Christ. Pagan heroes as well as scriptural heroes from the Old Testament, namely Moses were incorporated in Christian art to highlight the attributes of Christ. Hercules, Orpheus, and Moses served as typological images that pointed to the ultimate supremacy of Christ.
This chapter will explore the usage of figures such as Hercules, Orpheus and Moses to stress the theme of resurrection and the abilities of Christ. This chapter will also examine the predominant Christian resurrection image in the raising of Lazarus that was an omnipresent theme in Christian funerary art.
that were much more dignified than Jesus. Celsus offered some alternatives by claiming that
“if Herakles, Asklepios, and others held in honor long ago did not please you, you had Orpheus, a man, as all agree, with a divine spirit who also died a violent death himself; but perhaps he had already been chosen by others… you regard someone as a god who lived a most infamous life and died a most miserable death.”5 Moreover, Celsus suggested alternatives within the Christian tradition that would be more suitable than Jesus: “How much more suitable than him (Jesus) would Jonah have been for you with his gourd, or Daniel escaped from the beasts, or others whose stories are even more miraculous than these.”6
Origen responded to these suggestions rationally, as he pointed out that Jonah and Daniel were admirable, but they were not as heroic as Christ.7 Origen did not accept Celsus’
attack on Jesus’ divinity and instead of uplifting Jonah and Daniel as types of Christ, he stated that they were figures to be emulated in prayer, since they are examples of those whose prayers were answered.8 Jonah and Daniel, along with the Three Youths in the Fiery Furnace, became competing heroes to Celsus’ mention of Hercules and Orpheus.9 All three
5 Celsus in Origen, Against Celsus, 7.53 (Chadwick). Celsus also accuses Christians of reading and blaspheming the Sibylline Oracles. Also see William S. Babcock, “Image and Culture: An Approach to the Christianization of the Roman Empire,” in Perkins Journal, vol. 81, no. 3 (July 1988), 4-6, as he ruminates on the importance of Jonah/Endmyion and its emphasis on the fleshly resurrection.
6 Origen, Cels. 7.53 (Chadwick).
7 Origen, Cels. 7.57.
8 Origen, Exhortation to Martyrdom 5.33: “But we…shall imitate those holy youths.” Origen also mentions them again in a similar context, as well as Daniel and Jonah, as examples of those whose prayers were answered in Prayer 13.2 and 16.3.
9 The nudity of Jonah and Daniel is vexing since along with Adam, they are the few figures that are uniformly depicted nude. Their nudity may be explained due to their Greco-Roman stylistic prototypes, or it could be a reference to the ritual of baptism. See Robin M. Jensen, Understanding Early Christian Art (New York:
Routledge, 2000), 174-176. Jensen offers a similar interpretation of a nude Daniel as an image connoting resurrection, akin to Jonah. Jensen states that Daniel’s nudity can suggest baptism as well, absent any water imagery that appears in the image of Jonah. Daniel’s nudity represents the ritual nudity that took place during the rite.
subjects can be read Christologically, implying resurrection. Origen’s response to Celsus is not the only source that made the Christological use of these figures explicit. The fourth- century Apostolic Constitutions that was found in Syria, a collection of liturgical documents, mentioned Jonah, Daniel and the Three Youths as symbolizing resurrection:
Besides these arguments, we believe there is to be a resurrection also from the resurrection of our Lord. For it is He that raised Lazarus when he had been in the grave four days, and Jairus’ daughter, and the widow’s son. It is He that raised Himself by the command of the Father in the space of three days, who is the pledge of our resurrection. For says He, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ Now He that brought forth Jonah in the space of three days, alive and unhurt, from the belly of the sea monster, and the three children out of the furnace of Babylon, and Daniel out of the mouth of the lions’ does not want power to raise us up also. But if the Gentiles laugh at us, and disbelieve our Scriptures, let at least their own prophetess Sibylla oblige them to believe who says thus to them…10
The author of the Apostolic Constitutions described Jonah, Daniel, and the Three Youths as types of Christ; the very figures that early Christians used to adorn their catacomb walls. More importantly, the author cited the resurrections of Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, and the widow’s son at Nain. The text reveals the strong attention given to Christ’s
resurrections. Since the Apostolic Constitutions were found in Syria and deal mainly with Christian ritual, it is highly unlikely there is a direct correlation between the Apostolic Constitutions and the art of the Roman catacombs, however it exhibits themes and motifs early Christians obviously found compelling. The author of the Apostolic Constitutions included these incidents from scripture to emphasize the superiority of Jesus over
preexisting figures. The art of the catacombs similarly exhibits Jesus as a greater hero than any other figure, including the heroes Celsus mentioned in his polemic.
10 Apostolic Constitutions, 5.1.7 (ANF 7.440). The author of the Apostolic Constitutions not only cited the figures from scripture, but pointed the unbelievers to look at the Sibylline Oracles as well. The Oracles were the very works that Celsus believed the Christians misused (Origen, Cels 7.53), and Lactantius appropriated, see Inst.
4.18-19; 4.15, although Augustine discouraged their influence (Against Faustus 13.1-2).
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