ABSTRACT
As noted above, the fourth century witnessed a gradual shift in the content of early Christian iconography – away from narrative scenes that primarily depicted Jesus as healer, wonderworker, and teacher and toward more dogmatic images – ones that portrayed Jesus’ divinity, transcendence, resurrection, judgment and heavenly reign. Decidedly missing among these newly emerging images are portrayals of Jesus’ suffering or dying on the cross. Apart from very rare examples, Christ is represented as triumphant over death, but not undergoing it. Contrary to the dominance of the crucifix in both Byzantine and medieval iconography, early Christian art seems to have deliberately avoided any graphic presentation of the savior’s death.
