The Impact of Jerusalemite Traditions on Early Christian Roman Art

This chapter discusses visual initiatives in fourth-century Rome that responded to contemporary narratives emerging from Palestine. It argues that the Roman scene of the Adoration of the Elevated Christogram by Peter and Paul was composed in the wake of the accounts published by Cyril of Jerusalem, highlighting the prominence of Jerusalem as the home of the Cross. The chapter will show that new composition developed in three visual stages: the appearance of the elevated Christogram at the center of the so-called Passion sarcophagi; the appearance of the more representative composition, the Adoration of the Elevated Christogram by Peter and Paul; and the combined appearance of the Adoratio group with the Crossing of the Red Sea. The chapter will then highlight a group of Roman sarcophagi, the so-called Bethesda sarcophagi that feature biblical scenes connected with specific sites in Jerusalem and the Galilee.