Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/04/08

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Subject: [Leica] IMG: Ancient portraits of Christ
From: john.nebel at csdco.com (John Nebel)
Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2012 17:04:48 -0600
References: <4F7B2B09.7060002@csdco.com> <4F81B57C.6060307@summaventures.com>

Peter,

Thanks for the observation, I Googled 
<http://www.imperialethiopia.org/selassie.htm> and he does look like the 
second 
coin.  I also read that Haile Selassie traced his ancestry back to King 
Solomon 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halie_Selassie>.

Best,

John



On 4/8/2012 9:57 AM, Peter Dzwig wrote:
> I can't help but think that thye second image of CXhrist looks more Coptic 
> in
> style.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:StMarkcoptic.jpg , although this is St. 
> Mark;
> Possibly it even looks Ethiopian (compare for example the standard images 
> of
> Haile Selassie). Not surprising though considering the extent of Byzantium 
> at
> the time.
>
> Peter Dzwig
>
> On 03/04/2012 17:53, John Nebel wrote:
>> Greetings!
>>
>> In 692 AD at the Quinisext Council in Constantinople, Canon LXXXII 
>> established,
>> according to the epitome, "Thou shalt not paint a lamb for the type of 
>> Christ,
>> but himself."  The Byzantine emperor was Justinian II, and the empire's 
>> coinage
>> consequently depicted Christ as a human figure.
>>
>> <http://photos.csd.net/justinian_ii.html>  was minted during Justinian 
>> II's first
>> reign.  This portrait of Christ misses the mark "himself" as it is likely 
>> based
>> on the Greek sculptor's, Phidias's statue of Zeus from Olympia, made 
>> about a
>> millennium before and one of the wonders of the ancient world.
>>
>> Mouse over the coin's image to see the reverse, or click for a larger 
>> image.
>> This coin and the next are about 19mm diameter, 4gms mass.  The coin's 
>> reverse
>> depicts Justinian II.
>>
>> The Phidias image of Christ appears to have become the standard as one 
>> can see
>> from a WP image of a wall painting at Hagia Sophia made centuries later,
>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Byzantinischer_Mosaizist_um_1020_001.jpg>
>>
>> During Justinian II's second reign another coin was minted, perhaps a more
>> realist depiction of Christ,<http://photos.csd.net/justinian_ii_2a.html>. 
>> On
>> the reverse, Justinian II is on the left, Tiberius on the right.  Similar 
>> mouse
>> functions on the image.
>>
>> C&C welcome!
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
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>>
>>
>


In reply to: Message from john.nebel at csdco.com (John Nebel) ([Leica] IMG: Ancient portraits of Christ)
Message from pdzwig at summaventures.com (Peter Dzwig) ([Leica] IMG: Ancient portraits of Christ)