Late Antiquityand Early Christianity

Mediterranean world in Late Antiquity

• Late Antiquity: 3rd and 4th centuries

• Move away from polytheism and rise of monotheistic cults (such as the cults of Mithras and Christianity)

• Persecution of Christians, particularly under Emperor Diocletian (284-305)

• Tolerance of Christianity only after 313 under Emperor Constantine

Ruins of Dura Europos

Ruins and city wall, Dura Europos

The palace and citadel of Dura Europos

Temple of Bel

Temple of Adonis (foreground) and 3rd-century synagogue (in the back by the wall)

3rd-century synagogue

Fortification of Dura’s city walls in 256 preparing for Sasanian attack

Discovery and excavation of synagogue, Dura Europos, in the 1930s

Dura Europos synagogue, with wall paints of Old Testament themes. Early 3rd century

Dura Europos synagogue:David anointed by Samuel,Early 3rd century

Fresco of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus): pursuit of Egyptian armies, parting of the Red Sea, and destruction of Egyptian armies

Fresco of Moses as a baby rescued from the bullrushes of the Nile river in Egypt

Narrative traditions in art at Dura Europos synagogue,3rd century

Church at Dura Europos

Baptistery

3rd-century Baptistry at Dura Europos

Dura Europos: 2nd-century Mithraeum,with relief showing Mithras’ ritualistic slaying of a bull

Mediterranean world in Late Antiquity

Roman CatacombsLeft: loculi carved out of the tufa rock

Right: Pagan cubiculum with an arcosolium, 3rd century

Roman Catacombs:Christian cubiculum with painted fresco ceiling showing Christ as the Shepherd, orant figures, the story of Jonah and personifications of the four winds. Catacomb of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, Rome, early 4th cent.

Detail of Christ as the Good Shepherd, Catacomb of San Callisto, early 4th century

Jonah Sarcophagus, Rome, 3rd centuryLateran museum, Vatican

Sarcophagus of Junius Basius, Rome, 359

Christ seated, from Civita Latina, ca. 350