CHRIST AS ORPHEUS IN EARLY CHRISTIAN ART

CHRIST AS ORPHEUS IN EARLY CHRISTIAN ART

Catacomb of Domitilla:

http://courses.drew.edu/CHIST-202-001/catacomb.htm, Images from Christian burial places (mostly pre-Constantine):

CATACOMB OF DOMITILLA: Christ as Orpheus:

http://libsrv.skidmore.edu/REDSKID/full/64960.jpg (via http://libsrv.skidmore.edu/REDSKID/VFPCGI.EXE?IDCFile=/REDSKID/PAGE.IDC,DATABASE=220orph,CURRENT=1,RECORDMAX=50), Lucy Scribner Library: Visual Resources Collections:

Site:		Rome.
Date:		3rd c.
Creator:
Title:		Catacomb of Domitilla (SS. Nereus & Achilleus). Orpheus - Christ w. Animals.

Early Christian Art: AD 200-395: From the Rise of Christianity to the Death of Theodosius, André Grabar, 1968, p. 89, “2. Christian Painting and Sculpture before the Peace of the Church (before AD 313) | 84. Rome, Catacomb of Domitilla. Orpheus-Christ with Animals, detail”:

P. 319, “List of Illustrations”:

http://www.arches.uga.edu/~fvankeur/ARHI4030StudyGuide.html, The Classical Tradition, Dr. Frances Van Keuren, “Medieval Art, 330-1400 A.D.”:

Early Christian painting from catacomb (of Domitilla), Rome, showing Orpheus-like Christ sitting on a rock and holding a syrinx (panpipe); on the left, a ram and two ewes.

http://www.visart.uga.edu/courses/arhi4030/slides/medieval/ear-x-cat-ptg-x.html:

Early Christian painting from catacomb (of Domitilla), Rome, showing Orpheus-like Christ sitting on a rock and holding a syrinx (panpipe); on the left, a ram and two ewes

http://altreligion.about.com/library/graphics/bl_savior13.htm, Savior/Madonna Gallery One, “Orphes-Jesus, the Good Shepherd”:

Art: A History of Changing Style, Cornell, 1983, p. 44, “Art in the Catacombs”:

Pp. 46-47, illustration 47:

http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~hart205/Lectures/lecture21.htm (Rice University), Early Christian Death and Salvation:

Representations of Christ:
1. Christ as Good Shepherd, 3rd century, Cleveland Museum of Art;
2. Christ-Orpheus, 3rd century, Catacomb of Domitilla, Rome;
3. Christ Enthroned (as Philosopher), c. 350, Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome;
4. Christ as Helios--sun God (mosaic), Mausoleum of the Julii, Rome, 250-275.

http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~huma103/dis2.html (Rice University), Introduction to Medieval Civilization: Discussion2: Early Christian Images, “Early Christian Imagery before Constantine”:

Representations of Christ:

Christ as Good Shepherd, 3rd century, Cleveland Museum of Art

Sarcophagus of the Good Shepherd, Rome, 4th century

Christ-Orpheus, 3rd century, Catacomb of Domitilla, Rome

Christ Enthroned (as Philosopher or teacher), c. 350, Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome

http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~huma103/dis2II.html (Rice University), “Christ-Orpheus”:

http://www.catacombsociety.org/vom/151.html, Vaults of Memory:

Lyrical Landscape
151. In a possible allusion to Orpheus, a shepherd tends his flock in an idyllic scene; he carries a musical instrument, a syrinx. Painted wall. Cubiculum of the Good Shepherd, catacomb of Domitilla.

Early Christian Painting, Pierre du Bourguet, 1965, pp. 15-16, “The Subjects Represented | Christ”:

Early Christian Painting, Pierre du Bourguet, 1965, figure 27:

“List of Plates | Catacomb of Domitilla”:

Early Christian Painting, Pierre du Bourguet, 1965, figure 32:

“List of Plates | Catacomb of Domitilla”:

The Social History of Art, Hauser, 1952, Vol. 1, illustration 35, plate XIII.1, “S. Domitilla Catacomb”:

http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/orpheus.html (Augusta State University) (via Christian Iconography):

http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/catacombs/orpheus.html:

http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/newStuffForXnCours/catacumbasCristianas/orpheusCubicle.html, (catacomb Domitilla):

http://www.catacombsociety.org/vom/28.html, Vaults of Memory:

A Sixteenth-Century View of the Paintings in the Catacombs
28. Documented by early catacomb investigator Alonso Chacón and interpreted by his illustrator, this watercolor serves as a precious record of a now much-damaged fresco from the catacomb of Domitilla. Figures of Moses and perhaps Micah flank a tondo encircling a bust of Jesus. In the lunette below, Orpheus, an antecedent to the Good Shepherd, is depicted charming birds and beasts with his music.

http://www.catacombsociety.org/vom/29.html, Vaults of Memory:

The Same Idyllic Scene Today
29. This recent view of the fresco shows the variations in the copy and the subsequent destruction of much of the fresco.

Early Christian Art: AD 200-395: From the Rise of Christianity to the Death of Theodosius, André Grabar, 1968, p. 88, “2. Christian Painting and Sculpture before the Peace of the Church (before AD 313) | 83. Rome, Catacomb of Domitilla. Orpheus and Animals”:

P. 319, “List of Illustrations”:

Guide to Catacomb of Domitilla; Fasola; Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology, Vatican City; English edition; 1974; p. 38; “The Cubicle of Orpheus”:

P. 39, “Fig. 19 – The cubicle of Orpheus” (enlarged):

Guide to Catacomb of Domitilla; Fasola; Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology, Vatican City; English edition; 1974; p. inside back cover; “Plan 2” (map of catacomb):

http://friarsminor.org/xvi6-2.html, Catholic History: Roman catacombs:

Another favorite type of Our Lord was Orpheus, who by his sweet music drew all creatures to hear him. The vine painted with so much freedom and grace of handling on the roof of the entrance to the cemetery of Domitilla is also, in De' Rossi's opinion. work of the first century. ("Roma Sotteranea," Northcote and Brownlow; Murray's "Handbook of Rome.")

http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~hart205/Lectures/lecture25.htm (Rice University), Introduction to the History of Art: Ravenna:

1. Christ as the Good Shepherd, lunette mosaic, north arm cf. catacomb paintings of Orpheus/Christ with animals, catacomb of Domitilla, 3rd century

Images of the Logos in Pre-Constantinian Christian Art: Their Origin and Significance; Submitted by: R.Douglas Throop, For the Degee : M.A.; Faculty of Religious Studies; Sept. 30, 1983; McGill University; (via WorldCat, microfiche), p. 58:

http://www.utoronto.ca/stmikes/courses/Christianity/catacombs7.html (5-13-02), Initiation Art: The Catacombs:

B. Christian recession of Pagan salvation images …

Cat. domitilla (3rd c.); Christ, Orpheus

The Catacombs of St. Callixtus, St. Sebastian, and Domitilla, Englefield, 1913, p. 54, “The catacomb of Domitilla”:

(Shroud):

http://members.aol.com/bjw1106/marian98.htm, Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin - 1998 Developments, “New evidence the Shroud of Turin is authentic”:

Two of these papers, one by Mr. Rex Morgan and one by Dr. and Mrs. John Jackson are specifically noteworthy. Mr. Morgan, the author of several books on the Shroud, stated that he had discovered in the Orpheus cubiculum of one of the Roman catacombs, a painting on the ceiling of the profiled image of a bearded man who he says was Jesus of Nazareth. The materials in the paint have been radiocarbon dated to the mid-first to late second century making this the earliest known image of Jesus if his research is correct. The profile looks quite similar to the characteristics so well known on the Shroud. These findings were highlighted by CNN and the BBC when they were presented.

Now if Christ as Orpheus could get as much media attention at the bogus Turin Shroud.

http://members.aol.com/turin99/confer.htm, Shroud of Turin Center: 1999 Shroud of Turin International Research Conference...an overview of developments, “Art and History...”:

Rex Morgan and Isabel Piczek described their continuing research on the Orpheus cubiculum - part of the Domitilla catacomb in Rome - with the painted Christ-like image that likely dates to the First Century based on radiocarbon dating and artistic comparisons of method and style. The image in the cubiculum is very similar to the image of the man on the Shroud of Turin.

http://www.shroud.com/pdfs/n50part1.pdf, Shroud of Turin International Research Conference 'Multidisciplinary Investigation of an Enigma' Mary Mother of the Church Abbey, Richmond, Virginia June 18-20, 1999: Report by the Editor:

Rex Morgan from Australia then gave an update on his research into the badly damaged fresco portrait of Christ in the Orpheus chamber of the Domitilla catacomb, Rome, arguing very convincingly that the location of this chamber indicates it to date from the very earliest decades of Christianity.

http://www.shroud.com/bsts4401.htm, British Society for the Turin Shroud:

This concerned Rex's passionate interest in the early profile portrait of Christ in the Orpheus Cubiculum in Rome's Catacomb of Domitilla, as copied by the Victorian artist Thomas Heaphy the Younger. In the May of this year, and with Isabel Piczek of Los Angeles acting as artistic adviser, Rex's archaeologist son Christopher, in the company of his father, made a very thorough survey of the Orpheus Cubiculum and its frescoes, a work on which Rex was able to report with very justifiable pride.

Catacombs of St. Callixtus:

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=UsIDAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22The+Life+of+Christ+as+Represented+in+Art%22+%22Frederic+William+Farrar&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=iivvMgPMGK&sig=sHrdmED1ceB8exo1Z_zIEhDwx-g&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA30,M1, The Life of Christ as Represented in Art (Google Book result), by Frederic William Farrar, 1894, p. 30, “Indirect Pagan Types”:

http://www.kean.edu/~jtuerk/images/4_Byzantine/01_EChSalvationalImagery/07.jpg (via http://www.kean.edu/~jtuerk/images/4_Byzantine/01_EChSalvationalImagery/EChSalvationalImagery_thumbs.htm), Early Christian Salvational Imagery:

Drawing reconstruction,
orpheus and biblical scenes,
3rd century, catacomb of Callixtus, Rome.

http://www.edwardcarpenter.net/ecpcc12.htm, Pagan and Christian Creeds: Chapter 12 – The Sex-Taboo:

"The Christian art of this period remained delightfully pagan. In the catacombs we see the Saviour as a beardless youth, like a young Greek god; sometimes represented, like Hermes the guardian of the flocks, bearing a ram or lamb round his neck; sometimes as Orpheus tuning his lute among the wild animals." (Footnote 1) … The Christian art of the first four centuries remained delightfully pagan. The Saviour was a beardless youth, like a young Greek god; sometimes represented, like Hermes the guardian of the flocks, bearing a ram or lamb round his neck; sometimes as Orpheus tuning his lute among the wild animals. It was not till early in the fifth century that the bearded Christ began to appear.

On a ceiling in one of the chambers of the Catacombs is a painting showing Orpheus with his lute in the centre and four Biblical subjects in surrounding panels - namely, David with his sling, Moses striking water from the rock, Daniel and the lions, and Christ raising Lazarus. David and Daniel are quite nude figures, hellenic in style; and the whole is treated in a graceful and decorative fashion.

In The masks of God volume 4 (Creative Mythology) the mythogist Joseph Campbell deals with the same subject and gives an image of the catacomb picture.

Figure 1 shows an early Christian painting from the ceiling of the Domitilla[probable error] Catacomb in Rome, third century A.D. In the central panel, where a symbol of Christ might have been expected, the legendary founder of the Orphic mysteries appears, the pagan poet Orpheus, quelling animals of the wilderness with the magic of his lyre and song. In four of the eight surrounding panels, Old and New Testament scenes can be identified: David with his sling (upper left), Daniel in the lion's den (lower right), Moses drawing water from the rock, Jesus resurrecting Lazarus. Alternating with these are four animal scenes, two exhibiting, among trees, the usual pagan sacrificial beast, the bull; two, the Old Testament ram. Toward the corners are eight sacrificed rams' heads (Christ, the sacrificed "Lamb of God"), each giving rise to a vegetal spray (the New Life), while in each of the corners Noah's dove bears the olive branch telling of the reappearance of land after the Flood. The syncretism is deliberate, uniting themes of the two traditions of which Christianity was the product, …

1. Angels' Wings, by E. Carpenter, p. 104.

http://research.yale.edu/divdl/images/hulme041.jpg (via http://research.yale.edu:8084/divdl/adhoc/objectdetail.jsp?objectid=11121), The AdHoc Image and Text Database on the History of Christianity, “Christ as Orpheus”:

A symbol from the first stages of Christianity, Christ as Orpheus was adopted from an identifiable pagan mythology. In this form, with lyre in hand, Christ is represented as the tamer of all living things, and an attractive and centrifugal force in the lives of all beings.
Bibliography:
Hulme, F. Edward. The History Principles and Practice of Symbolism in Christian Art. New York: Macmillan & Co., 1891.

The Catacombs of St. Callixtus; Baruffa; Published by L.E.V., Vatican City; 1993; p. 41; “The Symbols Near the Entrance Staircase”:

P. 50; “The Area of the Popes and of St. Cecilia” [Orpheus near the entrance]:

P. 51; “The Area of the Popes and of St. Cecilia”:

P. 89; “The Area called St. Miltiades”:

A Handbook of Roman Art, Henig, 1983, p. 110:

http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/201/300/cdn_classical/html/1997/ccb3-8.html, Classical Association of Canada / Société canadienne des études classiques, “Mythology”:

"Christ/Orpheus figure in the iconography of the Callistus catacomb"

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=1bLr6mMHwJ0C&dq=%22Manual+of+Christian+Archeology%22+%22Orazio+Marucchi%22&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=mPUw4fb7pj&sig=_7gQWuSTFIF2bIBZMl1vHWj_ERU&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA274,M1, Manual of Christian Archeology (Google Search result), by Orazio Marucchi, 1935, p. 274, “Decorative and Allegorical Paintings”:

http://www.lost-history.com/mysteries5.php, The Dionysian Mysteries, “Orphic Cults and Early Christianity”:

Christian catacomb in Rome, portraying Orpheus sitting with a lyre
in center panel with animals and trees,
Surrounding panels portray Biblical scenes dated 300s A.D.

Catacomb of Saints Marcellino and Peter:

http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/orpheus.html (Augusta State University) (via Christian Iconography):

http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/newStuffForXnCours/catacumbasCristianas/orpheusMarcellinus.html:

http://www.ldysinger.com/MONS_423/04_psalmody/01_early_church.htm:

http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/dbcourses/item?skip=1160, Art History & Archaeology Database:

Arcosolium with representation of the bard Orpheus; Catacomb of SS. Pietro e Marcellino, Rome

Die Katakombe „Santi Marcellino e Pietro“: Repertorium der Malereien (The Catacomb “Saints Marcellino and Peter”: Repertory of the Paintings), Deckers, 1987, Vol. 2, tafel (plate page) 66, “b) Nr.(number) 79 … Orpheus”:

farbtafel (color plate page) 64, “nr.(number) 79 … Orpheus”:

farbtafel (color plate page) 65, “b) Nr.(number) 79 … Orpheusszene (Orpheus scene)”:

RC Lau (catalog painting) 79:

RC Lau (catalog painting) 75:

RC Lau (catalog painting) 67, “1”:

http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/medieval/jewish.htm, Jewish Art:

Perhaps the most important of these syncretic images is the Good Shepherd. In pagan art, he was Hermes the shepherd or Orpheus among the animals, but Jews and Christians saw him as the Good Shepherd of the Twenty-third Psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack".

Good Shepherd. Orants and Story of Jonah, ceiling painting
Catacomb of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, Rome, 4th C.

tafel (plate page) 26, “b) Nr.(number) 41”:

farbtafel (color plate page) 15, “Nr.(number) 42”:

Die Katakombe „Santi Marcellino e Pietro“: Repertorium der Malereien (The Catacomb “Saints Marcellino and Peter”: Repertory of the Paintings), Deckers, 1987, Vol. 2, farbtafel (color plate page) 8, “Nr.(number) 16”:

tafel (plate page) 7, “b) Nr.(number) 14”:

RC Lau (catalog painting) 14, “1”:

Tomb of Galla Placidia

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/clas/courses/231/cl231u11.htm (Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI), Part II: Divine Myths, “5.Orphism”:

View the following slides that show the artistic influence of Orphism upon Christianity:

1. Jesus as good shepherd/Orpheus (from the tomb of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, ca. A.D. 450):

http://altreligion.about.com/library/graphics/bl_saviors.htm?once=true&, Savior/Madonna Gallery One, “Orpheus”:

“Orpheus, close up”:

Catacombs of Priscilla

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/Lanciani/LANPAC/1*.html#image23, The Transformation of Rome from a Pagan into a Christian City:

First, as to symbolic images allowed in churches and cemeteries. Of Orpheus playing on the lyre, while watching his flock, as a substitute for the Good Shepherd, there have been found in the catacombs four paintings, two reliefs on sarcophagi, one engraving on a gem. Here is the latest representation discovered, from the Catacombs of Priscilla (1888).

http://www.mediterranees.net/mythes/orphee/daremberg.html, Article Orpheus - Daremberg et Saglio (1877):

Translated from French: Very others are paintings of the second category. The figure of the hero, less personal and less alive, becomes a symbol there. In a arcosolium of the cemetery of Priscilla, Orphée has nothing any more around him but the animals symbolic systems, familiar with the Christian art: the ram, the ewe, the dog, the dove.

http://www.scalarchives.com/web/ricerca_risultati.asp?SC_LANG=eng&SC_PROV=MUS&SC_Luogo=Catacombs%20of%20Priscilla,%20Rome,%20Italy:

Title: Fresco with animals (cubiculum of Orpheus)
Location: Catacombs of Priscilla
City: Rome
Country: Italy
Period/Style: Early Christian
Genre: Fresco

http://www.siue.edu/~jzatta/is353/perpoe2.html, Dronke's Discussion of Perpetua: Section Two:

The shepherd, vast, white-haired, sitting milking sheep in the garden that lies above the ladder, is far from any early Christian iconography of the Good Shepherd. In the Santa Priscilla catacomb-paintings, contemporary with Perpetua, for instance, the Good Shepherd is presented like an Orpheus taming the animals: young and beautiful, standin g erect, garlanded.

Bobbio Pyxis (Christain gift)

Early Christian Art, W. F. Volbach, 1961, p. 28 (it is actually referring to plate 84):

Early Christian Art, W. F. Volbach, 1961, plate 84, “Bobbio, Sand Colombano. Ivory pyxis with Orpheus, end of IVth century”:

http://books.google.com/books?id=-C6wNyrxUO8C&pg=PA264&dq=%22Orpheus+and+Greek+Religion%22+%22fig.+18%22#PPA264,M1, Orpheus and Greek Religion (Google Book result), by William Keith Chambers Guthrie, L. Alderlink, 1993, p. 264, “Orphism and Christianity. Orpheus in Christian art, comparison of doctrines”:

The Origins of Christian Art, Gough, 1973, pp. 123-124, “From Constantine to Justinian”:

P. 123, illustration 108 [Dionysiac “satyr,” right of Orpheus]:

P. 209, “List of Illustrations”:

(Combination of above and below):

The Crucible of Christianity, Toynbee, 1969, pp. 302-303, illustration 4, “The Philosophy that Faith Inspired: Greek Philosophy in Philo and the Church Fathers”:

Illustration 7:

P. 362, “List and Sources of Illustrations | The philosophy that faith inspired”:

Sarcophagus of Cyriacus, Ostia:

Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph, Elsner, 1998, p. 219, illustration 145:

P. 220:

http://www.ostia-antica.org/regio2/7/7-1.htm, Regio II - Insula VII - Oratorio cristiano (II,VII,1):

To the south-east of the theatre are the scanty remains of a little Christian chapel, excavated in 1910. It must have been approximately nine metres long. Part of an apse has been preserved. The masonry (opus vittatum) has been dated to the sixth to eighth century AD. A pavement of small pieces of marble may belong to an earlier chapel, from the end of the fourth or the early fifth century AD. The chapel was built on top of Nymphaeum II,VII,7 and on streets, but at a much higher level. In this period many streets in the north part of Ostia (w. coast of Italy) had been raised with earth and rubble.

Around the chapel fragments of sarcophagi and one complete sarcophagus were found. The latter has a relief of Orpheus as Pastor Bonus (Good Shepherd), and on the lid the inscription:

HIC QVIRIACVS DORMIT IN PACE

"Here Quiriacus is sleeping in peace". Who was this Quiriacus, whose sarcophagus was within the city walls?

During the reign of Claudius II Gothicus, in 269 AD, a bishop of Ostia, Cyriacus, was executed in Ostia in prison. Seventeen converted soldiers, playing a part in the same story, were killed ad arcum ante theatrum ("near the arch in front of the Theatre"), clearly the Arch of Caracalla. The sarcophagus of Cyriacus (Quiriacus) must have been transferred to the spot of the latter executions.

The sarcophagus of Cyriacus.

http://www.mediterranees.net/mythes/orphee/daremberg.html, Article Orpheus - Daremberg et Saglio (1877):

Translated from French: It is the latter type which adopted the Christian sculptors. On a sarcophagus of Ostie (fig. 5136), Orphée, in Roman costume of time, is characterized more only by the Phrygian cap, equivalent conventional of the thrace bonnet; it plays only for one dove and a ram, moreover very attentive; the scene leaves a very mystical impression. Same characters on sarcophagi of Oporto Torres and Cacarens, on a pyxis of Brioude, a seal of Spalato.

This ready doesn’t match the above. Maybe embellished, or maybe on other side of sarcophagus. Same for below. Possibly either could be a different sarcophagus:

http://134.99.170.80/~pm/PM2/GK/Files/3_Audio/3_2_05_Dateien/_300_520.html, (translated from German) Orpheus in figurative representations:

Orpheus-Christ-Mithras as good Shepherd from Porto Torres, Sardinien, 300?

Alexander Severus (222-235 A.D.):

The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art, Mathews, 1993, p. 68:

http://www.humanunderground.com/archive/apollonius.html, Apollonius of Tyana the Nazarene:

"Another emperor, Alexander Severus, with questionable taste, set the image of Apollonius in his private chapel or solarium, among his tutelary deities, in company with Orpheus, Abraham and Christ (Though this reference has been quoted by many writers, it appears very improbable that early Roman emperors, prior to Constantine, who was the first to accept Christianity, had statues of Abraham or Christ in their chapels. This statement is obviously a Christian interpolation. [forgery] The statue of Orpheus is the only one we can believe to have existed side by side with that of Apollonius. As Eisler has shown, even in the Catacombs of the early Christians there was no representation of Jesus, while Orpheus is represented as the central object of Worship. It is probable that Orpheus was considered as the founder of the religion of which Apollonius was the apostle.)

http://www.stpetersbasilica.org/Docs/JLM/SaintPeters-2.htm, Saint Peter’s:

It was brought about by the emperor's alarm at the apparently disruptive effect the Christians were having upon the imperial authority, and by his belated attempt to revive the state religion. Alexander Severus who came to the throne in 222 had been eclectic in his tastes. He built a chapel in which to set up the images of Orpheus, Abraham, Apollonius and Christ.

http://friarsminor.org/xviii4-4.html, FROM THE AGE OF TWELVE TO THE AGE OF THIRTY: THE PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF JESUS…:

The statues of Jesus, one of which was fashioned by the "woman with the flow of blood" at Paneas (Eusebius, H. E., vii, 8), and the other which was set up along with the busts of Abraham, Orpheus, and Apollonius, in the oratory of Alexander Severna (Lampridius, Alex. Sev., 29), would, perhaps, if they still existed. be more satisfactory. But they are lost, and, moreover, we fear that the latter, which was fashioned quite late, between the years 208 and 235, would only correspond, like those of Abraham and Orpheus, to an ideal instead of representing a reality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icon_(art), Icon, “Icons in Christianity”:

The earliest written records available of Christian images treated like icons are in a pagan or Gnostic context. Alexander Severus (A.D. 222–235) kept a domestic chapel for the veneration of images of deified emperors, of portraits of his ancestors, and of Christ, Apollonius, Orpheus and Abraham (Lampridius, Life of Alexander Severus xxix.).

http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc06/htm/iii.lvii.iv.htm (Christian Classics Ethereal Library), JESUS CHRIST, PICTURES AND IMAGES OF, “II. Literary Data on the Oldest Pictures of Jesus”:

(4) The Emperor Alexander Severus had a picture of Jesus; it must have been, however, only an ideal portrait, like those of Apollonius, Abraham, Orpheus, and others, which were also included in his lararium (Lampridius, Vita Alex. Sev. xxix.).

Early Christian Art: AD 200-395: From the Rise of Christianity to the Death of Theodosius, André Grabar, 1968, p. 287, “Documents”:

The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Barbara G. Walker, 1983, pp. 745-748:

Catacomb of Vigna Randanini:

http://www.catacombsociety.org/vom/150.html, Vaults of Memory:

Heavenly Pastures

Celestial pastures in funerary art served as symbols of the kingdom of heaven. Prefigured by Orpheus of pagan mythology, David signified the Judaic shepherd and Jesus the Christian shepherd in catacomb renderings of Paradise.

The Vanished Pastoral Scene
150. On the vandalized rear wall in the Vigna Randanini catacomb, vestiges of an arboreal scene suggest Orpheus, tamer of beasts, a theme common to Christian catacombs. This 1881 view of cubiculum II in the Vigna Randanini catacomb is from a work by Théophile Roller, Les Catacombes de Rome, I, plate UV, b. (See no. 15 fro a recent view of the same.)

Viale Manzoni Hypogeum:

http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1997/119pdf/119081.pdf, MARCEL CHICOTEAU, THE “ORPHIC” TABLETS DEPICTED IN A ROMAN CATACOMB (C. 250 AD?):

Most commentators of the gnostico-Christian Viale Manzoni hypogeum pay virtually no heed to what they have called ‘the idyllic pastoral scene’, or just a ‘farm’ displayed in Chamber ‘C’1 … In a monument of syncretism such as the Viale Manzoni hypogeum, a reminiscence of orphic tenets is even more feasible than one of Homeric epic.

Fresco in the Viale Manzoni Hypogeum

http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/dbcourses/klein/large/BISCO~38.jpg (via http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/dbcourses/item?skip=1160), Fresco with Homeric scenes in the Hypogeum of the Aurelii on Viale Manzoni, Rome:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0198148542/103-4043746-4274224?v=glance&n=283155, The Orphic Poems (Hardcover) by M. L. West, “Customer Reviews”:

I have been working on my own book on Gnostic Christianity, in search of answers concerning the puzzling relationship between Orphism and early Christianity. We know, for example, that there were Orphic images painted on the walls of the Roman catacombs, one of which became a much copied image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

Jerusalem / Christian Orpheus:

http://research.yale.edu:8084/divdl/eikon/objectdetail.jsp?objectid=4874 (Yale University), Image Database for Biblical Studies, Yale Divinity School, “Jerusalem Orpheus”:

Title / Description: Jerusalem Orpheus
Location / Provenance: Istanbul, Turkey
Object Type: image - mosaic

Commentary: This is a picture of the Orpheus mosaic, discovered in Jerusalem but now residing in an Istanbul museum. Found in a chapel near the Damascus Gate, the mosaic depicts Orpheus playing an instrument and surrounded by animals and other figures. The mythological figure of Orpheus was often associated with the motif of Jesus as the Good Shepherd in early Christian art (see, for example, artwork in the Roman catacombs). This mosaic dates to the later 6th century CE. This detail of the mosaic depicts Orpheus himself with the god Pan(a Dionysian Satyr) and a centaur below him.

Bibliography:
The New Encyclopedia of Archeological Excavations in the Holy Land, vol. 2:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/clas/courses/231/orph6.jpg (via http://www.calvin.edu/academic/clas/courses/231/cl231u11.htm) (Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI), Part II: Divine Myths, “5.Orphism”:

2. Christian Orpheus (from a sepulchral oratory in Jerusalem, dating from the fifth century A.D. [when Christians controlled the city]):

Orphic Bowl:

An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mysticism and the Mystery Religions, Ferguson, 1977, p. 137, “Orphic mysteries”:

http://www.metahistory.org/KundaliniForce.php, Metahistory:

The cosmos is healed through what has been most deeply wounded, human sexuality.

The Gnostic (early Christian) Succotash: Orphic ceremonial bowl showing sixteen naked adepts, eight men and eight women, in a circle with their feet touching. ("The Sanctum of the Winged Serpent," Orphic bowl, 200-300 CE. In Joseph Campbell, Creative Mythology, p. 96.)

The Aeon Sophia, acting without a consort, plunged from the Pleroma, but it is also Sophia, now “grounded” on Earth, who connects humanity to the cosmic Source. The most direct and dynamic form of connection was effectuated in the ecstatic streaming of Kundalini during the sacred orgia. These rites were practiced to protect the circle of adepts (the Gnostic cell of sixteen mystai, shown above) from the meddlesome pranks of the Archons. High Archontic immunity (HAI?) is perhaps what we need today, facing as we do the ravages of HIV on the planet, not to mention sexual mores gone to wrack and ruin. With unusual candor, Tobias Churton asserts that Gnostics thought "intercourse is good for your spiritual development." (The Gnostics, p. 59)

For it is by a kiss that the perfected hearts, the adepts, conceive and give birth. For this reason we also kiss one another. We receive a conception of our humanity from the grace found in each other....
Spiritual love is all wine and fragrance." (The Gospel of Philip)

About the times of the Christ-Orpheus catacomb paintings. Paul ordered this Holy Kiss in Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thes. 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14.

http://www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/gnosis/purify.html, Redemptive Purification:

This "rebirth" is depicted on an Orphic bowl (dating from the 2nd or 3rd century AD). Inside around the rim, a ring of naked figures - male and female - are shown in the Sanctum of the Winged Serpent. … "Standing in the bowl of the winged serpent, we are inside that sacramental chalice, drinking with our eyes, so to say, the intoxicant, there symbolized as wine, of the mystery of the substance of our being." - Joseph Campbell, Creative Mythology

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0198148542/102-0173499-5191329?v=glance, The Orphic Poems (Hardcover), “Customer Reviews”:

M.L. West really knows his stuff, and there are many reasons why I strongly recommend this volume. I have been working on my own book on Gnostic Christianity, in search of answers concerning the puzzling relationship between Orphism and early Christianity. We know, for example, that there were Orphic images painted on the walls of the Roman catacombs, one of which became a much copied image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. In the fifth century this changed when the image on the Shroud of Turin became more widely known in Christendom.

Another puzzle is the remarkable artifact from the 3-4th centuries, usually referred to as the Ophite bowl. It was analyzed by Hans Leisegang as early as the 1930s (see The Mysteries, edited by Joseph Campbell, Bollingen). A picture of this amazing cult bowl is reproduced in The Mysteries, and also in The Grail Legend by Maries-Louis von Franz and Emma Jung. I recall how stunned I was after reading Leisegang's incisive analysis -- which proved that the bowl was Orphic in origin. Why was I stunned? Because the bowl is a virtual replica of the famous bowl-like Rose of Dante's Paradisio, which is a thoroughly Christian image.

http://www.entheomedia.org/eden4.htm, Conjuring Eden: Art and the Entheogenic Vision of Paradise:

[36] Alabaster bowl, Orphic cultic initiation, late Roman

http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=transcripts&id=59&mp=T, The Early Christian Prayer Circle:

The special object of Leisegang's study, an alabaster Orphic bowl depicting a prayer circle, bears an inscription beginning with "an invocation of the celestial force which moves the outermost sphere, encompassing all the other spheres of heaven"; ¹³⁵ the third line reads, "'…because thou movest in a circle,'" and "exhorts the readers to invoke the divine cosmic power, the sun which rules the infinite cosmic space over the heaven of fixed stars…[carrying] the reader's thoughts back to the primordial age before the birth of the cosmos."¹³⁶ For the rites in the circle "take place in the supercelestial space beyond the starry heavens."¹³⁷ Leisegang concludes that the many pagan versions of the thing "all bear witness to the mysteries, to the diverse yet always interrelated forms of the original Orphic-Dionysian cult…that extended deep into the Christian world."¹³⁸… 138. Ibid., 259.

http://www.folkekirken.dk/stifter/hadersl/kolding/harte/bog/1-03.htm:

A small alabaster bowl dated back to the 3th-5th cent.A.C. from Syria or Asia Minor[13] … [13] R.Delbrueck & W.Vollgraff: "An Orphic Bowl",JHS 54,1934,pp.129-39. H.Leisegang: "Das Mysterium der Schlange", ERANOS-Jahrbuch, 1939, pp.151-251

Dura-Europos:

The Oxford Companion to Christian Art and Architecture, 1996, p. 104, “Christ | 2. Portraits and Representations of Christ”:

Byzantine Museum, Athens:

A Picture History of Art: Western Art Through the Ages, 1979, p. 47, “Byzantine Art / Greece, Turkey and Italy”:

http://www.culture.gr/2/21/214/21404m/00/lm04m012.jpg (via http://www.culture.gr/2/21/214/21404m/e21404m1.html), Byzantine and Christian Museum:

Sculptural group showing Orpheus. Orpheus, seated on a tree trunk, is playing the lyre, with wild and tame animals forming a perforated crown around him. On the base a lion mangles an antilope. Probably a funerary stele, symbolising Christ gathering his followers. Dated in the 4th century.

Early Christian Art: AD 200-395: From the Rise of Christianity to the Death of Theodosius, André Grabar, 1968, p. 104, “2. Christian Painting and Sculpture before the Peace of the Church (before AD 313) | 101. Greece. Relief: Orpheus. Byzantine Museum, Athens”:

P. 320, “List of Illustrations”:

http://harpy.uccs.edu/greek/hellsculpt.html (University of Colorado), Hellenistic Greek Sculpture, “Orpheus and the animals (Athens, National Museum)”

Orpheus-Bacchus Amulet:

http://www.darkstar1.co.uk/ds9.html, The Celestial Cross and the Talisman of Orpheus:

The object in question is a third-century amulet, a picture of which they found “tucked away in the appendices of an old academic book.” The dating of the amulet is important, because it pre-dates the Council of Nicaea, which saw the establishment of modern Christian doctrine under the auspices of the Emperor Constantine. The amulet itself is now lost, having disappeared from the Museum of Berlin in the Second World War. However, a plaster cast still exists, showing a figure undergoing crucifixion, with accompanying Greek words. Freke and Gandy explain the implications of their find: “It shows a crucified figure which most people would immediately recognise as Jesus. Yet the Greek words name the figure ‘Orpheus Bacchus’, one of the pseudonyms of Osiris-Dionysus. To the author of the book in which we found the picture, this amulet was an anomaly. Who could it possibly have belonged to? Was it a crucified Pagan deity or some sort of Gnostic synthesis of Paganism and Christianity?”

http://www.darkstar1.co.uk/ds17.html, Nibiruan Symbols, “The Amulet”:

The second piece of evidence was the Talisman of Orpheus, a 3rd Century amulet showing the crucified form of 'Orpheus Bacchus', representing the dying and rising god Osiris-Dionysus (5). Atop this Pagan Crucifix can be found seven stars in a crescent form and an upturned crescent in their centre. This evidence lends credence to my proposal that the Early Christian cults had at their core a remarkable celestial imagery which was later eradicated by the Roman Church.

http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/jesus_similar1.html, Wilson's Almanac on gods and men with similarities to Jesus, “Gods and saviours, Page 2, Exploring their similarities to Jesus Christ”:

Orpheus crucified

Orpheus crucified, apparently on an anchor, from the cover of Freke and Gandy's book The Jesus Mysteries

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b3a47345f84.htm, Do Parts of the Gospels come from Pagan Mythology?, “Life events shared by Jesus and one other godman”:

Crucifixion & resurrection:

Now let us add in those unique items posited by Freke and Gandy. We should first note the most obvious, for it graces the cover of their work: Based on "a small picture tucked away in the appendices of an old academic book" (though what the cite is for this book, we are not told), they feature a drawing of "a third-century CE amulet" with a depiction of a crucified figure which names "Orpheus Bacchus" as the figure, another name for D. According to Freke and Gandy, this shows that "To the initiated, these were both names for essentially the same figure."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0722536763/ontarioconsultanA/002-4584638-1528856, The Jesus Mysteries (book):

http://www.tektonics.org/books/jesmystrvw.html, Book Reviews: Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy’s “The Jesus Mysteries”:

the Jesus Mysteries thesis explains it very neatly. Our thesis certainly doesn't rest on it in any way. (It is after all from the 3rd century CE if the dating is right, which we have not challenged). Our thesis is an attempt to explain a vast body of otherwise puzzling information.

http://altreligion.about.com/library/weekly/aa052902a.htm, The Mysterious dying God:

A talisman bearing the crucified likeness of Osirus-Dionysus is inscribed Orpheus/Bacchus.

http://altreligion.about.com/library/graphics/bl_saviors.htm?once=true&, Savior/Madonna Gallery One, “Bacchus crucified”:

Above, Bacchus’s name is Orpheus (ΟΡΦεος).

http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefscrucifiedbacchus.htm, Crucified Bacchus:

This unusual amulet dates from the third century. It is intended as a magical charm, and depicts a crucified figure labeled Orpheus-Bacchus. Above the figure is a crescent moon, and seven stars, the meaning of which is unknown.

http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsalexamenos.htm, Alexamenos:

This crude graffiti cartoon from the early second century, may be the oldest depiction of Christ.

http://www.world-mysteries.com/gw_dpratt3.htm, The Origins of Christianity, “Reinventing the pagan godman”:

Figure. This 3rd-century amulet shows a crucified figure whom most people would immediately recognize as Jesus. Yet the Greek words name the figure 'Orpheus Bacchus' -- one of the pseudonyms of Osiris-Dionysus.

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/archive/index.php/t-89876.html, Freke&Gandy's "Orpheus crucified" amulet?:

curious and much-discussed seal or amulet in Berlin.[16] The design on this seal (fig. 19), which is dated in the third or fourth centuries A.D., shows a crucified man. Above the cross are a crescent moon and seven starts, and across and below it is the legend ORFEOS BAKKIKOS.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/63458/974278/post.ashx, “Dionysus”:

they feature a drawing of "a third-century CE amulet" with a depiction of a crucified figure which names "Orpheus Bacchus"

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b3a47345f84.htm, Do Parts of the Gospels Come From Pagan Mythology?, “Crucifixion & resurrection”:

An ancient Greek amulet has been preserved from the 3rd century BCE. It shows a man being crucified on a Roman cross. The caption reads "Orpheus Bacchus" one of the pseudonyms of Osiris-Dionysus.

http://web2.iadfw.net/capella/aguide/greekroo.htm, The Greek roots of Christianity:

Orpheus Bacchus depicted on the cross in late Orphism (earlier stories of his death have him being torn apart by angry women).

Bacchus was another name for Dionysus who was Orpheus' alter ego in Orphism.

Pan Pipes (or Pan Flute):

Christ-Orpheus is many times depicted holding the pan pipe:

http://13moons.com/drums/images/pan_pipe.jpg:

http://homepage2.nifty.com/7m1lot/pictures/panpipe-zen.JPG

http://www.mrc.spps.org/30Sep20046.html, Musical Instrument Collection:

Pan Pipes were named after the Dionysian satyr Pan:

http://www.allwords.com/word-panpipes.html, panpipes:

Etymology: 19c: named after Pan, the Greek god of pastures, flocks and woods, who reputedly invented them.

http://www.eaudrey.com/myth/satyr.htm, Satyr:

Prone to drinking, partying and lusting after women. In Greek mythology, the god of the woods, Pan, is a satyr.

http://www.factbites.com/topics/Pan-pipes, Pan pipes:

Pan is famous for his sexual prowess, and is often depicted with an erect phallus (penis).

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/euripides/euripides.htm, Euripides: The Bacchae, 404 BC:

DIONYSUS: As long as you don't do away with
those places where the nymphs all congregate,
where Pan plays his music on his pipes.

PENTHEUS: You mention a good point. I'll use no force
to get the better of these women.
I'll conceal myself there in the pine trees.

DIONYSUS: You'll find just the sort of hiding place
a spy should find who wants to hide himself,
so he can gaze upon the Maenads.

PENTHEUS: That's good. I can picture them right now,              1180
         in the woods, going at it like rutting birds,
         clutching each other as they make sweet love.

http://www.answers.com/rutting, rut:

A condition or period of mammalian sexual activity, such as estrus. … A regular period of sexual excitement in female mammals: estrus, heat, season. See sex/asexual.

Ancient Greece: The Traditions of Greek Culture, DVD, Directed by Zinon Ramos, 1994, “Art In Ancient Greece”:

“The panpipes were used in the Dionysian ceremonies, as it was more in the Dionysian spirit.”

http://www.sheezyart.com/view/648656/, Eleusinian Dance:

Dionysus the reveling
Mad divine wino
Take us through
To the fields of Eleusis
Naked we children
Run and laugh
The God is
Among us, the
Ecstasy of insanity
Timeless and surreal
Lost in the
Hills of Arcadia
Chasing Old Goat Foot
Master of pan-pipes
We dance laughter,
The maenad%u2019s music
And Dionysus spirit
Propel us, and
Make us, the ancient
Rhythm the melody
Beyond time, make
Merry my sweet,
We shall be
Forever mad
At Play in Eleusis
In jolly old
Arcadia,
In the arms of Dionysus
And merry dance
Of Pan.
Beneath the stars
And above the sun
Through the venerable
Trees, we the
Mad ones
Run, dance, fall,
And fly.
Sky for cloak
And breath for robes
We touch the spirit
In Eleusis
Ia Dionysus
Ia Pan!

http://www.isisbooks.com/details.asp?item=MY01 (via http://www.isisbooks.com/statuary-47.asp), Pan ($50):

PAN: The Goat-footed God, divine guardian of flock and fields and symbol of Primal Maleness. A modern interpretation by Oberon Zell.

http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Pan.html (Greek Mythology Link), Pan

The Macmillan Visual Dictionary, 1992, p. 536, “MUSIC | TRADITIONAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS | panpipe”:

E.g.:

http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~huma103/dis2II.html (Rice University) (via http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~huma103/dis2.html#T16), “Christ-Orpheus”:

II. Early Christian Imagery before Constantine …

Representations of Christ: …

3. Christ-Orpheus, 3rd century, Catacomb of Domitilla, Rome

http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/catacombs/christFlock.html (Augusta State University) (via http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/goodShepherd.html), Christ as the Good Shepherd:

Pastoral scene of Christ amid his flock

This is a wall painting placed in the middle of the "Tor Marancia" staircase in the Roman catacombs.

http://www.newsound.org.yu/25/STUDIES.html, Scenes with Musical Instruments in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art:

In the art of Domitilla’s Catacombs (3^rd century) we discover Christ-Orpheus with a panpipe,

http://altreligion.about.com/library/graphics/bl_savior17.htm, Saviors and Madonnas Gallery, “Another Christ-Orpheus hybrid”:

(mirror image of below)

http://info.jpost.com/C001/Supplements/Friuli/aquileia.html (The Jerusalem Post), Aquileia - one of the most important Roman cities:

Inside the basilica there's an amazing 700 square meter mosaic floor dating from the 4th century. This is the largest intact early Christian mosaic floor in Western Europe today.

The good sheperd - detail from the 700 square meters mosaic under the Basilica in Aquliea

http://pro.corbis.com/, Search # EL005899, Detail Showing Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd with Animals from an Early Christian Floor Mosaic with Christian and Pagan Themes, Christian art, Jesus Christ:

http://pro.corbis.com/, Search # EL005898, Detail Showing Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd with Animals from an Early Christian Floor Mosaic with Christian and Pagan Themes, Christian art, Jesus Christ:

Early Christian Art: AD 200-395: From the Rise of Christianity to the Death of Theodosius, André Grabar, 1968, p. 29, “27. Aquileia, Cathedral of Bishop Theodore. The Good Shepherd”:

Early Christian Art: AD 200-395: From the Rise of Christianity to the Death of Theodosius, André Grabar, 1968, p. 259, “3. The Art of the Fourth Century | Sarcophagus Reliefs | 287. Sarcophagus of the Good Shepherd”:

P. 260, “3. The Art of the Fourth Century | Sarcophagus Reliefs | 289. Sarcophagus of the Good Shepherd, detail: Vintaging Cupids. Museo Laterano, Rome”:

http://online.elcamino.edu/art2/earlycristian.html, Early Christian Art:

Good Shepherd Sarcophagus

The shepherd image derives from such cross cultural sources as: Greek offering figures such as the archaic statue of the “Calf Bearer”, classical pastoral symbols of Orpheus who tamed the animals with the music of his lyre, as well as numerous literary metaphors from the poet Virgil, and most of all from both the Old and New Testament (John 10, Matt. 18, Psalm 23). While the believers represent the sheep, the sheep symbol also follows the model of Christ in his sacrifice. Therefore, this concept merges with the theme of the “Lamb of God”.

“Pan pipes” may also be called “reed pipes.”

Other:

http://altreligion.about.com/library/graphics/bl_savior20.htm, Savior/Madonna Gallery One, “Jesus”:

http://altreligion.about.com/library/graphics/bl_saviors.htm?once=true&, Savior/Madonna Gallery One, “Orpheus/Jesus, the Good Shepherd”:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/clas/courses/231/orph7.jpg (via http://www.calvin.edu/academic/clas/courses/231/cl231u11.htm) (Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI), Part II: Divine Myths, “5.Orphism”:

3. "Sermon on the Mount" (from a Christian tomb in Rome; note the similarity in pose between Jesus and Orpheus):

4. Orpheus as Adam in Paradise (an ivory diptych from ca. A.D. 400, possibly of Roman origin):

http://www.arsmar.com/ce_art.htm, The Catacombs of Rome, “The Art of the Catacombs”:

The statues found in the catacombs predominantly are of Jesus, represented as the Good Shepherd. The artistic model was the pagan figure of Orpheus, with the flute to his side and a lamb over his shoulder. Although the Christians did not adorn the catacombs with the miriad of statues the pagans had, they did adapt Orpheus to represent Jesus as the Good Sheperd: "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep knows me." [Gospel of John, Ch.10 ver.14 ]:

The Good Shepherd Vatican Museums

http://www.goldclipart.com/members/crestsymbols.htm, Christian Symbols: Origins and Meanings:

Pagan art (to compare to Christian art):

The Oxford History of Classical Art, Boardman, 1993, p. 315, “(illustration) 312”:

P. 316, Illustration 312-B, “Animal catalogue mosaics … ‘B’ Nea Paphos, Cyprus":

http://www.pd.astro.it/costellazioni/fotograndi/orfeo.htm (via http://www.pd.astro.it/othersites/costellazioni/costellazioni/lirapag.htm), “Orfeo e la sua Lira” (translated from Italian: Orpheus and his Lyre):

http://pro.corbis.com/, Search # RW006966, Roman Mosaic Depicting Orpheus Charming the Animals and Rural Scenes:

Mosaic broken into scenes of daily life. The Orpheus mosaic is from Leptis Magna near the palaestra.