Images of Hope: The Good Shepherd

Images of Hope: The Good Shepherd
A detail of the marble statue, "The Good Shepherd," circa 300–350, by unknown artist, at the Catacombs of Domitilla, Vatican Museums. Carole Raddato/CC BY-SA 2.0
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By the third century A.D., the Roman Empire had devolved into an amalgamation of jaded peoples, living with constant war and under endless political instability. They numbed their existential anxiety with pleasures and luxuries and explored myriad religions to try to fill the spiritual void of their age. The Roman identity had lost meaning for its many citizens flung across its vast expanse, and unbeknownst to them, the fall of the empire was looming on the horizon.

The Christian community developed during those uncertain times, aggravated by sporadic and vicious persecutions, yet it proclaimed a message of hope and light in the darkness. To embody this hope in visual form, they crafted an innovative icon: that of the Good Shepherd, an image taken from the biblical teachings of Jesus.

Carrying Our Sins

Merging Scripture with motifs that were familiar to the very sophisticated viewers in the Roman Empire, the Good Shepherd was the first successful icon of Christianity, with copies found from Britain to Spain to Syria. The most famous version was produced in Rome, however, and it is kept today in the Vatican Museums.
Elizabeth Lev
Elizabeth Lev
Author
Elizabeth Lev is an American-born art historian who teaches, lectures, and guides in Rome.
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