Dura-Europos church 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! == Paintings == The surviving [[Fresco|frescoes]] are acknowledged to be "the earliest church wall painting[s] yet discovered," and probably the oldest-known Christian paintings.{{sfn|Fine|2011}} The "[[Good Shepherd]]", the "Healing of the paralytic" and "Christ and Peter walking on the water" are considered the earliest [[depictions of Jesus]].{{sfn|Snyder|2003|pp=129-134}} A much larger fresco depicts three women approaching a large sarcophagus; this most likely depicts [[the three Marys]] visiting Christ's tomb<ref name="auto"/> or the [[Parable of the Ten Virgins]].<ref name=Klaver>{{cite journal |last1=Klaver |first1=Sanne |title=The Brides of Christ |journal=Eastern Christian Art |date=2013 |volume=9 |pages=63–78 |doi=10.2143/ECA.9.0.3044823 |url=https://www.academia.edu/13535334 |access-date=20 December 2021}}</ref> There were also frescoes of [[Adam and Eve]], and [[David and Goliath]]. The frescoes clearly followed the [[Hellenistic Jewish]] [[iconographic]] tradition but they are more crudely done than the paintings of the nearby [[Dura-Europos synagogue]].{{sfn|Snyder|2003|pp=129-134}} According to ''The Oxford History of Christian Worship'', early Christian paintings would be quite surprising for a modern viewer: <blockquote>Clearly, however, the early images have an agenda other than the simple illustration of texts. Both at Dura-Europos and in the catacombs, the visual jottings of seemingly disconnected scenes serve to answer the question: Who is our God? And, by visual analogies, they express the triumph over death, of which baptism is the beginning. Blessed be the faithful God who saved the Israelites through the waters of the sea, who saved Jonah from the belly of the whale, who saved Daniel and the three youths, who provided water in the desert! Blessed be the God who, like a shepherd, finds and rescues the lost, who heals the sick and feeds the hungry! Blessed be the God who raised Lazarus from the dead, and who lifts to eternal life all that go down into the tomb of baptism! Blessed be God who will do for us the great deeds he wrought for our ancestors!{{sfn|Wainwright|2006|p=818}}</blockquote> ===Baptistry=== [[File:Baptistery wall painting Good Shepherd and Adam and Eve.jpg|thumb|The [[Good Shepherd]], Adam and Eve]] Only the baptistry was decorated with wall paintings, which distinguished the church from the nearby Jewish synagogue that featured artwork on display throughout. Scholars hypothesize that this difference stems from Christianity's desire to promote conversion at the time, which would only happen within the baptistry and give the convert the singular experience of witnessing the artworks when they were anointed.{{sfn|Brody|Hoffman|2011|p=162}} The room's ceiling could be reconstructed using plaster fragments; it was painted in dark blue with bright stars.{{sfn|Kraeling|Welles|1967|pp=43-44}} The baptismal font was on the west side of the room, where there were a brick canopy with a vaulted ceiling and two pillars in the front. The pillars were painted dark green with black veins, probably to imitate marble. The front over the arch of the niche showed fruits in fields. The ceiling inside the niche was blue with bright stars.{{sfn|Kraeling|Welles|1967|pp=44-45}} Inside the niche was the baptismal pool. There are paintings on the back wall; the Good Shepherd was on the left{{sfn|Kraeling|Welles|1967|pp=50-57}} with a ram on his shoulders. The figure was about {{cvt|40|cm}} high. A flock of sheep was depicted in front of him, in the middle of the field and on the right. The number of sheep and rams cannot be determined today; it was probably once between thirteen and sixteen. The sheep on the far right are drinking water, although this part of the scene was in poor condition. The large number of sheep was atypical for comparable presentations. Under the Shepherd are Adam and Eve; both figures appearing to be a later addition. The whole picture was found to be poorly preserved and was found in fragments that had to be reassembled. It is uncertain whether the number of sheep had a symbolic meaning. The representation of the Good Shepherd was extremely popular in ancient times; it is always a picture of a young, beardless man in a short skirt carrying a sheep on his back.{{sfn|Peppard|2016|p=100}} === Representation of women === [[File:Baptistery wall painting Procession of women.jpg|thumb|left|Procession of women]] The main part of the east and north wall is taken up in the lower half by a single scene, which is only partially preserved. When the paintings were found on the east wall, the feet of five women walking to the left could still be seen. The scene continues on the north wall, where the remains of a painted, half-closed door are located, which was exactly opposite the room's main door and was the first to be seen when entering the room. The following part of the depiction, to the left of the door, has been completely destroyed but the depiction of two women is well preserved. The women hold torches in one hand and a vessel in the other. They are dressed in white veils and stand in front of a white, box-shaped object, believed in some interpretations to be Jesus' tomb. The representation was obviously important since it took up the main field of two walls, and its placement is significant in how the women are depicted as walking along the eastern wall such that they mimicked the procession of someone walking from the courtyard into the baptistry, which emphasized how one would walk into the baptistry and emerge reborn and purified, just as the women would as they walked towards the tomb of Christ.{{sfn|Peppard|2016|p=11}}{{sfn|Kraeling|Welles|1967|pp=190-197}}{{sfn|Brody|Hoffman|2011|p=160}} Other investigations concluded the [[Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins]] is presented here, whose story is transmitted in the Gospel according to Matthew 24:1–13.<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|25:1-13}}</ref><ref name=Klaver/>{{sfn|Peppard|2016|p=119}} Ten virgins go to their bridegroom, carrying lamps. Five of the women take enough oil. In the middle of the night, the bridegroom arrives and the virgins set up their lamps, the foolish virgins ask the others for more oil because the lights threatened to go out. The wise virgins say they should buy oil, they then go into the wedding hall, the door of which is closed behind them so virgins arriving later could not enter. The white object represents a wedding hall or a wedding tent.<ref name=Klaver/> The door to the wedding hall is on the far right on the wall, while the five foolish virgins were in front of the door on the east wall. Baptism was viewed in the Eastern Church as a kind of marriage between the baptized and Jesus, which explains the importance of the scenes. In the Eastern Church, the ten virgins were the brides of Jesus.<ref name=Klaver/> The scene told initiates they were beginning a new spiritual relationship with God.<ref>{{cite web |title=Baptistery wall painting: Procession of women |url=https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/34496 |website=artgallery.yale.edu |publisher=Yale University Ar Gallery |access-date=20 December 2021}}</ref> === Miracles of Jesus === [[File:Christ_Healing_the_Paralytic_-_Dura-Europos_circa_232.jpg|thumb|[[Healing the paralytic at Capernaum|Healing of the paralytic]]]] Above the main field of the wall with the depictions of women were several smaller scenes, only two of which had survived. The preserved scenes were about {{cvt|90|cm}} high and {{cvt|1.9|m}} wide in the lower part. In the lower third, there was a representation of water; it is possible this was an element connecting of all the scenes. [[Miracles of Jesus|Miracles performed by Jesus]] were depicted here. On the north wall, there were three figures. Standing in the middle and above the others was a man, probably Jesus. Below Jesus, on the right side was a man lying on a bed. On the left was a depiction of a man walking away carrying a bed on his shoulders, which researchers agreed was a depiction of the story of the healing of a paralyzed man told in Mark 2:1–12,<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|2:1-12}}</ref> although there are other opinions on the interpretation of the scene.{{sfn|Kraeling|Welles|1967|pp=57-61}} [[File:Baptistery wall painting Christ Walking on Water.jpg|thumb|left|Wall painting from the Baptistery: [[Jesus walking on water|Christ and Peter walking on the water]]]] To the right of it, another scene shows two men walking on water, not a depiction of the story in which [[Jesus walks on water]] (a solo walk), which is told in Mark 6:45–61<ref>{{Bibleverse|Mark|6:45-61}}</ref> and in Matthew 14:22–34.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Matthew|14:22–34}}</ref> The scene was only partially preserved because the wall was torn down. In the background, there is a large ship with the apostles on board, who watch the two men. Five figures had been preserved:{{sfn|Kraeling|Welles|1967|pp=61-65}} <blockquote>Christ encourages his apostle Peter to walk over a stormy sea as a ship carrying other apostles sails in the background. The image told viewers that, just as Christ saved Peter from drowning in the waters of Galilee, he would save baptized Christian souls through his death and resurrection.<ref>{{cite web |title=Baptistery wall painting: Christ Walking on Water |url=https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/34499 |website=artgallery.yale.edu |publisher=Yale University Art Gallery |access-date=20 December 2021}}</ref></blockquote> === Woman at the fountain and garden === [[File:Yale 1932.1204.2.jpg|thumb|The [[Samaritan woman at the well]], or possibly [[Saint Mary]]<ref>{{cite web |url= https://news.yale.edu/2016/02/12/yale-art-gallery-painting-might-be-oldest-known-image-virgin-mary |title= Yale Art Gallery painting might be oldest known image of the Virgin Mary |date= 12 February 2016|website= Yale News|access-date= 3 September 2021}}</ref>]] The south wall had two doors and a niche, limiting the space available for paintings. Near the main niche, there was a figure of a woman standing by a fountain. She turns to the left and wears a long robe with a rosette on her chest. In front of her is a well, into which she lowers two ropes. Two lines can be seen on their backs that come from heaven. In older literature, the woman was interpreted as the [[Samaritan woman at the well]] and sometimes also as [[Rebekah]].{{sfn|Kraeling|Welles|1967|pp=186-188}} Recent considerations, however, make it more likely the painting depicts [[Virgin Mary]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Serra |first1=Dominic E. |title=The baptistery at Dura-Europos: the wall paintings in the context of Syrian baptismal theology |journal=Ephemerides Liturgicae |date=2006 |volume=120 |issue=1 |pages=67 |url=https://ixtheo.de/Record/1644857650 |language=English |issn=0340-7446}}</ref> If the identification as the Virgin Mary is correct, it is the oldest image of Mary known to date.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Peppard |first1=Michael |title=Opinion {{!}} Is This the Oldest Image of the Virgin Mary? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/opinion/sunday/is-this-the-oldest-image-of-the-virgin-mary.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=4 December 2022 |date=30 January 2016a}}</ref> Above the woman, on the upper part of the wall next to the canopy, was a painting of a garden. This scene remains only in descriptions and a technically poor photograph.{{sfn|Kraeling|Welles|1967|pp=65-66}} === David and Goliath === On the south wall under a niche between the two doors was a depiction of [[David and Goliath]], to which as the inscriptions on the figures clearly attest. This depiction was in a poor condition. Above the scene was a Greek inscription: {{lang|grc|"τὸν Χ(ριστὸ)ν Ἰ(ησοῦ)ν ὑμεῖν. Μν[ή]σκεσθε [...Πρ]όκλου"}} ("Christ Jesus (be) with you, remember [Pr]oklos"). It is unclear whether the inscription is connected to a foundation on the part of the mentioned Proclus or whether it was affixed in his memory after his death.<ref>For the inscription, see {{harv|Peppard|2016|p=68}}; {{harv|White|1997|pp=131f.}}</ref> David stands on the right and hits Goliath. In the image, David was depicted as a Roman soldier and Goliath wore the costume of a Persian, who were the Romans' contemporaneous enemies. The depiction of David in a baptistry is unusual but to the Eastern Church, David was the prototype of an anointed man, having been anointed in the Bible by Samuel prior to his battle with Goliath, ensuring his victory.{{sfn|Brody|Hoffman|2011|p=161}} [[Anointing]]s also took place in the baptistry, whereby baptism was also viewed as a kind of anointing.{{sfn|Peppard|2016|pp=48-85}} [[File:Baptistery wall painting David and Goliath (with Inscription).jpg|thumb|center|upright=1.7|Baptistry wall painting: David and Goliath (with inscription)]] 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! 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