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62
painting and the mosaic pavements, several significant
variations exist. In early Christian art
Isaac is depicted in one of two poses (see proposal
by E. M. Smith 1922: 163-64): on the altar (an
Asiatic-Hellenistic type), or kneeling near Abraham
(usually the position seen on the catacombs
of Rome wall paintings (a western-Hellenistic
type). Isaac lying atop the faggots on the altar
at Dura Europos is seldom depicted in Christian
examples (Gutmann 1984b: 118; Speyart van
Woerden 1961: 222, 224, argues that it occurs
only after 340 CE: see catalog, nos. 99, 100, 103).
The altars, with their architectural renditions, 6
and the wood on the altar set as a triangle in early
Christian art, bear some similarity to the scene in
the Dura Europos synagogue painting (Kraeling
1976: pl. 51; Goodenough 1958, IX: 73).
In the Dura Europos painting and on the Beth
"Alpha mosaic pavement the Hand of God is
framed by a cloud (?). In Christian art the Hand
of God commonly reaches out of a cloud or the
sky, and is similar to that in the Dura Europos
chapter four
Figure IV-3. Binding of Isaac on catacomb paintings, sarcophagus, and lamp.
holds a sword; he stands behind a kneeling Isaac. A
ram, the Hand of God, and an altar are also shown.
scene (see Ehrenstein 1923: figs. IX.5-8, 11, 18); it
typically appears as an important symbol of God’s
intervention. In many of the Christian examples
the Hand of God appears with Abraham turning
his head towards it: on wall paintings from catacombs
in Rome, on a lamp, and on sarcophagi
(pl. IV.2c; figs. IV-3,4); a Hand of God hangs out
in the upper left of the Christian wall painting in
a 4th-century tomb chapel of the Allegorical Figures
at El Bagawat in Egypt (fig. IV-5), on glasses
from Bologna (Hachlili 1998: fig. V-6) and Trier
dated to the 4th century (Smith 1922: no. 88;
Reusch 1965: no. 56) and an ivory pyxis (Smith
1922: no. 114, Fig. 7, Reusch 1965: no. 106a);
on the glasses and the pyxis the Hand of God
is a complete forearm and hand (Hachlili 1999:
66-68, figs. 14-16).
In comparable early Christian scenes the ram
is seldom tied to a thicket, but usually stands aside
(see Ehrenstein 1923: figs. IX.2-4, 8, 11, 13-15,
18; also Gutmann 1984: 117-118).
6 The Dura altar form is similar to the altar painted in
cubiculum L of the catacomb at Via Latina (Ferrua 1991:
Fig. 113).