Lucy Lacanienta

This post was written by Lucy Lacanienta, an Art History major at Brigham Young University who works at the Maxwell Institute as a Front Desk Assistant and Graphic Designer. Lucy researched artwork related to the book, Ancient Christians: An Introduction for Latter-day Saints, and wrote a series of educational posts.

The Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe is a Byzantine church which features stunning mosaic decorations on its interior. This particular mosaic depicts a fictive scene of Abel and Abraham bringing their respective offerings to the altar of Melchizedek.

Ancient Christian burial practices strongly correlated with their beliefs about life and life after death. The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, a Roman government official in the 4th century AD, depicts several scenes from the Old and New Testaments which reflect the senator’s piety. To the right of the central image on the bottom register, we see the prophet Daniel in the den of lions (Swipe to see a close up).

Ancient Christian burial practices strongly correlated with their beliefs about life and life after death. The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, a Roman government official in the 4th century AD, depicts several scenes from the Old and New Testaments which reflect the senator’s piety. To the right of the central image on the bottom register, we see the prophet Daniel in the den of lions.

Imagery of Christ as the Good Shepherd is familiar to Latter-day Saints, both in scripture and art, but it was also used by early Christians who adopted the symbol from Roman art.