Where did the image of Jesus come from?

[fellowChristian]

oooh how I wish I could visit the Christian Catacombs of Rome!

Some basic facts and observations: Jesus was first represented by symbols like a lamb or fish. The earliest known image of Jesus is a fresco of the healing of the paralytic at Dura-Europos (c.230-40). Jesus first appears with a beard in the late 4th century (and then not consistently). The earliest depiction of the crucifixion is on a sarcophagus dated c.420 AD.

religionfacts.com/jesus/image_gallery.htm

Early Christian Catacombs, Rome
sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-catacombs.htm

Mass was held in the Catacombs by the faithful and the coffins of the saints were used as altars for the concecration of the Eucharist! That’s why we have relics from saints in most of our altars.

Revelation 6:9
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

 

[patrick457]

fellowChristian: that’s very interesting. As for depictions of the crucifixion, there are actually a handful more artworks – mostly made by anti-Christians or Gnostics – that depict the crucifixion before and after that ivory box dated from the 5th century AD (I’ll admit that I’ve posted many of these images often in these forums – I’m quite fond of them ):


The Alexamenos graffito, dating from somewhere around the late 1st to the late 3rd century.

http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/389/crucifixiongemtu6.png
A gem found in Syria, dating from the late 2nd-early 3rd century.

Yet another gem, with the acrostic IΧΘΥC in it


A relief from the doors of the Santa Sabina, ca. 430-35 AD, the only one in these images that are made by orthodox Christians.

 

[patrick457]

By the 6th century, there were mainly two ways to depict Jesus in the East: in the traditional manner (long hair + beard) or with short hair (which sometimes be curly), either with or without a beard.

A 6th century icon of Christ Pantocrator, located in St. Catherine’s monastery in Mt. Sinai.


A coin from the 2nd reign of Emperor Justinian II (669-711; reigned 685-695, 705-711). Note the similarity to the above icon.

However, by the later 6th century and after, icons of Christ in the traditional manner (long hair + beard), each with notable similar traits to the other (aka the Vignon Markings), suddenly became dominant – though not without exceptions, particularly in the western Church. Some connect this with the rediscovery of a cloth bearing an image of Jesus above a gate in the city walls of Edessa, Syria during 525 AD (the Image of Edessa).