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Dr. Schiller: AP History of Art
Early Christian and Byzantine Art:
Pagans, Christians, and Jews
Important Concepts You MUST Know About Early
Christian Art:
The Shift From ‘Realism’ to ‘Religion’
After the Fall of the Western (Roman Empire), the style of art
changed dramatically. Creating ideals proportions took a
backseat to teaching the narratives and symbolism of
Christianity.
The Parts of the Christian Churches
The terminology of the churches is used throughout the AP
Test. Know all of the terms associated with this
presentation.
Central Plan vs. Basilica Plan
Originally, there were two basic types of Christian Church plans.
Knowing these plans (and why they were designed as such) should
aid you in learning how the needs of Christianity affected these
layouts.
Background:
•Roman Empire is the dominant force during this period
•So not surprising that the art forms in first few centuries are Roman
•Christianity evolved out of Judaism - used a typology of Old Testament events
foreshadowing New Testament events
• Mirrored in other areas-*Plato's ideas about the ideal were used in Christianity.
*Also, Romans were very organized, stoic ideals including concept of
brotherhood of man – these ideas were also used in Christianity
•so in Early Christian Art there was a unification of Greek/Roman, Jewish, and
Christian beliefs.
Greco-Roman
Jewish
Christian
Early Christianity appealed to 2 types:
1. intellectuals
2. working classes (slaves) - all men
equal in eyes of God
Roman
Jewish
Christian
Christianity during the
1st, 2d and 3rd centuries CE:
•on very small scale for first few hundred years
•At first, it was a sect of Judaism that believed the Messiah
had come
•Between 150-250 CE – increased in size, became more
organized, more out in open, developing a hierarchy.
•Meanwhile, disorder in empire.
•Third Century Crisis: Emperors appointed by Senate, but
degenerated to whoever had army behind them.
Dura Europas, Syria, invaded and destroyed in 236 CE
by the Sasanian Persians
Early Christian
Jewish synagogues contained
almost no representational
sculpture because Jewish law
forbade praying to images or
idols. Decorative paintings and
mosaics were displayed on
walls to denote religious
concepts.
Synagogue Floor, from Maon, Jerusalem. c 530. STOKSTAD PLATE 7-5
Interior of the synagogue at Dura Europas,
Syria, with wall paintings of Old Testament themes, ca.
245-256. Tempera on plaster.
Gardner plate 11-1
STOKSTAD PLATE 7-3
Niche for Torah
•Jews were forbidden to make images that might be worshipped as idols
•But this prohibition against representational art was applied primarily to sculpture
in the round in early Judaism
•Jewish art during the Roman Empire combined both Near Eastern and classical
Greek and Roman elements to depict Jewish subject matter, both symbolic and
narrative
Abraham IN PACKET
detail of floor mosaic, Beth Alpha
Synagogue (The Galilee, 6th century
CE) NOTE: the hand representing
God's intervention.
Dura Europas
Wall painting NOTE:
The hand representing
God’s intervention
•Notice that even when the subject is a narrative theme, the compositions
have no action.
•The artists tell the stories through stylized features
• No haloes used in these early artworks
•The figures, which have expressionless features, tend to stand in frontal
rows
During the later Roman Empire and into its
decline, most pieces of Jewish Art were
destroyed, and the Jewish people often
faced special taxes, restrictions and even
persecution.
•Early Christians used catacombs under
streets of Rome
•not as surreptitious meeting places but
burial sites
•departure from Roman cremation.
[Around time of Hadrian, Romans began to
believe more in afterlife and switched to
sarcophagi]
•cubicula - burial chambers in a catacomb
•on walls of catacombs were shelves
(loculi) to hold the bodies of poor Christians
•paintings on walls of cubiculum
• The Catacombs of Priscilla in Rome have just reopened after years of
restoration.
• The complex is known as “regina catacumbarum” (queen of the catacombs)
because of the great number of martyrs buried inside.
• The decorations in the tombs depict many teachings of the New and Old
Testaments, especially stories of salvation.
• The Greek Chapel is particularly exceptional. It is a square chamber with
scenes depicting the Last Judgment, the prophet Isaiah and the Madonna
and Child.
Catacomb of
Priscilla.
Rome, Italy. Late
Antique Europe.
c. 200–400 C.E.
Excavated tufa
and fresco.
•This Good Shephersd fresco is on
the ceiling of the catacomb of
Priscilla
•also "good shepherd" figure in
center
Catacomb of Priscilla.
Rome, Italy. Late Antique Europe.
c. 200–400 C.E. Tempera on
plaster.
The Good Shepherd figure goes back to Archaic Greek Art
Calf Bearer
Orant figure
Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome,Italy
3th century
fresco
IN PACKET
•Has story of Jonah in lunettes around the center
•Also has an "orants" (praying figures)
•Notice the cruciform shape
other themes: fish (Christ as fisher of men) and bread (theme of multiplication of loaves
and fishes)
Early Christian symbolism (while they were still being persecuted)
•fish: ICTHYS - each letter begins a word in phrase about Jesus.
•fishermen - hesitant to represent Jesus as human because of "no
graven images" so show him as fishers of men's souls
•also show Jesus as Good Shepherd - bringing sheep back into the
fold
•Story of Jonah - salvation
•placement of Good Shepherd in circle - cosmic reference (the
Romans also used circles as a cosmic reference too)
•painted style - cruder than Roman painting:
•perhaps relaxation of standards or lower class people who were
less accomplished artists
•But not all Early Christian artists were inferior
Sculpture:
•small sculpture thought to avoid 2d commandment prohibition of
graven images
•Shows up first on early Christian sarcophagi.
•After cinerary urns of Etruscans and then Romans, sarcophagi
began to be used by Romans at the time of Hadrian, when more
people started to belief in an afterlife.
•Shift from cremation to burial.
•Most popular scenes were classical mythology - glorify dead
through analogy to legendary heroes
•Next most popular were scenes of deceased life with moral
overtones.
Sculpture:
•Remember the Battle between Romans and barbarians from the
Ludovisi battle sarcophagus?
•1st Christian sarcophagi were used images of the good shepherd, Jonah, etc.,
but within framework borrowed from the pagan Romans
•For example:
Good Shepherd Sarcophagus, from the catacomb of Praetextatus, Rome.
Late 4th c.. Marble.
•Then came the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus
•STOKSTAD PLATE 7-21
Gardner plate 11-5
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, from Rome, Italy, ca. 359. Marble. 3’ 10½” x 8’/
•Two registers, 10 panels of OLD and NEW Testament scenes…
•Christ is depicted in center with Roman themes.
•Colonnaded front divided into two rows of 10 compartments
•Early Christianity stressed divine rather than human nature of Christ.
Raising of Lazarus
and Eve
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus
from Rome, Italy
ca. 359
marble
3 ft. 10 1/2 in. x 8 ft.
Fall of Adam
Christ Enthroned
Christ Entering Jerusalem
Christianity and Architecture
•Unlike pagan temples, which were all about the exterior (in
fact, ceremonies took place outside the temple), Christianity
was the opposite and emphasized inner conversion
•So new church forms spent all their “visual capital” on
buildings' interiors
•Inside Early Christian and especially Byzantine monuments,
the solid Roman trappings of worldly power melted away to
insubstantial color, light, and air
•Common element of both basilica and central-plan church
was to dematerialize a building's structure inside.
•As an image of heaven, the church interior was intended to
be transporting.
Churches- 2 types: basilica and
central plan
Basilica-plan church
Long, rectangular hall, adapted
directly from the Roman meeting
hall
•Plain on the outside but
sparkling inside, with gold and
colored-glass mosaics, all
surfaces adorned in some ways
such as marble inlays, frescoes,
painted and carved stucco
sculpture
•Constantine started imperial Christian architecture, e.g. Old St
Peters, the greatest of the churches he built (Old St. Peter's was
torn down in 1505 to build the current domed cathedral)
•Built on the spot where people believed Peter, the first apostle and
founder of the Roman Christian church, had been buried (there is a
2nd-century memorial excavated in the Roman cemetery beneath
the church). This site is second only to the Holy Sepulcher in
Jerusalem, believed to be the site of Christ’s Resurrection.
•Peter was Rome’s first bishop and also head of the long line of
popes that extends to the present
•Old St. Peters was capable of housing 3000-4000 people at one
time and was very expensive to built
Old Saint Peter’s Basilica (restoration drawing)
Rome, Italy
ca. 320
Gardner plate 11-7 STOKSTAD PLATE 7-9
1. Nave
2. Aisles
3. Apse
4. Transept
5. Narthex
6. Atrium
Old Saint Peter’s Basilica (plan)
Rome, Italy
ca. 320
Gardner plate 11-7
basilica
•in atrium of St. peter's there were fountains for pilgrims to cleanse
selves
basilica
•as you proceed, there is a progression of architectural
experiences-•narthex
basilica
•then full amazing effect of nave
basilica
•triumphal arch separates nave from transept
basilica
•Bema is raised part of sanctuary, usually over crypt. "Bema" is
also used for the raised part of the sanctuary in Jewish
synagogues.
basilica
•Most churches had apse on east, facing Jerusalem.
basilica
•Clerestory-level of windows high up
basilica
An early Christian basilica was a temple turned inside out-*barnlike structure with solid exterior, brick wall and an
interior series of colonnades
*focus is all inside.
Santa Sabina, Rome, c422-432 CE EARLY CHRISTIAN
Santa Sabina
Rome, Italy
ca. 422-432
Gardner plate 11-8
Santa Sabina Plan
Rome, Italy
ca. 422-432
Central-plan church
•Central plan church (sometimes octagonal) - originates from round
shape like Pantheon, but could be round, octagonal or square on
the outside
•Sometimes called martyria because they originally enshrined
martyr’ relics or burial grounds
•They combine the basilica’s horizontal axis with the vertical accent
of a dome
•Frequently built on a Greek cross plan (a Greek cross has an
upright crossed in the middle by a horizontal piece of the same
length.
•For Christian church, frequently built on a Greek cross plan (with
two arms of equal length crossing under a central dome)
•Could be round, octagonal, or square outside
CENTRAL-PLAN CHURCH (East)
See Hagia Sophia,
Narthex
Naos (not
“nave”)
Apse
Central-plan
•But a central plan poses problems for liturgy, just as theater in the
round sometimes poses problems, because focus is in center
•Was originally used as a martyrium, the cover the bones of martyrs
•later mostly used for baptisteries and mausoleum
•in mausoleum you're never seen again and in baptistery the old
you is never seen again.
Chronology of early Byzantine Empire
Constantine moved his capital to Byzantium and renamed it
Constantinople.
330
Christianity becomes state religion
390
The Roman Empire split permanently after Emperor Theodosius I
into two parts:
The WESTERN EMPIRE (Roman)
The EASTERN EMPIRE (Byzantine)
395
Rome is sacked by the Visigoths.
410
last Western Roman emperor, is deposed by Germanic tribe
476
Justinian becomes Eastern Roman emperor—high mark of Byzantine
Empire
527
Justinian builds the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.
532-37
Byzantine Emperor Leo III orders all icons in the Byzantine
Empire destroyed.
726
Icons permitted again
843
Ottoman Turks capture city and change name to Istanbul
1453
Christianity and Architecture
•Unlike pagan temples, which were all about the exterior (in
fact, ceremonies took place outside the temple), Christianity
was the opposite and emphasized inner conversion
•So new church forms spent all their “visual capital” on
buildings' interiors
•Inside Byzantine monuments, the solid Roman trappings of
worldly power melted away to insubstantial color, light, and
air
•Common element of both basilica and central-plan church
was to dematerialize a building's structure inside.
•As an image of heaven, the church interior was intended to
be transporting.
Byzantium
•in east: -Byzantine empire survived. Why?
1. handled invaders better (e.g. sent Ostragoths to Italy);
2. more common culture (Greek/Persian);
3. eastern half was always center of gravity of Roman
Empire, especially in Constantinople and surrounding area
from 320 CE on.
4. Emperor de facto head of church.
Byzantium
•In some ways, the split probably really began with Emperor
Justinian (r.527-565) in 6th c. tried to reconquer west; he almost
succeeded but didn't
Map showing collapse of Western Empire and Justinian’s
reign
Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, c547.
San Vitale
Commissioned by Bishop
Ecclesius when Italy was still
under Ostrogothic rule, but
only completed after
Justinian’s conquest of
Ravenna.
Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, c547.
Church of San Vitale, Ravenna,
c547. Gardner plate 12-6
Plan of San Vitale, Ravenna, c547. Gardner
plate 12-7/Stokstad plate 7-26
Dedicated by Bishop Maximianus in 547
in honor of Saint Vitalis, who was martyred
at Ravenna in the 2nd century
Most notable is the interior…
Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, c547. Gardner
plate 12-8, sort of../Stokstad plate 7-27
San Vitale
Ravenna, Italy
526-547
San Vitale
Ravenna, Italy
526-547
Gardner plate 12-9
• Justinian and Theodora are depicted in
San Vitale
• Old Testament people on ceiling are
participating in sacrifices.
• And Christ is presenting crown of
martyrdom to S. Vitalis.
So Old Testament, New Testament and
contemporary times are all present
and participating. The imperial court
reflects theme of court of Heaven.
Mosaics
•Mosaic was known and used by Romans but mostly on
pavements, not walls
•Some of the world’s greatest art, in the form of mosaics, was
created during the 5th and 6th centuries in Turkish Byzantium
and its Italian capital, Ravenna
•Mosaics are composed of bits of colored stone (tesserae) set into
mortar
•In Christian churches, they used colored glass a lot because it
sparkled and created a shimmery surface
•Mosaics were intended to publicize the now-official Christian
creed, so their subject was generally religion with Christ shown as
teacher and all—powerful ruler
•Sumptuous grandeur, with halos spotlighting sacred figures and
shimmering gold backgrounds, characterized these works
Mosaics
•Mosaic lends itself more to pattern than illusion of volume
•Human figures were flat, stiff, and symmetrically placed, seeming
to float as if hung from pegs
•Artisans had no interest in suggesting perspective or volume
•Tall, slim human figures with almond-shaped faces, huge eyes,
and solemn expressions gazed straight ahead, without the least
hint of movement.
ROMAN MOSAICS
EARLY CHRISTIAN/BYZANTINE
MOSAICS
Used opaque marble cubes
Used reflective glass cubes
Pieces had smooth, flat finish
Surfaces left uneven so work
sparkled
Colors limited due to use of
natural stones
Glowing glass in wide range of
colors
Typically found on floor of
private homes
Found on walls & ceilings –
especially church dome and apse
Subjects were secular, like
battles, games
Subjects were religious, like
Christ as shepherd
Background represented
landscape
Background was abstract; skyblue, then gold
north wall apse mosaic, ca. 547
Gardner plate 12-10/Stokstad plate 7-29
•Emperor Justinian is flanked by Archbishop Maximianus--same idea as consular
diptych--they're there in proxy.
•This idea was the basis for development of Byzantine icon--idea that if you had a
representation of Christ or whoever, then that person was actually there.
•Emperor (and Empress in another mosaic) are presenting the vessels for Holy
Communion and are participating in mass in same way.
style is flat and abstract
Empress Theodora
South wall apse mosaic, ca.547
Gardner plate 12-11/Stokstad plate 7-30
Justinian
•codified laws since Constantine--whatever wasn't in code was
discarded
•Married prostitute Theodora and she turned out to be very capable
ruler
•Story:
--there were 2 factions in administration.
--Fighting, buildings around palace burned
--Justinian trapped.
--Didn't know if he could trust army.
--But Theodora said "do not flee" so Justinian didn't and his
army defeated the insurrection
•His general, Belasarius, defeated the Vandals in Africa (they
ceased to exist as culture)
•Justinian stabilized frontiers and built many churches.
Three Magi (or Kings)
Saint Apollinare Nuovo
Ravenna, Italy
dedicated 504
Anthemius of Tralles & Isidorus of Miletus
Hagia Sophia
Constantinople, (Istanbul), Turkey
532-537
Gardner plate 12-3/Stokstad plate 7-22
The Hagia
Sophia
merged the
vast
scale of
Roman
buildings
with an
Eastern
mystical
appearance.
--184 feet high! (41 feet higher than Pantheon)
Gardner plate 12-5/Stokstad plate 7-24
Inside: --weight disappears
--lots of glitter
--illusion of unreality.
dome seems to
hover
•dome seems to hover
Virgin (Theotokos) and Child enthroned
Apse mosaic, Hagia Sophia
867 [notice later date of mosaic]
Gardner plate 12-16
longitudinal section of
Hagia Sophia
plan of Hagia Sophia
Dome inserted into central plan church
--Earliest existing monumental use of this.
Gardner plate 12-4/Stokstad plate 7-23
•What causes that effect:
--dome on pendentives
--Dome inserted into central plan church
Gardner p.332: domes supported on pendentives or squnches
Stokstad p.272: pendentives and squinches
Large, decorated
pendentives inside the
Hagia Sophia
40 arched windows encircle the
Base of the dome, creating the
illusion that it rests on a halo of light.
This overhead radiance seems to
dissolve the walls in divine light,
Transforming the material into an
otherworldly vision
So successful was his creation, that
Justinian boasted, “Solomon, I have
vanquished thee!”
Hagia Sophia, 532-537
Istanbul, Turkey. Byzantine
pendentive
Another way to support a dome:
Squinch - Another means of effecting the transition
from a square of the plan below to the circular base of
a dome, by throwing small arches (or a series of such
arches) across the four corners of the square to create
an octagon which more closely approximates the
circular base of the dome. Diagram at bottom shows
squinches (in red) below a dome,
Gardner p.332: dome supported on squinches
EARLY CHRISTIAN/
BYZANTINE
MANUSCRIPTS
Vienna Genesis
Early 6th century,tempera, gold, silver on
purple vellum,12 1/4 x 9 1/4 in.
Gardner plate 11-19
•The Vienna Genesis
is the earliest wellpreserved painted
manuscript containing
Biblical scenes
•Pages are sumptuous—
fine calfskin dyed with rich
purple, the same dye used
to give imperial cloth its
distinctive color, and the
text is in silver ink.
Genesis chapter 24:15
Rebecca Leaves Nahor Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well
Vienna Genesis
Early 6th century
tempera, gold, silver on purple vellum
12 1/4 x 9 1/4 in.
• The Vienna Genesis represents the somewhat uneasy transition from the
scroll to the codex, from the old roll format, which favored continuous
narrative, to the new bound book, with its series of individual pictures
on separate leaves
•The Vienna Genesis still employs the continuity of a frieze in a scroll,
with 2 or more episodes of a story painted with in a single frame
•This page illustrates the story of Rebecca and Eliezer in the Book of Genesis.
•When Isaac, Abraham’s
son, was 40 years old, his
parents sent their servant
Eliezer to find a wife for him.
•Eliezer chose Rebecca
because when he stopped at
a well, she was the 1st woman
to draw water for him and his
camels.
•The page shows Rebecca at
the left, in the first episode
of the story, leaving the city
of Nahor to fetch water from
the well
•In the second episode, she gives water to Eliezer and his ten camels, while one already
laps water from the well.
•The artist painted Nahor as a walled city seen from above, while keeping some Roman
pictorial conventions:
--e.g. she walks along a colonnaded avenue of a Roman city
--a seminude female personification of a spring is the source of the well water
Everything necessary for
bare narrative is present
and nothing else
Genesis chapter 32
Vienna Genesis
Early 6th century
tempera, gold, silver on purple vellum
12 1/4 x 9 1/4 in.
Jacob travels to meet Esau
Jacob travels over the Jabbok brook
Jacob wrestles with the Angel
Jacob blessed by the Angel
Jacob’s 11 sons
ICONS
•icons were small wood-panel paintings believed to be
special vehicles to God and the saints
•The images of saints or holy persons were typically
rigid, frontal poses, often with halos and staring, wide
eyes
•Icons supposedly had magical properties--According to
legend:
--one wept
--another emitted the odor of incense
•Ardent believers carried them into battle or wore away
their faces by kissing them
icons
Earliest icons were painted with encaustic, like the Roman fayyum
portraits:
The Fayyum Mummy Portraits The dry desert air of Egypt preserved a collection of encaustic
portraits of men and women, which were originally placed over
their mummified faces on their sarcophagi; painted images of
family to save as a memorial image. These date between the first
and third centuries CE
The impact of this style of realism with an emphasis on the eyes is
clearly seen in the development of early icons, especially in the
tradition of the Egyptian Coptic Christians.
For example, Abbot Menas of
Bawit Monastery stands with
Christ in this 6th-century Coptic
icon (57x57 cm)
icons
earliest Madonna:
•from the monastery of St. Catherine at Sinai
•flanked by servant and angels like consular diptych.
Gardner plate 12-15/Stokstad plate 7-38
Virgin (Theotokos) and Child
Between Saints Theodore
and George, icon, 6th or early
7th century. Encaustic on
Wood, 2/3” x 1’ 7 3/8”
Among some of the
finest icons were images
of Virgin Mary, known as
Theotokos (bearer of
God). She was also
known as the Seat of
Wisdom, often holding a
baby Jesus in her lap.
During the iconoclasm of
the 8th century, most
icons like this were
destroyed, but a few like
this in Mount Sinai,
Egypt, survived.
How to paint icon panels:
•start out with boards
•smooth off surface
•then apply gesso (sometimes reinforced with linen)
•Underdrawing (because of frequent use of gold leaf in panel
painting you need to put a kind of reddish material under it
that gold leaf can adhere to - called vole)
•can punch holes or apply extra gesso to make it reliefed (like
having halo project out)
•then apply layers of pigment - tempera (colors mixed with
egg yolk - brilliant colors, not transparent but thick and matte
– dries quickly).
The Iconoclastic controversy
•At beginning of 8th c., Emperor Leo III became involved in the iconoclastic
controversy
•Icons were replacing holy relics as objects of devotion from 6th c. on.
•Icons believed to have been created miraculously.
•Prostration before altars - close to idol worship.
•In 726 Leo said no more icons!! He instituted an "image-breaking"
iconoclasm that said all religious images were idols and should be
destroyed.
•This created 2 problems (other than destroying icons that some
people revered and believed in):
1. undermined untaxed wealth and prestige of monasteries which had
great collections of devotional art and drew thousands of worshippers.
2. created a tension with the papacy, defended veneration of images in the
form of relics
•The issue drove a wedge between eastern and western church. It was very
serious--people were massacred over this.
•Issue was not resolved till 843, when destruction of images was
condemned as a heresy and restoration of images began
Key Terms:
Early Christian Art
apse: The semicircular recess at the end of a Christian church opposite the main entry, or
in a wall of a Roman basilica. It was here that the altar was placed.
atrium (of a church): the open courtyard in front of a Christian church.
baptistry: In Christian architecture, the building used for baptism, usually situated next to
a church.
catacombs: Subterranean networks of galleries and chambers designed as cemeteries
for the burial of the dead.
central plan church: a church in which the parts of the building radiate from a central
point.
Constantinople: former city of Byzantium, where Constantine moved the capital of the
Roman Empire
cubiculum (pl: cubicula): burial chambers in a catacomb
cruciform: cross-shaped.
gesso: Plaster mixed with a binding material and used for reliefs and as a ground for
painting.
Good Shepherd: A title of Jesus, based on a passage in the Gospel of John, where he
says, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep,” and
“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” The
metaphor of God as a shepherd is also found in the Old Testament. The Twenty-third
Psalm begins, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” and a passage in the
Book of Isaiah says that God “shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the
lambs with his arm.”
graven images: idols
Greek cross: A cross formed by two bars of equal length crossing in the middle at right
angles to each other.
Hagia Sophia: Church built in Constantinople by Justinian; later turned into mosque
and then museum.
icon: a painted, low relief or mosaic image representing a sacred figure or event in the
Byzantine, and later the Orthodox, church. Icons were venerated by the faithful
who believed them to have miraculous powers.
iconoclast: the destroyers of icons. “Iconoclasm” is the destruction of images,
especially during the iconoclastic period in the Byzantine Empire from 726-843
when there was an imperial ban on images
Iconoclastic Controversy: The Iconoclastic Controversy occurred between the
mid-8th century and the mid-9th century in the Byzantine Christian Church over
the question of whether or not Christians should continue to revere icons.
Iconophile: opposite of iconoclast—lover of icons
ICTHYS: The use of the ICTHYS symbol by early Christians appears to date from
the end of the 1st century CE. Ichthus (ΙΧΘΥΣ, Greek for fish) is an acronym,
a word formed from the first letters of several words. It stands for "Jesus
Christ, God's son, savior", in Greek. Used by early Christians as a secret
symbol.
Jonah: An Old Testament prophet who did not wish to become a prophet. So God
caused a great storm to throw him overboard from a ship; he was saved by
being swallowed by a whale that vomited him out onto dry land. Used as an
early Christian symbol of salvation.
loculi: shelf-like openings in the walls of catacombs to receive the dead.
lunette: a crescent-shaped or semicircular space
narthex: a porch or vestibule (roofed porch) of a church, generally colonnaded or
arcaded and preceding the nave.
nave: the part of a church between the chief entrance and the choir, demarcated
from the aisles by piers or columns. [A choir is the space reserved for the clergy
in the church, usually east of the transept but, in some instances, extending into
the nave.]
New Testament: the collection of the books of the Bible that were produced by the
early Christian church, comprising the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, the
Epistles, and the Revelation of St. John the Divine.
Old Testament: the collection of books comprising the sacred scripture of the
Hebrews and recording their history as the chosen people; the first half of the
Christian Bible
orants: In Early Christian art, figures represented with hands raised in prayer.
Orthodox Christianity: Eastern Orthodoxy arose as a distinct branch of
Christianity after the 11th-century "Great Schism" between Eastern and
Western Christendom. The separation was not sudden. For centuries there
had been significant religious, cultural, and political differences between the
Eastern and Western churches. Religiously, they had different views on topics
such as the use of images (icons), the nature of the Holy Spirit, and the date
on which Easter should be celebrated. Culturally, the Greek East has always
tended to be more philosophical, abstract and mystical in its thinking, whereas
the Latin West tends toward a more pragmatic and legal-minded approach.
pendentive: a concave, triangular piece of masonry (a triangular section of a
hemisphere), four of which provide the transition from a square area to the
circular base of a covering dome. Although they appear to be handing
(pendant) from the dome, they in fact support it.
prefiguration: In Early Christian art, the depiction of Old Testament persons and
events as prophetic forerunners of Christ and New Testament events.
representational art: recognizable as depicting something real in particular,
squinch: an architectural device used as a transition from a square to a polygonal
or circular base for a dome. It may be composed of lintels, corbels, or arches.
theocratic state (or theocracy): For believers, theocracy is a form of government
in which divine power governs an earthly human state, either in a personal
incarnation or, more often, via religious institutional representatives (i.e., a
church), replacing or dominating civil government
Theotokos: is the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the
Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches.
Theodora: wife of Justinian.
Theodosius: Theodosius was the last emperor of both the Eastern and Western Roman
Empire. After his death, the two parts split permanently. He is also known for making
Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire.[1]
Trinity: the Christian concept of God comprising 3 parts: God the father, God the son
(Jesus) and the Holy Spirit.
vole: a reddish substance applied under gold leaf so the gold leaf will adhere to it