The three women stretched on the ground are embracing the feet of the resurrected Christ who is flanked by the two disciples on the road to Emmaus
Middle of the upper register of the Sarcophagus of Jonah: Three bearded men stand above two beardless persons, stretching their arms around the feet of the central man (Jesus).
>I am calling this scene "Resurrected Christ" in light of the strong arguments Fuchs (56-69) presents for judging it a conflation of the Emmaus episode in Luke 24:13-35 and the women's encounter with the resurrected Jesus in Matthew 28:8-10 and Luke 24:1-12. This would be one of the first, if not the first image in Christian art of the resurrected Christ. The key to Fuchs's interpretation is that the persons stretched on the ground and embracing the feet of the central character are dressed and coiffed as women. The only place in scripture where women embrace feet is on the day of the Resurrection, when Jesus meets Mary Magdalene and another Mary, "saying: All hail. But they came up and took hold of his feet, and adored him" (Matthew 28:9).
Luke says there were three women and they "bowed down their countenance towards the ground." (There is a third head in the scene, with a female coif, just to the left of Jesus' right ankle.) Then Luke proceeds immediately to the episode of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, who are probably the men shown here on either side of Jesus.<
The Sarcophagus of Jonah
Rome Vatican Museo Pio Cristiano, inventory 31448 -
Jonah Sarcophagus about 275 CE
Source:
christian iconography
The three women stretched on the ground are embracing the feet of the resurrected Christ who is flanked by the two disciples on the road to Emmaus
Middle of the upper register of the Sarcophagus of Jonah: Three bearded men stand above two beardless persons, stretching their arms around the feet of the central man (Jesus).
>I am calling this scene "Resurrected Christ" in light of the strong arguments Fuchs (56-69) presents for judging it a conflation of the Emmaus episode in Luke 24:13-35 and the women's encounter with the resurrected Jesus in Matthew 28:8-10 and Luke 24:1-12. This would be one of the first, if not the first image in Christian art of the resurrected Christ. The key to Fuchs's interpretation is that the persons stretched on the ground and embracing the feet of the central character are dressed and coiffed as women. The only place in scripture where women embrace feet is on the day of the Resurrection, when Jesus meets Mary Magdalene and another Mary, "saying: All hail. But they came up and took hold of his feet, and adored him" (Matthew 28:9).
Luke says there were three women and they "bowed down their countenance towards the ground." (There is a third head in the scene, with a female coif, just to the left of Jesus' right ankle.) Then Luke proceeds immediately to the episode of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, who are probably the men shown here on either side of Jesus.<
The Sarcophagus of Jonah
Rome Vatican Museo Pio Cristiano, inventory 31448 -
Jonah Sarcophagus about 275 CE
Source:
christian iconography