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iblical narrative themes and images: representation, origin, and meaning 75
musician to emphasize his piety. He is clearly a
later addition to the panel as he has been painted
on top of the red wash and the foliage from the
first stage (but see Sukenik, 1947: 62, fig. 22, who
maintains that the seated musician belongs to the
original first stage of the decoration of the later
building). Most scholars agree that this depiction
proves that by the mid-3rd century the Orpheus
figure had been adopted to portray David (Kraeling
1979: 223-225; Goodenough 1964, IX: 89-90;
Finney 1977-78: 14; Hanfmann 1980: 87). Stern
(1958: 3-4) suggests that the figure and its company,
the eagle and the lion, represent Orpheus
announcing the coming of the Messiah. Flesher
(1995: 353, using computer analysis) argues that
the musician figure in the Dura Europos reredos
is not David as Orpheus but a composite figure.
This is because only two animals, a lion and a
dove, are depicted next to the figure. Flesher
(1995: 351, 354, 366, Fig. 21) identifies a shepherd’s
crook behind David’s right shoulder, and
not an eagle as Kraeling suggests.
A debate exists among scholars concerning the
origins of the Christian image of Orpheus, and
whether it lies in a Jewish tradition where Orpheus
is identified with King David as the Messiah. Sister
Murray (1977: 25-27; 1981: 120-121) argues that
the Dura Europos lyre-player identification with
Orpheus is doubtful; an Orpheus figure did not
exist in Jewish literature or in Jewish art so it
could not have been the source of the Christian
catacomb figure. The formal sources for the iconography
were pagan renderings of Orpheus
charming the beasts. Murray concludes (1981: 63),
‘far from being merely a pagan survival in Christian
art, the Orpheus representation originated
Figure IV-13. David-Orpheus, Dura Europos wall painting.
as Christian images of rebirth and afterlife’.
Murray also suggests that the artist of the Dura
Europos synagogue might have used current clichés
for musicians and Orpheus to portray David
as psalmist (?) in that role. Stern (1958) claims
that Christian art uses the same iconography but
substitutes for it the Orpheus-Christ-Savior figure.
Finney (1977-8: 14-15) following Stern (1974)
asserts that the Orpheus image entered Christian
art through intermediate Jewish portrayals
and not through pagan images; it was a figure
accepted by Judaism, therefore taken for granted
in Christian art. Finney further maintains (1994:
188-9), ‘Orpheus [on the Cal listus catacomb
paintings] though symbol-specific, is not derived
from the Hebrew Bible and hence is not a vehicle
of Judeo-Christian meaning’, but was a popular
figure in Roman Imperial art. Early Christians
were drawn to Orpheus, as attested by early literature
inspired by apologists for the Jewish cause
in Ptolemaic Alexandria. Furthermore, Finney
thinks that the Christians may have seen a Christian
meaning in the musician image, but that it
is impossible to prove or disprove whether they
equated Christ with Orpheus. Simon (1986: 23,
26) contends that Orpheus is intended to be a
symbol—‘perhaps the divine wisdom communicating
itself to the creatures’. Kessler (Weitzmann
and Kessler 1990: 169) maintains that the Dura
musician may be a rendition of the composer of
Psalms, David. Also, there may not be any relationship
between this depiction and Christian Orphic
conventions. Goldstein (1990: 81-87) claims that
Orpheus does not represent the historical David
but is the Messiah prophesied in Isaiah 11: 1-9.