Earliest Depictions of Jesus in Art
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From Matt Baker. Today we’re going to look at some of the earliest depictions of Jesus, over the last 2000 years. Jesus has been depicted in many different ways, but as I’m sure, you know, nowadays, he’s usually depicted as a gentle looking European with long hair and a beard. Like, in this famous 1940 painting of Jesus by Warner Salman of course. Jesus wasn’t European though, he was from The Middle. Used. So in recent years, there have been attempts by several different artists to show what Jesus really looked like such as this anthropological reconstruction, by Richard neave, or this a photo, realistic image by boss. Oh, terrific. Well, another way to figure out what Jesus might have looked like, would be to go back as far as we can to see how he was depicted in art in the first few centuries, following his death, So that’s what we’re going to do in this video, I’m going to be showing you 10 of the earliest images, we have of Jesus and I’ll be doing it in the form of a countdown.
Okay. Let’s now look at some of the earliest depictions of Jesus. In art, I’m going to start with an image that can be found here. This is the st. Catherine’s Monastery, located in Egypt near the mountain that is traditionally considered to be Mount Sinai. This is also the monastery where the Codex Sinai Atticus was found which I discussed in my video about the oldest Bible manuscripts. However, Internet. Now because it also houses this image considered to be one of the oldest Byzantine icons still in existence dating to around 550 see. Now if you know anything about the history of the Byzantine Empire aka the Eastern Roman Empire. You’ll know that icons were a source of great controversy. Basically, an icon is a religious Image used for worship in the early medieval period. There were some Byzantine Christians who felt that icons should be used and others who felt that they should not be used well, during most of the 700s into the early 800s, those who felt that they should not be used without sweating. And therefore, during those years, many of the oldest images of Jesus were destroyed. However, this particular one, Survived. Because it was located in Egypt, which by that time was controlled by Muslims. Now, let me point out two, things about this particular depiction of Jesus. First, it is in a style known as the Christ pantocrator which to this day is quite frequently used in Eastern Orthodox Churches. Some of its main features include a Halo with a cross in it, a new testament in Jesus. Left hand, and his right hand. Making a very specific gesture that represents the letters. I see x c, which stands for Jesus Christ. Secondly, this particular Christ. Pantocrator is unique in that there’s something special going on with Jesus’s face at first glance the eyes look, a bit weird and you might have assumed that the artist was simply not that good, but the Ian, why the face looks a bit strange? Is that the artist actually painted two different phases. This becomes clear. If you mirror each side, the reason for this probably has to do with the artists attempt to symbolize Jesus supposed dual nature, okay? The next image we’re going to look at is located in the Israeli town of shift top which is actually not too far from the st. Catherine’s Monastery into comes from visiting site.
And dates to around 550, but as About to see it is quite a bit different for one thing. The image is no longer in very good shape the church. It is located in Now lies in Ruins and although the site was investigated in the 1930s, it was only in 2018 that this image was noticed. Here’s what it looks like. If you can’t see much, I don’t blame you. Let me zoom out a bit and add some light. It’s so two things stand out right away. One is that this Jesus does not have a beard. And to, he appears to have short curly hair instead of long straight hair. So although this image was created around the same time. As the previous one, it represents a very different way of depicting. Jesus one that we will see more of the further. Back in time we go a good example, is the next image. I want to show you which is over 100 years
Older and comes from the mausoleum of Galla placidia in Ravenna, Italy. Galla placidia was the daughter of Emperor. Theodosius. The first, who was the emperor that made Christianity, the official religion of the Roman Empire. This isn’t actually her Mausoleum or burial place though. Rather, it is a chapel that she had built during her lifetime. Luckily, it is very well preserved over the north entrance. This is this colorful Mosaic of Jesus, as the Good Shepherd theme that comes from the Gospel of John chapter 10. Once again, note the curly hair and lack of a beard next. I want to show you another image from the same time. Period, roughly 425. See, this is a carving from the doors of Santa. Sabina Basilica in Rome which is the headquarters of the Dominican order of Catholic Friars what makes this
Image particularly important is that it is the oldest known image of Jesus on the cross. The other two individuals being the two thieves that Jesus was traditionally said to be crucified alongside here. Jesus, once again, has a beard which goes to show that during the 5th and 6th centuries, there was still some variation when it came to how Jesus was depicted. Let’s now move from the 5th Century to the 4th Century. I eat the The 300th. See most of the images from this Century, as well as any, that are even older are located in catacombs catacombs, are underground, burial places. And in ancient Rome, there were many of these. It is often said that early Christians used these catacombs to Worship in secret for fear of being persecuted. However, generally speaking, this is not actually true. Most of the Combs were used by early Christians as well. Catacombs a place to bury the dead. But what’s useful for our purposes is that catacombs were often decorated and because they were located underground and eventually forgotten, many of the decorations survived longer than those that were located above ground. Take for example, this next image from the catacombs of comma Dilla, here, we have what’s likely the The oldest surviving image of a bearded Jesus dating to around. 375, see what’s interesting about this one thousand six hundred and fifty year old image is that it’s not too far off from the average image of Jesus. We see today, the two symbols on each side of his Halo, are an alpha and omega the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet often used by early Christians to represent.
The belief that Jesus has existed for all eternity, but take away that Halo and the two letters and we’re still left with an image. That most people today would easily identify as being Jesus. However, this is not going to be the case for the images that are even older than this one. This is because originally Jesus was always depicted without appeared and as we’re about to see. He usually just Looks like a typical Roman from the time of the Roman Empire. Take, for example, this image from the catacombs of marcellinus and Peter here we see a woman depicted as touching the edge of Jesus. Garment the story that comes from Mark chapter 5, according to the story, the woman was healed, automatically as soon as she touched Jesus is cloths. But what’s important to notice is that he is depicted
Looking very Roman short hair. No beard and look what, he’s wearing a tunic with stripes over the shoulders. Something that in Roman society was very common and indicated a person of authority. He’s also wearing a mantle on top of his tunic, which take note is different from a toga. The mantle was actually the more common garment at the time. It was basically just a sheet that wrapped around a person and served as a simple coat what’s notable About Jesus is mantled though, is that it has a visible tassel, which is what the woman is touching. This is likely a depiction of a seat, a ritual Fringe that Jews wear to this very day. So note that Jesus is jewishness is indicated, not by the color of his skin, or by his facial features. But by something that he is wearing, the rest of the images were going to look at, We all come from the third Century. IE the to hundreds. See this one shows Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Again, we get the short haircut with no beard combined with a simple tunic and mantle but this time he’s got a wand. Yep, that’s right. Just like Harry Potter in the Roman Empire during the third Century wands. He symbol of magic. Just like they are today and to Roman’s back then the stories of Jesus healing people and raising people from the dead understandably. Seen as being stories about magic. We’ve now come to our final, three images, third oldest image. We have of Jesus is from this sarcophagus lid, which is inscribed with the words severe. In Glendale Vivas. But note that the person shown to the left of the words is not Jesus, that’s likely an image of Severa, the woman who was buried in this particular sarcophagus in Dale, Vives means may you live with God, Jesus is over here. He’s of course, the baby being held by his mother, Mary standing behind them is presumably Joseph. And in front of them are Three wise men and the Star of Bethlehem. So yeah, image number three is basically a Christmas image moving on to number two, which is this image that comes from the catacomb of callixtus and dates to around 250. See here, Jesus is once again depicted as being the Good Shepherd. And this time he’s wearing a short tunic, the kind a Shepherd at that time. Would have worn note that he also looks quite young. As he most likely would have been considering that he died in his early 30s. You should also note that seeing a religious figure with a lamb or goat around his neck was not something that ancient Greeks and Romans would have found all this work. In fact, they were quite Century as it was commonly used in depictions of the God, Hermes or Mercury. Okay, we’ve now come to what is very likely Hood known depiction of Jesus. Unlike the last several, we looked at which were all found in Rome. This one was found in Syria in the ruins of an ancient city called dura europas. The dura europas site is located on the afraid. He’s river near what is today? The border between Syria and Iraq, but during the early 3rd century,
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Rome’s eastern, most stronghold. Luckily, for archaeologists, it was abandoned soon thereafter and never rebuilt and therefore it is a bit of a time. Capsule located at Dora. Your biscuit is the oldest church ever found as well as one of the oldest synagogues both contain artwork. So, not only does dura-europos give us the earliest known mention of Jesus. It also gives us the earliest known depiction is of many other Bible characters to such as Abraham, Moses, and David. But in this video, we are focusing on Jesus. So, without further Ado, let me reveal to you, the oldest known image, we have of Jesus. This image is based on a story that is told in all three of the synoptic gospels in which a paralyzed man is Lower down through a roof so that Jesus can heal him, which he does. So, on the left, you can see the now healed, man, carrying his bed. And on the right, you can see Jesus in his typical Roman Forum short hair. No beard, simple, tunic and mantle. Our best guess is that this image dates to around? 2:35 see. So basically we have nothing from the first Years after Jesus death? Well, not quite. There’s actually one more bonus image that I want to show you. I didn’t include it on the main list because it doesn’t actually show Jesus’s face. This is actually a piece of graffiti made by a non-Christian in order to poke fun at someone named Alex and Menos who was a Christian, the words written in Greek and scratched below the image read.
It’s a menos worships. His God detected on the left is presumably Alex and Menos and on the right is Jesus hanging on the cross. But with the head of a donkey, which was obviously meant as an insult to non-christians. At the time, it seemed absurd for anyone to worship someone that had been crucified and this graffiti expresses that sentiment, okay. So, that was a look at some of the earliest depictions of Jesus. If, you know, of any that I’ve missed, let me know in the comments. Thanks for watching.
