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! ===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> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page