And are those “putti” (pagan cupids) really meant to invoke Matthew 5:18-19?
Other, more or less random, illustrations of the phenomenon of the shift from pagan to Christian Rome follow without comment.
“As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “come after me and I will make you fishers of men.”
The suovetaurilia: the sacrifice of unblemished and garlanded boar (L. suis) ram (L. ovis) and bull (L. Taurus). From the Roman Forum, now in the museum of the Senate, Rome.
Can one of these images represent the separation of sheep from the goats, but the other not? The first is the Imperial Palace in Istanbul, the second is the basilica of Ravenna.
A bas relief from the Roman amphitheatre in Trier. It shows a procession of animals, including sheep and a horse. Undated.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Mt. 25:31-32.
In this mosaic from the mausoleum of Constantina in Rome the pagan themes are not just retained, but copied…there is nothing overtly “Christian” about this image of making wine: collecting the grapes, delivering them to the presses, and crushing them. Nonetheless, the Christian would readily accept the scene as a metaphor of death and resurrection.
A line of lambs with a palm tree. It is all that remains of the Hagia Sophia, built by Arcadius, and destroyed by fire in the V* Hagia Sophia, Istanbul.
Tomb of Constantina, Rome. Photo by Dr. Ethan Gannaway
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