synagogue Dura-Europos, Syria,

with wall paintings of Old Testament themes

Ca. 245-256

Tempera on plaster

Surprise to scholars because it seemed to defy Jewish restictions against graven images/idols

God/YAHWEH -> never appears in these murals

Stylized gestures, expressionless features on figures, lacking volume and shadow, tend to stand in frontal rows

Niche housed the TORAH = scroll containing the PENTATEUCH

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY HOUSE Restored cutaway view of Christian

community house, Dura-Europos, Syria, 245-256

1 = former courtyard of private house 2 = meeting hall 3 = baptistery

Meeting hall created by removing wall, raised platform at one end -> could accommodate about 70 people

Baptistry had a font to conduct baptisms

Modest, second hand house in contrast to grand temples of the Roman gods

THE CATACOMBS AND FUNERARY ARTS Catacombs in Rome run for 60-90 miles ->

house as many as 4 million bodies

Christians had to be buried outside a city’s wall on private property

First gallery dug 3 to 4 feet around -> in the walls of the gallery were cut openings/loculi on above the other like shelves for the bodies

Often small rooms/cubicula served as mortuary chapels

Once full -> new galleries were excavated at right angles -> when all lateral area covered lower levels were excavated

After Christianity was officially approved churches were built above the catacombs

Early Christian art = earliest preserved artworks having Christian subjects -> not art of Christians at the time of Jesus

Most Early Christian art = 3rd and 4th cdnturies -> most found in CATACOMBS = vast subterranean passageways and chambers designed as cemeteries for bury the dead

Catacombs tunneled out of tufa bedrock -> less elaborate but more extensive than Etruscan tombs

PAINTING The Good Shepard, the story of Jonah, and

orants, painted ceiling of the Catacomb of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, Rome, Italy, early 4th century

Painted ceiling of cubiculum in catacomb -> painted circular frame with a central medallion and LUNETTES/semicircular frames around the circumference

Story of Jonah in the lunettes -> Jonah honored as a PREFIGURATION of Christ

ORANTS = praying figures between the lunettes

Christ as the Good Shepard in central medallion -> lost sheep on his shoulders symbolizes sinner who has strayed and been rescued

Early Christian art presents Jesus as youthful and as either the Good Shepherd or as a teacher

JEWISH SUBJECTS IN CHRISTIAN ART The Old Testament figures

prominently in Early Christian art in media

Jesus was a Jew

Many of the first Christians were converted Jews

Christians came to view persons and events in the Old Testament as prefigurations of New Testament persons and events

The 4 most popular Old Testament stories depicted in Early Christian art

1. ADAM AND EVER -> original sin -> Christ came to redeem us

2. SACRIFICE OF ISAAC -> Abraham is ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac -> prefigures the sacrifice of God’s only son, Jesus

3. JONAH -> prophet sins -> God sends storm -> Jonah has sailors throw him overboard -> whale swallows him -> Jonah prays then whale spits him out after 3 days -> prefigures the Resurrection

4. DANIEL -> prophet violates Persian ban on prayer -> thrown into den of lions -> God sends angel to shut the lions’ mouths -> Daniel emerges unharmed -> Christ’s triumph over death

SANTA MARIA ANTIQUA SARCOPHAGUS

Sarcophagus with philosopher, orant, and Old and New Testament scenes, ca. 270, marble, Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome

Story of Jonah orant + seated philosopher Christ as Good Shepherdbaptism of Christ

JUNIUS BASSUS SARCOPHAGUS

Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, from Rome, Italy, ca. 359, marble, 3’10” x 8’

Sarcophagus of a wealthy, recently converted city prefect/official of Rome

Decorated on 3 sides -> two registers w/5 compartments framed by columns -> deceased does not appear on the body of the coffin -> stories from Old and New Testaments fill the niches

Central niches show Christ -> top he is enthroned between Peter and Paul, below entering Jerusalem on donkey -> scenes derive from imperial depictions

Scenes covering from Adam and Eve to Christ before Pilate

Scenes of the Crucifixion/Christ’s suffering and death rarely portrayed in Early Christian art

STATUETTE OF CHRIST Christ seated, from Civita Latina,

Italy, ca. 350-375, marble, 2’4” high

Monumental statues become increasingly uncommon in the 4th century

Christians tended to suspect the freestanding statue -> linked it to idol worship of the pagans

No “cult statues”, or equivalents of pedimental statues or relief friezes of Greco-Roman temples