Good Shepherd, Jonah and orants, cubiculum ceiling, Catacomb of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus, Rome

Good Shepherd, Jonah and orants, cubiculum ceiling, Catacomb of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus, Rome

1. c. 300

2. Jonah and the Whale

   • The Old Testament prophet Jonah disobeyed God's command. In his wrath, the Lord caused a storm while Jonah was at sea.
     • Jonah asked the sailors to throw him overboard, and the storm ended. A sea dragon then swallowed Jonah.
       • God hears Jonah's prayers, and the monster spat out Jonah after three days, foretelling Christ's resurrection.
   • Christians honored Jonah as a prefiguration (prophetic forerunner) of Christ

3. "Jesus the Good Shepherd"

   • Derives from the idealistic landscape prototype presented in vignettes.
   • In Early Christian art, Christ is the youthful and loyal protector of the Christian flock who "gives his life for the sheep"
   • The sheep on Christ's shoulders is not a sacrificial offering, but symbollic of a sinner who has strayed and been rescued by Christ.

4. Orants occupy the compartments between the Jonah lunettes

   • Orants are praying figures, raising their arms in the ancient attitude of prayer.