five
The Crucifixion
figure 1  Panel with the Crucifixion, from the carved wood doors of Santa
Sabina, Rome, c. 432
A rt historians and theologians alike have
long puzzled over the rarity of depictions
of the Crucifixion in Early Christian art. The im-
age is entirely absent from the catacombs and
sarcophagi in Rome and does not become com-
mon until the Byzantine period, as in the finely
detailed illustration of the late sixth-century
Rabbula Gospels (cat. 82). Before this time, only
a few representations are known, most notably
on the carved wood panel on the doors of Santa
Sabina in Rome (fig. 1), where a bearded Christ
is crucified between the two thieves against the
backdrop of the walls of Jerusalem, and on the
ivory reliefs (the “Maskell ivories”) in the British
Museum, within a series of seven episodes drawn
from the Gospel accounts of the Passion and
Resurrection (cat. 57); both these works date
from the early part of the fifth century. The only
earlier evidence for images of the Crucifixion
is provided by some highly unconventional
engraved gems and a remarkable and enigmatic
graffito from Rome.
Scholars have sought explanations for the
absence of the Crucifixion in the social and
political matrix in which the earliest followers
of Christ found themselves: the shame associ-
ated with crucifixion as a form of execution in
the ancient world, the stigma thus attached to
worshiping a crucified deity, and fear of persecu-
tion. It has thus been suggested that the earliest
Christian image makers consciously rejected
literal depictions of the Crucifixion. Christians
certainly were criticized for revering a crucified
God, for as Paul notes, “but we preach Christ
crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to
Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23).
Charges by pagans that Christians (and
Jews) worshiped an ass-headed deity seem to
have been widespread, prompting denials from
Tertullian (Apology 16; Ad nationes 11). Such an
accusation appears to be preserved in a third-
century graffito scratched on a wall of the ser-
vants’ quarters in the Imperial Palace discovered
on the Palatine Hill in Rome in 1856. The image
portrays a male figure, his hand raised in prayer,
standing before a crucified man with the head
of an ass; the accompanying Greek inscription
reads: “Alexamenos, worship God!” (fig. 2). The
graffito has been used to support the argument
that owing to the climate of suspicion, misun-
derstanding, and persecution, Early Christians
deliberately chose not to portray the Crucifixion.1
Nevertheless, this putatively conscious
refusal to depict the Crucifixion does not seem
227
in accord with the internal focus of the early
Church, where the preaching of Christ crucified
was central. Paul made explicit references both
to the fact and soteriological importance of the
Crucifixion, attesting to concentrated reflection
on the death of Jesus from as early as the first
century; the Church Fathers often discussed the
significance of the Crucifixion without reserva-
tion. Although Old Testament figures, notably
Isaac, were interpreted as “types” prefiguring the
sacrifice of Christ and for that reason frequently
depicted in Early Christian art, the preference
for Old Testament images does not satisfactorily
explain the absence of the Crucifixion.
Especially perplexing is the omission of
the Crucifixion in certain pictorial cycles of
the Passion that were probably created in the
fourth century and later, after the conversion
of Constantine and the end of persecution. The
absence of a literal depiction on early fourth-
century Passion sarcophagi (cat. 46) can be
explained as a theological preference for the
cross surmounted by the chi-rho monogram (the
crux invicta), a unified symbol of Crucifixion and
Resurrection; it is more difficult to fathom its ex-
clusion from the Passion narratives from the late
fourth century on, such as on the ivory reliquary
chest in Brescia (fig. 9) and the early sixth-cen-
tury mosaics of the basilica of Sant’Apollinare
Nuovo in Ravenna. Alongside these omissions in
figure 2  Graffito with parody of the Crucifixion,
scratched in plaster on the wall of the Imperial  
Palace on the Palatine Hill, Rome, 3rd century.
Museo Palatino, Rome
 narrative contexts must be placed evidence that
images of the Crucifixion had already appeared.
The Palatine graffito, although executed by a
pagan hand, exhibits many of the rudimentary
visual elements that emerged in Christian art
by the fifth century and does beg speculation
regarding its own model.
The earliest surviving image of the crucified
Christ is found in an entirely unexpected place,
on an engraved magical gemstone of the late
second or early third century (cat. 55). Whether
of Christian or pagan origin, this amulet, like the
graffito from Rome, no doubt drew on a preexis-
tent pictorial source. Two other engraved gems
from the early fourth century �� — �������������
�������������
considerably
earlier in date than the Santa Sabina doors and
the Maskell ivories ��
— ���������������������������
���������������������������
are unconventional in that
they depict Christ crucified in the presence of
the twelve apostles (cat. 56), a composition in
conflict with the Gospel account and instead
conveying a dogmatic message similar to that
seen on some mid-fourth-century sarcophagi in
Rome.
It is the Maskell ivories that mark an impor-
tant step toward the fuller visual narration of the
Passion, which deviates considerably from the
pictorial custom of sarcophagi produced in the
previous century. On the ivories, the juxtaposi-
tion of the Crucifixion with two post-Resurrec-
tion events, presented side by side in detailed
figurative scenes, affirms that the two themes
should be understood as cause and effect �� — ���
an
���
interpretation that became the norm in later
Byzantine art.
The rarity of representations of the Crucifixion
in the fifth century (or even earlier) remains a
mystery, however, given the evident ability of art-
ists to depict the subject. Its use only as a sym-
bolic image on the Passion sarcophagi (cat. 46)
and its absence from the fuller narrative cycle on
the lid of the Brescia reliquary chest does seem
to indicate a genuine reluctance to include it,
despite the existence of earlier pictorial versions,
such as those on the engraved gems.
1 Di Stefano Manzella 1997, pp. 192 – 94 (Giulia
Sacco).
references: Reil 1904; Harley 2006.
—felicity harley
228 | The Christian Empire
55a
55
Magical Amulet with the nakedness as a means to denote divinity nor
Crucifixion
Eastern Mediterranean (Syria?), late 2nd – 3rd
century
Bloodstone (mottled green and red jasper)
3 3 2.5 3 0.58 cm (1 5⁄16 3 1 3 1⁄4 in.)
The Trustees of the British Museum, Department
of Prehistory and Europe, London (MME 1986.05-
01.1); from the collection of Roger Pereire, Paris
The large bloodstone intaglio preserves the
earliest extant depiction of Jesus crucified.
The style of carving, material, and inscrip-
tion are all typical of the large group of
Greco-Roman magical amulets originating
in Egypt and Syria that were used widely
in the Roman Empire during the second
and third centuries. The appearance of the
Crucifixion on such an amulet, however, is
unique.
Jesus is portrayed as a nude, bearded
man with long hair, his arms stretched out
beneath the horizontal bar (patibulum) of
the T-shaped cross and attached to it by two
short strips around his wrists. His elbows
and hands fall loosely as a result. Jesus’s
upper body is upright against the vertical
shaft of the cross, his head turned sharply
to the left. The flat, strictly frontal presenta-
tion, with the erect carriage of the head and
torso, is comparable to the crucified figure
in the Palatine graffito (“The Crucifixion,”
fig. 2), which must be roughly contemporary
with this amulet. Jesus’s legs are shown in
profile, bent at the knee and hanging open
loosely, as though he is seated on a bar or
peg. The starkness of this position, empha-
sizing Jesus’s nudity, is wholly antithetical
to the triumphal symbolism of the crucified
Christ seen in subsequent representations
in Christian art. The nudity is not used in ac-
55b
cordance with the Greco-Roman concept of
is it a strictly narrative device, referring to the
historical process of crucifixion. Here it may
be regarded as affirming Jesus’s spiritual
power, witnessed in the fact that he over-
came the brutality of the cross and thereby
defeated evil powers.
Like other magical amulets of this date,
the gem is covered with a Greek inscription
composed mainly of magical names, not all
of which are intelligible. On the obverse side,
written around the image of the Crucifix-
ion, is a nine-line inscription: ΥΙΕ / ΠΑΤΗΡ
ΙΗ / CΟΥ ΧΡΙCΤΕ / CΟΑΜ ΝωΑ / Μ ωΑωΙΑ /
CΗΙΟΥω / ΑΡΤΑΝΝΑ / ΥC ΙΟΥ / Ι . . . , which
may be interpreted as “Son, Father, Jesus
Christ,” followed by uncertain magical
names (“soam noam oa . . . ”), vowels, and
possibly the word “hung up”(?). The back of
the gem displays another nine-line inscrip-
tion, perhaps written by a different hand:  
ΙωΕ / ΕΥΑΕΥΙΙ /. . . ΝΟΥΙCΥΕ /. . . [Β]ΑΔΗΤΟΦω
/ ΘΙΕCCΕΤCΚΗ Ε / ΜΜΑΝΑΥΗΛ Α /
CΤΡΑΠΕΤΚΜΗ / Φ ΜΕΙΘωΑΡ / ΜΕΜΠΕ. The
string of words contains two names familiar
from other magical texts, Badetophoth1 and
Satraperkmeph, the latter of Egyptian deriva-
tion, meaning “Great satrap Kmeph.”2 Also
present, however, is the name Emmanuel
(Hebrew for “God is with us”), taken by
Christians to be a reference to Jesus proph-
esied in Isaiah 7:14 (cf. Matthew 1:23).
Although the Church strongly disap-
proved of magical amulets, which were
pervasive in the Greco-Roman world, some
Christians did continue to use them.3 The
image of the crucified Christ may, however,
have been employed by a pagan magician,
who borrowed what he perceived as a symbol
of great power. Even in Jesus’s lifetime,
pagans and Jews were said to use his name
for magical purposes (Mark 9:38 – 41; Luke
9:49 – 50; and especially Acts 19:13 – 17, for
the seven sons of the Jewish priest Sceva).
The Christian theologian Origen wrote,
“The name of Jesus is so powerful against
the demons that sometimes it is effective
even when pronounced by bad men” (Contra
celsum 1.6). The Crucifixion, Jesus’s triumph
over death itself, was regarded as a powerful
symbol, and at an early date the formulaic
phrase, “Jesus Christ, who was crucified
under Pontius Pilate,” was used to control
demonic forces. Peter, for example, heals
a cripple in Christ’s name and states (Acts
4:10): “Be it known to you all, and to all the
people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, by him this
man is standing before you well.”
The appearance of the Crucifixion on a
gem of such an early date suggests that pic-
tures of the subject (now lost) may have been
widespread even in the late second or early
third century, most likely in conventional
Christian contexts.
1 Known from magical papyri as the god of the
second hour; see Kotansky 1994, p. 335.
2 Brashear 1995, col. 3598.
3 For Christian magic in general, see Aune 1980.
references: Delatte and Derchain 1964, p. 287,
no. 408; Derchain 1964; Michel 2001, pp. 283 – 84,
no. 457; Spier 2007, no. 443.
—felicity harley and
jeffrey spier
56
Engraved Gem with the “Jesus Christ.”
Crucifixion
Syria(?), mid-4th century
Carnelian
1.05 3 1.35 cm (7⁄16 3 9⁄16 in.)
Said to have been found at Constanza (Romania)
The Trustees of the British Museum, Department of
Prehistory and Europe, London (MME 1895.11-13.1);
from the collection of A. W. Franks
This small carnelian intaglio, which once
served as a personal seal, is engraved with
Jesus crucified on a T-shaped cross amidst
the twelve apostles. He is nude and stands
upright on the exergual line, his body facing
frontally with his head and feet turned in
profile to the left, his arms outstretched be-
(the so-called star-and-wreath group).2 The
symbolic intent is to emphasize the triumph
of Christ over death and to recognize the  
printer to silo role of the apostles as witnesses of the true
words of Christ. �����������������������
A contemporary variant
substitutes the cross motif at the center with
a depiction of Christ presenting the law to
the assembled apostles (the traditio legis).
The survival of two gems with this un-
usual composition provides rare evidence  
for the existence of unconventional Christian
56 images with complex theological signifi-
cance at a relatively early date in the Eastern
low the patibulum of the cross. The limp fall part of the Roman Empire (Syria?).
of his elbows and the flaccidity of his hands
1 Garrucci 1876 – 81, vol. 6, p. 124, no. 15, pl. 479;
indicate that his arms are understood to be Spier 2007, no. 445.
tied to the cross at the wrists, in a manner
similar to the previous gem (cat. 55). Jesus 2 Lawrence 1932, pp. 112 – 15; Koch 2000, pp.
315 – 16.
is twice as large as the twelve diminutive
apostles who stand in two lines of six each references: C. Smith 1896 – 97; Dalton 1901, p.
beneath him; they wear close-fitting mantles 7, no. 43, pl. 1; Dalton 1915, p. 74, no. 544, pl. 17;
Reil 1904, pp. 57 – 58, pl. 1, 2; Derchain 1964, p. 110;
(pallia) summarily indicated by diagonal cuts
Spier 2007, no. 444.
across their bodies. Above Jesus’s head is
engraved the acrostic ΙΧΘΥC, ichthys, mean-
ing “fish” and signifying “Jesus Christ, Son
of God, Savior.”
A similar composition appears on a
second gem, which survives only as a plaster
impression (fig. 1).1 There, the naked
crucified Jesus is nimbate and his arms
are outstretched rigidly (as on the Maskell
ivory, cat. 57). There is little differentiation
in scale between Jesus and the apostles;
instead, Jesus stands on what appears to be figure 1  Plaster cast of an engraved gem with the
a column and is raised high above them. The Crucifixion, 4th century, formerly in the collection
two apostles at the head of each group touch of G. F. Nott in the early 19th century. German
Archaeological Institute, Rome
the cross, and at least two others within the
procession extend their right arms in the an-
cient gesture of acclamation. A lamb stands
below, and across the composition is writ-
ten, in oddly spelled Greek, ehco xpectoc,
—felicity harley
The presence of the twelve apostles at  
the Crucifixion does not accord with the 57
canonical Gospel accounts (Matthew 26:56;
Ivory Plaques with the Passion
Mark 14:50; Luke 22:54, John 18:15), which
state that all but Peter and one other disciple
and Resurrection of Christ (the
abandoned Jesus. Subsequent depictions of “Maskell Ivories”)
the Crucifixion in the fifth and sixth Rome, c. 420 – 30
centuries (as on cats. 57 and 82) follow the Each panel, approximately 7.5 3 9.8 cm  
Gospel narratives more closely. The (215⁄16 3 37⁄8 in.)
The Trustees of the British Museum, Department
composition of the triumphant crucified
of Prehistory and Europe, London (MME 1856.06-
Jesus as the focus of two apostolic proces-
23.4-7); from the collection of the liturgical scholar
sions does, however, appear to be related to
William Maskell (1814–1890)
images found on a series of Roman sarcoph-
agi of the later fourth century in which the This series of four carved ivory reliefs pre­
apostles in heaven ceremoniously approach serve a Passion narrative unprecedented in
the victorious cross (in lieu of Jesus), bearing Early Christian art, beginning with Jesus
wreaths or raising their hands in veneration
The Crucifixion | 229
 printer to silo

57a 57c

printer to silo

57d
57b
 before Pontius Pilate and concluding with
the resurrected Christ appearing to his
disciples. The cycle of seven episodes asserts
the triumph of Jesus and of the Church. The
craftsmanship and sophistication of compo-
sition present an exceptionally fine example
of the high standard of ivory carving achieved
in Rome during the early fifth century.
The panels probably once formed the
sides of a square casket, perhaps a reliquary
or a container for the consecrated Host.   past the viewer and out of his physical condi-
Each side is rabbeted on its top edge and has
a groove along its bottom edge to allow for
the attachment of a lid and base, which are
now lost. The areas where hinges were once
affixed are still visible.
Three episodes are compressed into the
first panel, beginning with a depiction of
Pilate washing his hands, continuing with
Christ bearing his own cross (John 19:17),
and concluding with Peter denying Christ.
Within a pictorial field that is remarkably
deep given the density of action, passage
from one event to the next is achieved
through the deft placement of figures, the
careful direction of their gaze, and the skill-
ful use of gesture. The artist is capable of
illustrating several pictorial elements within
each episode to evoke both the fuller text and
the wider significance of each event without
sacrificing the coherence of the panel as a
whole. Peter’s denial follows most closely
the version in John 18:17 – 18, where he
warms himself before the charcoal fire and
is questioned by the maidservant. The image
of Christ, striding forward with the cross,
forms a striking central unit with the soldier
who turns compassionately toward him,
placing his right hand on Christ’s shoulder
and ushering him onward with his left.
The theme of betrayal carries onto the
second relief, where the suicide of Judas
(Matthew 27:3 – 5) is juxtaposed with the
Crucifixion to effect an extraordinarily pow-
erful visual interpretation of Christ’s death.  tion (Matthew 28:1 – 7; Mark 16:1 – 8; Luke
A verdant tree arches under the dead weight
of Judas, whose coin purse has dropped
to the ground, disgorging its ill-gained
contents. The tree is a quotation from pagan
funerary sculpture, where, placed beside the
tomb of the deceased, it refers to life after
death; here, the main leafy branch bears a
bird, nesting with two offspring, to symbol-
ize the life-giving power of Christ’s sacrifice.
Although shown off-center, the main   represented. The tomb itself, rectangular in
image is of Jesus crucified; his mother and
John look on at the left (John 19:25 – 27).
Inscribed above the cross are the words
232 | The Christian Empire
rex ivd (aeorum), “King of the Jews” (John
19:19). The soldier to the right lunges
forward as he drives the lance into Christ’s
left side (John 19:34 – 35); the broken end of
this now-lost weapon remains visible in the
soldier’s hand, and the left side of Jesus’s
chest bears the mark of his wound. Christ’s
eyes are wide open and stare with intensity,
yet his gaze is not directed at the viewer but
rather slightly to his right, so that he looks
tion on the cross. He is shown rigidly en face
as though standing defiantly against the
cross and voluntarily unfolding his arms flat
against the patibulum; his hands are stretched
out and shown quite flat, unflinching at the
nails penetrating the palms. A nimbus en-
circles his head, as it does again in the fourth
panel, emphatically pointing to the fact
that Christ’s indomitable divinity is made
manifest on the cross and further revealed in
the Resurrection. Perhaps the most striking
feature of the Crucifixion is the peculiar vigor
of the youthful and muscular body of an
apparently living and quiescent Jesus. Jesus
wears only the very narrow loincloth (sub-
ligaculum), in an athletic or heroic display of
nudity of the kind understood in the Roman
world as a mark of superior status. The artist
gracefully articulates Christ’s human and
divine natures: the pierced hands and side,
yet the open eyes and forceful body; the hu-
man shape but godlike appearance (muscled
and nimbate). This interpretation is borne
out in the juxtaposition of Jesus’s strong,
victorious, and semi-naked body with the
fully clothed and unmistakably dead figure of
Judas. The betrayal and suicide of Judas con-
trasts with new life, represented by the bird’s
nest in the tree and the victory subsequently
won on the cross.
The third relief depicts just one scene,
the women who have gathered at the tomb
of Christ and bear witness to his resurrec-
24:1 – 8). Two grieving women are shown
seated, wrapped in their shawls (maphoria)
and hunched in sorrow, one on either side   two post-Resurrection events are presented
of the tomb. They face inward and are beauti-
fully contrasted with the pair of sleeping sol-
diers in the foreground, who turn away from
the tomb, sprawled lazily on their shields
and lances. The angel who meets the women
and tells of Christ’s resurrection is not
shape and surmounted by a domed rotunda
with arched windows and a sloping roof, is
thought to reproduce the appearance of the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem,
built by Constantine over the remains of the
original rock-cut tomb. On the ivory, the
doors of the tomb are ajar, one having burst
open and splintered under the force of the
resurrection to reveal an empty sarcophagus
inside. The doors are carved in the manner
of some fine wooden doors on contemporary
churches in Rome (see fig. 88); one of the
panels clearly depicts the Raising of Lazarus,
serving as a reference to Christ’s own resur-
rection.
On the fourth panel, the triumphant, risen
Christ stands on a podium, flanked by two
disciples on either side. The compelling ges-
ture of his left arm, evoking the movement
and energy of one involved in discourse,
is simultaneously a means of revealing the
wound in his side to the diminutive figure
of the skeptical Thomas, who points in
wonder (John 20:24 – 28). The composition
also evokes Matthew 28:16 – 20, where Christ
commissioned the apostles: “All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to
me. Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have com-
manded you; and lo, I am with you always,  
to the close of the age.”
While the ivories relate specific narrative
elements from the biblical accounts, par-
ticularly from John’s version of the Passion,
the concern of the sequence as a whole lies
beyond the literal depiction of textual details.
In the representation of Jesus as youthful,
serenely carrying his cross, defiant in the
face of execution, forcefully absent from the
vacated tomb, and finally among the dis-
ciples as a potent figure of leadership, there
is a strong theological statement regarding
the insuperability of his triumph and of his
divinity. Although it includes four pre- 
Crucifixion scenes as well as the execution
itself, the emphasis in this cycle is not on the
trial and death of Jesus, but on his triumph
over death and his glorious resurrection.
Moreover, the fact that the Crucifixion and
side by side affirms that the two themes
should be understood as cause and effect.
references: Garrucci 1876 – 81, vol. 6, pp. 67 – 68,
pl. 446, 1 – 4; Dalton 1901, pp. 49 – 50, no. 291;
Delbrueck 1952, pp. 95 – 98; Volbach and Hirmer
1961, pp. 329 – 30, fig. 98; Volbach 1976, pp. 82 – 83,
no. 116; New York 1977 – 78, pp. 502 – 04, no. 452
(Lieselotte Kötzsche); Frankfurt am Main 1983 – 84,
pp. 690 – 91, no. 267 (Dagmar Stutzinger); Kötzsche
1994; London 2000, pp. 108 – 11, no. 43 (Susanna
Avery-Quash).
—felicity harley