In recent years, scholars of the New (Christian) Testament of the Bible – comprised of documents composed between 50 and 150 of the Common Era (CE) – have begun using the tools and interpretations of archaeologists in our quest for the context in which the earliest Christians lived. Since the apostle Paul (a Jew, let […]
Roman catacombs
Some Surprises from the Roman Catacombs 3: The Orante in Light of the Prehistoric Goddess
The prehistoric goddess, the Orante, and the catacombs – now we can begin to reinterpret the pervasive religious symbol of the Orante in the context of nature symbols and the “mother earth” of the Roman catacombs. First, many, if not most, of the symbols used in catacomb art were not purely decorative. Much of it held […]
Some Surprises from the Roman Catacombs 2: Traditional Interpretations of the Orante
The Orante – who was she in the context of pagan, Jewish and early Christian art, and what was she doing in the catacombs? In our last post, we noted a number of religious symbols in the catacombs that indicated a reverence for the prehistoric nature goddess. One of the symbols is the Orante or […]
Some Surprises from the Roman Catacombs 1: Religious Symbols
The ancient catacombs winding for miles beneath Rome, favorites of tourists from all over the world, provide a glimpse of religious life for several centuries of the early Christian era. In the next few posts, we will look at the catacombs from perspectives not usually considered – the symbols evocative of ancient goddess worship and […]