LATE ANTIQUITY

1. LATE ANTIQUITY GARDINER CHAPTER 11-1 pp. 289-295

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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 4thcdnturies -> 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

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

8. 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 • ADAM AND EVER -> original sin -> Christ came to redeem us • SACRIFICE OF ISAAC -> Abraham is ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac -> prefigures the sacrifice of God’s only son, Jesus • 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 • 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

9. 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 Shepherd baptism of Christ

10. Scenes covering from Adam and Eve to Christ before Pilate JUNIUS BASSUS SARCOPHAGUS • Sarcophagus of JuniusBassus, 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 of the Crucifixion/Christ’s suffering and death rarely portrayed in Early Christian art

11. 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