Moses Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Cultural portrayals and references== ===Art=== [[File:'Moses' by Michelangelo JBU160.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Moses (Michelangelo)|Moses]]'', [[Horns of Moses|with horns]], by [[Michelangelo]], 1513β1515, [[San Pietro in Vincoli]], Rome]] Moses often appears in Christian art, and the Pope's private chapel, the [[Sistine Chapel]], has a [[Sistine Chapel#Southern wall|large sequence of six fresco]]s of the ''life of Moses'' on the southern wall, opposite a set with the ''[[Life of Christ in art|Life of Christ]]''. They were painted in 1481β82 by a group of mostly Florentine artists including [[Sandro Botticelli]] and [[Pietro Perugino]]. Because of an ambiguity in the Hebrew word Χ§ΦΆΧ¨ΦΆΧ (keren) meaning both horn and ray or beam, in [[Jerome]]'s [[Latin Vulgate]] translation of the Bible Moses' face is described as {{lang|la|cornutam}} ("horned") when descending from Mount Sinai with the tablets, Moses is usually shown in Western art until the Renaissance [[Horns of Moses|with small horns]], which at least served as a convenient identifying attribute.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hall |first=James |title=Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art |page=213 |year=1996 |edition=2nd |publisher=John Murray |isbn=0-7195-4147-6}}</ref> In at least some of these depictions, an antisemitic meaning is likely to have been intended,<ref>{{cite book|first1=Ruth |last1=Mellinkoff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=44DCt8_1QCAC |title=The Horned Moses in Medieval Art and Thought |series=California Studies in the History of Art |volume=14 |publisher=University of California Press |date=1970 |isbn=0520017056|pages=136β7}}</ref> for example on the [[Hereford Mappa Mundi]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Strickland |first1=Debra Higgs |title=Edward I, Exodus, and England on the Hereford World Map |journal=[[Speculum (journal)|Speculum]]|url=https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/130830/1/130830.pdf |date=2018 |volume=93 |issue=2 |doi=10.1086/696540|pages=436β7}}</ref> With the prophet [[Elijah]], he is a necessary figure in the [[Transfiguration of Jesus in Christian art]], a subject with a long history in Eastern Orthodox art. It appears in the art of the Western Church from the 10th century, and was especially popular between about 1475 and 1535.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schiller |first=Gertud |title=Iconography of Christian Art |volume=I |pages=146β152 |year=1971 |publisher=Lund Humphries |location=London |isbn=0-85331-270-2}}</ref> ====Michelangelo's statue==== {{main|Moses (Michelangelo)}} [[Michelangelo]]'s [[Moses (Michelangelo)|statue of Moses]] (1513β1515), in the Church of [[San Pietro in Vincoli]], [[Rome]], is one of the most familiar statues in the world. The horns the sculptor included on Moses' head are the result of a mistranslation of the Hebrew Bible into the Latin [[Vulgate|Vulgate Bible]] with which Michelangelo was familiar. The Hebrew word taken from ''Exodus'' means either a "horn" or an "irradiation". Experts at the [[Archaeological Institute of America]] show that the term was used when Moses "returned to his people after seeing as much of the Glory of the Lord as human eye could stand", and his face "reflected radiance".<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=MacLean |editor-first=Margaret |title=Art and Archaeology |volume=VI |publisher=Archaeological Institute of America |year=1917 |page=97}}</ref> In early [[Jewish culture#Visual arts and architecture|Jewish art]], moreover, Moses is often "shown with rays coming out of his head".<ref>{{cite book |last= Devore |first= Gary M. |title=Walking Tours of Ancient Rome: A Secular Guidebook to the Eternal City | publisher=Mercury Guides |year=2008 |page=126 |isbn= 978-0-615-19497-4}}</ref> ====Depiction on U.S. government buildings==== [[File:Moses bas-relief in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber.jpg|thumb|Sculpture in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]]]] Moses is depicted in several U.S. government buildings because of his legacy as a lawgiver. In the [[Library of Congress]] stands a large statue of Moses alongside a statue of [[Paul the Apostle]]. Moses is one of the twenty-three lawgivers depicted in [[marble]] [[bas-relief]]s in the [[United States Capitol#House Chamber|chamber]] of the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] in the [[United States Capitol]]. The plaque's overview states: "Moses (c. 1350β1250 B.C.) Hebrew prophet and lawgiver; transformed a wandering people into a nation; received the Ten Commandments."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-hill/relief-portrait-plaques-lawgivers/moses |title=Moses, Relief Portrait |publisher=Architect of the Capitol |access-date=May 5, 2022}}</ref> The other 22 figures have their profiles turned to Moses, which is the only forward-facing bas-relief.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/lawgivers/moses.cfm |title=Relief Portraits of Lawgivers: Moses |publisher=Architect of the Capitol |date=2009-02-13 |access-date=2010-03-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302060556/http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/lawgivers/moses.cfm |archive-date=2010-03-02 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Courtroom Friezes: North and South Walls: Information Sheet | publisher = Supreme Court of the United States | url = https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/north%26southwalls.pdf | access-date = 2015-09-29 | archive-date = 2010-06-01 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100601113942/http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/north%26southwalls.pdf | url-status = dead }}.</ref> Moses appears eight times in carvings that ring the [[United States Supreme Court Building|Supreme Court Great Hall]] ceiling. His face is presented along with other ancient figures such as [[Solomon]], the Greek god [[Zeus]], and the Roman goddess of wisdom, [[Minerva]]. The Supreme Court Building's east pediment depicts Moses holding two tablets. Tablets representing the Ten Commandments can be found carved in the oak courtroom doors, on the support frame of the courtroom's bronze gates, and in the library woodwork. A controversial image is one that sits directly above the [[Chief Justice of the United States]]' head. In the center of the 40-foot-long Spanish marble carving is a tablet displaying [[Roman numerals]] I through X, with some numbers partially hidden.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.christianindex.org/1087.article | title = In the Supreme Court itself, Moses and his law on display | newspaper = Religion News Service | publisher = Christian Index | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091207024525/http://www.christianindex.org/1087.article | archive-date = 2009-12-07 }}</ref> ===Literature=== * [[Sigmund Freud]], in his last book, ''[[Moses and Monotheism]]'' in 1939, postulated that Moses was an Egyptian nobleman who adhered to the [[monotheism]] of [[Akhenaten]]. Following a theory proposed by a contemporary [[Biblical criticism|biblical critic]], Freud believed that Moses was murdered in the wilderness, producing a collective sense of [[Patricide|patricidal]] guilt that has been at the heart of Judaism ever since. "Judaism had been a religion of the father, Christianity became a religion of the son", he wrote. The possible Egyptian origin of Moses and of his message has received significant scholarly attention.{{Sfn | Assmann | 1997}}{{Page needed |date=September 2015}}<ref>{{cite book | first = Y. | last = Yerushalmi | type = monograph | title = Freud's Moses}}</ref>{{full citation needed|reason=publisher? date?|date=May 2022}} Opponents of this view observe that the religion of the Torah seems different from [[Atenism]] in everything except the central feature of devotion to a single god,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.atenism.org/ |publisher= Atenism |title= Order of the Aten Temple |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060901060412/http://atenism.org/ |archive-date= 2006-09-01 }}</ref> although this has been countered by a variety of arguments, e.g. pointing out the similarities between the [[Great Hymn to the Aten|Hymn to Aten]] and [[Psalm 104]].{{Sfn | Assmann | 1997}}{{Page needed |date=September 2015}}<ref>{{cite journal |first=James E. |last=Atwell |title= An Egyptian Source for Genesis 1 |journal=[[Journal of Theological Studies]] |year=2000 |volume=51 |issue= 2 |pages= 441β77 |doi=10.1093/jts/51.2.441 }}</ref> Freud's interpretation of the historical Moses is not well accepted among [[historian]]s, and is considered [[pseudohistory]] by many.<ref>{{cite book |title=Freud and the Legacy of Moses |author-link=Richard J. Bernstein |first=Richard J. |last=Bernstein |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-521-63096-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/freudlegacyofmos00bern }}</ref>{{Page needed |date=September 2015}} * [[Thomas Mann]]'s novella ''[[The Tables of the Law]]'' (1944) is a retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt, with Moses as its main character.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ch0SyirgZDgC&q=%22The+Tables+of+the+Law+depicts%22|title=Rewriting Moses: The Narrative Eclipse of the Text|first=Brian|last=Britt|year=2004|page=28|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0-567-38116-3}}</ref> * [[W. G. Hardy]]'s novel ''All the Trumpets Sounded'' (1942) tells a fictionalized life of Moses.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/07/26/archives/moses-reconstructed-all-the-trumpets-sounded-by-wg-hardy-501-pp-new.html|title=Moses Reconstructed; All the Trumpets Sounded. By W. G. Hardy |last=Cournos |first=John |date=July 26, 1942 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2019-12-22}}</ref> *[[Orson Scott Card]]'s novel ''[[Stone Tables]]'' (1997) is a novelization of the life of Moses.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Books By Orson Scott Card β Stone Tables|url=http://www.hatrack.com/osc/books/stonetables.shtml|access-date=2021-03-23|website=Hatrack}}</ref> ===Film and television=== [[File:Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments film trailer.jpg|thumb|[[Charlton Heston]] in ''[[The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments]]'', 1956]] * Moses was portrayed by [[Theodore Roberts]] in [[Cecil B. DeMille]]'s 1923 [[silent film]] ''[[The Ten Commandments (1923 film)|The Ten Commandments]]''. Moses also appeared as the central character in the 1956 remake, also directed by DeMille and called ''[[The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments]]'', in which he was portrayed by [[Charlton Heston]], who had a noted resemblance to Michelangelo's statue. A [[The Ten Commandments (miniseries)|television remake]] was produced in 2006.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/09/AR2006040901298.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | title='The Ten Commandments': Exodus Comes to ABC | first=Tom | last=Shales | date=April 10, 2006 | accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Steven J. |title=Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics |date=1 August 2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-972048-4 |page=277 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-OHQCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA277 |language=en}}</ref> * [[Burt Lancaster]] played ''Moses'' in the 1975 television [[miniseries]] ''[[Moses the Lawgiver]]''.<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable --> * In the 1981 [[comedy film]] ''[[History of the World, Part I]]'', Moses was portrayed by [[Mel Brooks]].<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable --> *In 1995, Sir [[Ben Kingsley]] portrayed Moses in the 1995 TV film [[Moses (miniseries)|''Moses'']], produced by British and Italian production companies. * Moses appeared as the central character in the 1998 [[DreamWorks Pictures]] animated film ''[[The Prince of Egypt]]''. His speaking voice was provided by [[Val Kilmer]], with American gospel singer and tenor [[Amick Byram]] providing his singing voice. * [[Ben Kingsley]] was the narrator of the 2007 animated film ''[[The Ten Commandments (2007 film)|The Ten Commandments]]''.<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable --> * In the 2009 [[miniseries]] ''[[Battles BC]]'', Moses was portrayed by [[Cazzey Louis Cereghino]].<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable --> * In the 2013 television miniseries ''[[The Bible (miniseries)|The Bible]]'', Moses was portrayed by [[William Houston (actor)|William Houston]].<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable --> * In [[Seder-Masochism]], the 2018 animated film by [[Nina Paley]], Moses appears as one of the key characters in the reinterpretation the [[Book of Exodus]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Seder-Masochism (2018) - Plot - IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8328612/plotsummary/ |access-date=2023-12-21 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-07-14 |title=Seder-Masochism β A new animated feature from the creator of Sita Sings the Blues |url=https://sedermasochism.com/ |access-date=2023-12-21 |language=en-US}}</ref> * [[Christian Bale]] portrayed Moses in [[Ridley Scott]]'s 2014 film ''[[Exodus: Gods and Kings]]''<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable --> which portrayed Moses and [[Rameses II]] as being raised by [[Seti I]] as cousins.<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable --> * The 2016 Brazilian Biblical telenovela ''[[Os Dez Mandamentos]]'' features Brazilian actor [[Guilherme Winter]] portraying Moses. 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