Late Antiquity

Christ As the Good Shepherd

Mosaic from the entrance wall of the Mausoleum of Galla in Italy

425 A.D. 

During the third and fourth centuries, a rapidly growing number of Romans rejected the pagan polytheism (belief in many gods) in favor of monotheism (the worship of a single all-powerful God). Jewish and Christian art of Late Antiquity are Roman in style and technique, but they differ in subject of religious art and architecture. Art of the Late Antiquites had subjects from both the Old and New Testament. 

Christians believed that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God, the Messiah (Savior, Christ) of the Jews prophesied in the Old Testament. His life- his miraculous birth from the womb of a virgin mother, his preaching and miracle working, his execution by the Romans and subesquent ascent to Heaven- has been the subject of countless artworks from Roman times through the present day. The primary literary sources for these representations stem from the Four Gospels of the New Testament, written by the "Four Evangelists", Saint Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

The mosaic that I absolutely loved the most was Christ as the Good Shepherd. This mosaic is the subject of the lunette right on the entrance wall of the Mausoleum of Galla. Jesus sits among his flock, haloed and robed in gold and purple. Instead of carrying a lamb on his shoulders, he sits among the flock with watchful eyes of care, worry, and love. The subjects within the mosaic occupy a carefully described landscape that extends from foreground to background beneath a blue sky. All the forms have a three-dimensional bulk and are still deeply rooted in the classical tradition. By the third century (about when this was made) artists had invented a new kind of mosaic that permitted designs more closely approximate to paintings. 

Finally I have come into alignment with the choice of deity for a selected time period. There is none higher than God the Father that resides in Heaven whom fathered and organized my spirit with a Heavenly Mother and his Glorious Son Jesus Christ the father of my soul, salvation, redemption, resurrection, and judgement. Jesus Christ continues to act as a shepherd for his people as we find it within ourselves to succor to him and his teachings, ways, and principles. Late Antiquity was the usher of great Christian Art, and how wonderful that this focus was restored on earth for the progression of Christianity.