ART IN THE CHRISTIAN CATACOMBS OF ROME
For general information on the Catacombs in Rome

SIGNS AND SYMBOLS

BIRDS and FRUIT
The imagery of birds and fruit was common among non-Christians as well as believers in the empire. For Christians, the fruit symbolized abundance, the gifts of God, while the bird could represent the Holy Spirit, the dove of Noah (and peace), the soul of the believer. The very ambiguity of the images gave them power to suggest meanings to the viewer.
FISH and ANCHOR
When closing the loculi, the relatives of the deceased often inscribed messages on the slabs. The anchor could stand for faith or hope, or the role of Christ in one's life. The fish had multiple meanings as well, representing the baptized Christian, or Christ himself. The name for fish in Greek (ICHTHYS) became an acrostic for "Jesus Christ Son of God and Savior.
OCCUPATIONAL SIGNS
Relatives would also mark tomb slabs with either personal mementoes or symbols of the deceased person's job or status. At left we see the fish and anchor, and two tools used by carpenters or masons: a plumb bob and compass. Here the two fish probably represent two Christians "caught" by the anchor that is Christ.
CHI-RHO and ALPHA & OMEGA
This inscription is from a loculus slab. The barrel at left probably signifies that the deceased was a cooper or dealer in barrelled goods. "Seberus" was his name, and his Christian belief is summarized in the "Monogram of Christ" popularized by Constantine, with the Alpha and Omega of Christ on either side (Rev 22:13) within the beribboned wreath of victory.

VENERANDA and HER NEW FRIEND
In this lunette over an arcosolium, we see the sainted Veneranda conducting a new soul into Paradise. The role of the saint in this process was emerging in Christian thought, and here we see a pictorial rendering of the hope of all Christians: entry into eternal life with the saints.
THE ORANT FIGURE
Scattered throughout the Catacombs are these "praying" figures, with arms outstretched and eyes heavenward. Most consider them to be figurations of the human soul (in Latin and Greek a feminine noun), whether of a male or female. The form is related to the Roman pietas (piety) figure, is often located in a bucolic or paradisical setting, and is found in many specific figure including Noah and Jonah. 

THE OLD TESTAMENT

ADAM and EVE
The first humans with the serpent and tree and covering their nakedness is a reminder to the viewer of sin, its consequences, and the fallen state of humankind. The need for salvation and the redemptive act of Christ on the Cross stem from this arrogation of the "first parents", and is the hope of all Christians.
SACRIFICE OF ISAAC
The Book of Genesis provides the story of the faithfulness of Abraham, spiritual father of Jews and Christians alike, of God's Covenant with him and his descendants, fulfilled in Christ, and of he sacrifice of Abraham's son that God demanded, and from which He released him 
at the last moment. For Christians, this "sacrifice" was not only a testament to the unquestioning faithfulness of Abraham, but also a prefiguring of the sacrifice that God would make of his Son, Jesus, in the Crufixion. God's sparing of Isaac is also a reminder of His mercy and protection.
DANIEL in THE LIONS' DEN
The story of Daniel is another of faith, hope, witness and salvation. In Daniel Chapter 6, we read of Daniel the high civil servant who insisted on continuing to pray to his God, despite the royal decree to the contrary. Cast into a den of lions as punishment, he prayed to God, who kept the lions at bay. At this those who testified against him were cast in and eaten.
THREE MEN in THE FIERY FURNACE
Daniel's three friends also found themselves being persecuted for their faith and refusal to worship idols. Their punishment was to be burned alive in a furnace. Again, God preserved them. To 3rd-century Christians themselves undergoing sporadic persecutions, these stories and their depictions were very relevant and, one would think, rather reassuring.
JONAH and THE WHALE
Christ himself considered Jonah and his story to be a prefiguration of His own death and Resurrection. Blameless Jonah is sacrificed by his fellow sailors, stays three days in the belly of a great fish, and comes 'back to life' to complete the mission he sought to avoid. Often this story is related in three scenes, the casting (left), his regurgitation, and rest under a gourd tree.

THE NEW TESTAMENT

THE GOOD SHEPHERD
The pastoral figure of the shepherd is standard in the later classical period. Christ identified himself as the Good Shepherd and promised those who followed Him that He would care and look out for them as would a good and watchful shepherd
THE ANNUNCIATION & MADONNA
Christ's human life began with the promise of the Angel Gabriel that Mary would conceive without knowing man. Christ's entry into the world meant the possibility of savlvation for fallen man and eternal life when this one ends. The figure to Mary's right is probably the prophet Balaam, who foresaw that "a star would come forth out of Jacob," understood as a reference to Christ.
CHRIST with THE WOMAN AT THE WELL
In John 4:5-42 Christ's interview with the Samaritan woman at the well is described. The enmity between Jews and Samaritans made the latter, in a sense, worse than gentiles, and the scene symbolic of Christ's reaching out to the non-Jews, which the Christian community of Rome no doubt had many.
CHRIST and the HEMORRAGING WOMAN
In Mark 5:25-34 we read of the woman who suffered from severe bleeding, and whose faith led her to try merely to touch Jesus' cloak for healing. Though in a crowd, he felt her touch, and she was healed. Christ's power while alive was seen to be even stronger after His Ascension.
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS
This last miracle before Christ's Passion shows his power over death, which would soon be displayed in His own Resurrection. This depiction of Jesus shows the beardless, short-haired Roman-style Christ, with the wand of the physician. The scene, like others of the era, is stripped to its essentials: Christ, the mummified Lazarus, and the tomb. Other parts of the story disappear.
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS II
In this version, from the rather late Via Latina catacomb, Christ calls Lazarus forth, though he himself has not yet appeared. In this large-scale fresco a considerable crowd stands behind Jesus, displaying the artist's ability to handle such a composition. In Byzantine art this scene will be further and canonically developed.
THE SACRED MEAL
Images of people seated around a central figure are often found in the catacombs, though meanings are far form unambiguous. The Last Supper, the post- Resurrection meals at Emmaus and by Lake Tiberias, a Christian agape meal or Eucharist, or the Eucharist in Paradise are all offered as interpretations. Need only one apply?

 
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