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iblical narrative themes and images: representation, origin, and meaning 63
Figure IV-4. Binding of Isaac on catacomb paintings, sarcophagus, and glass.
Figure IV-4. Binding of Isaac on catacomb paintings, sarcophagus, and glass.
Church mosaic pavements showing sheep and
rams in front of or tied to trees are suggested
by several scholars as representing an abbreviated
form of the Binding of Isaac. The examples
include the following. A ram tied with a rope
to a tree within a round medallion is rendered
on the lower mosaic of the church at Massuh
(end of 5th century; Piccirillo 1993: 254 fig. 447).
Two rams tied to trees decorate two ends of the
western side of the font of the apse on the upper
mosaic of the Baptistry Chapel in the Cathedral
at Madaba (mid-6th century) (Piccirillo 1993: 118,
figs. 116-117). A ram pictured leaning against a
small tree appears in the semicircle behind the
altar in the presbytery of the Church of St. George
Figure IV-5. Binding of Isaac on a wall painting from El
Bagawat, Egypt.