It is very likely that the image you have in mind of Jesus Christ is that of a white man, with long hair and a beard, keeping a serene air on his face. Know, therefore, that this is a European construction — after all, Jesus came from the Middle East and probably didn’t look like that.
Over 2,000 years, thousands of representations of Jesus have been made by different cultures . In this text, we present the oldest ones.
8. Christ Pantocrator (circa 550 AD)
(Source: Shopify) )
The image of Christ Pantocrator is a well-known representation of Jesus among the first created ones. It is part of an Eastern orthodox theological conception, and shows a soft but severe Christ — that’s why the two sides of Jesus’ face are slightly different, giving a certain strangeness to his face.
The elements of this painting are all significant. The halo behind his head indicates his holiness; the position of the fingers on his right hand depicts the letters ICXC — which stands for Jesus Christ. In his left hand he holds the New Testament.
7. Jesus the Good Shepherd (circa 455 AD)
(Source: Medieval Art)
This image of Jesus as a shepherd was found at the entrance to the mausoleum of Empress Galla Placidia in Italy. The conception of Jesus as a young shepherd comes from the Gospel of John. In this painting, Jesus wears a golden robe with purple accents (both colors were used to represent that he had important status , as someone of the aristocracy).
In the picture, he is calm, and has no beard. The staff that Jesus uses to care for the sheep is shaped like a cross, which symbolizes his victory over death.
6. Jesus of the Commodilla Catacombs (4th century)
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The image of Jesus found in the Commodilla catacombs is understood to be probably the oldest representation of the bearded Jesus. The symbols next to his head are the letters alpha and omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet — which was used to indicate that Jesus was at the beginning and end of everything.
5. Jesus from the catacombs of Marcellin and Peter (4th century)
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
In this image, found in the catacombs of Marcellin and Peter, two martyrs of the Catholic Church, the representation of Jesus is quite different. The story portrayed in this painting is in the biblical book of Saint Mark, and shows a woman who was healed after touching Jesus’ clothes.
The most interesting thing about this representation is to see that, unlike the previous image, here Jesus looks like Roman elements: he has short hair, no beard, and he wears a robe with stripes on the shoulders. In ancient Roman society, this was a garment worn by people in authority.
4. Mural Severa In Deo Vivas (around the year 325)
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
This image is located on a stone that adorns the sarcophagus of a woman named Severa (she appears to the far left of the frame). The phrase “in Deo vivas” means “may you live with God”.
Jesus is the little baby on his mother’s lap, Mary. Behind her is Joseph and in front are the three wise men. Above them, the star of Bethlehem. It is, therefore, an image that symbolizes Christmas — the birth of Christ.
3. Jesus from the catacomb of Callixtus (around the year 250)
(Source: Pinterest)
In this image, found in the catacomb of Pope Callixtus I in Rome, Jesus is once again portrayed as a shepherd. But note that the clothing he wears is quite different: it is a short tunic, very common at the time the painting was made. The idea that Christ carried an animal on his shoulders brings similarity to the representation of several Greek myths, such as Hermes, who was also painted in this way.
two. The healing of the paralytic in Dura Europos (about of the year 235)
(Source: Wikipedia Commons)
This image representing Jesus, again with short hair and Roman clothes, is found in the ruins of Dura Europos, in present-day Syria, close to the border with Iraq, more precisely in what is left of the oldest church ever found by archaeologists.
The image in question shows the moment when Jesus heals a paralytic in Capernaum, an episode reported in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. With difficulty in approaching Christ because of the crowd that surrounded him as he preached in a house, some people made a hole in the roof of the place and lowered the paralyzed man on a mattress using ropes. It is at this moment that Jesus would have uttered one of his most famous phrases: “Get up and walk!”
1. Alexamenos’ graffiti (around the year 200)
(Source: Medium)
The oldest recorded “portrait” of Jesus is, to say the least, very curious: it is the Alexamenos graffiti, a blasphemous painting that someone made between the 1st and 3rd centuries and that ” curses” a guy named Alexamenos.
The reason is that he worships a crucified god (there is a sentence written in the graffiti: “Alexamenos worships his god”). To his right, the image of Jesus hanging on the cross. However, he has the head of a donkey — which was certainly a way of offending the Christian.
