Finding Jesus: Byzantine Paintings at Shivta

ROBERT HARDING, PHOTO BY DUBY TAL

Shivta, a large early Christian site located in the central Negev that is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, has sometimes been called the “Pompeii of the Desert” because of its unique preservation and impressive ruins. During the Byzantine period (fifth–seventh centuries CE), Shivta was a wealthy rural settlement of more than 2,000 people who managed a life in this harsh desert environment by ingenious collection of seasonal runoff and flood water from the surrounding hills and valleys into the village’s reservoirs and cisterns. Archaeologists have also found domestic dwellings, stables, and wine presses that preserve aspects of daily life in this desert village, which was connected to places both near and far through trade.¹

The ancient village of Shivta—known as Sobata in Greek documents of the time—had three monumental churches that evidence early Christian worship at the site during the Byzantine period. They were decorated with crosses, rosettes, and birds. Most impressively, the churches were extensively painted with scenes from the life of Jesus, small fragments of which have survived thanks to the Negev’s dry desert climate. Here, we present two fragments of such scenes that survived in situ, both preserved in their original architectural context, providing important visual testimony to the integration of Byzantine art and iconography in rural churches of the sixth-century southern Levant.

LINN, TEPPER, & BAR-OZ , “VISIBLE INDUCED LUMINESCENCE REVEALS INVISIBLE RAYS SHINING FROM CHRIST,” PLOS ONE 12(9): E0185149; CC BY 4.0

One wall painting, first discovered in 1914 by Sir Leonard Wooley and T.E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”), can be found in the southern apse vault of Shivta’s South Church. This triapsidal church, probably the earliest at the site, was built during the fifth or sixth century. Wooley and Lawrence identified the poorly preserved scene as showing the Transfiguration, which, according to the Gospels, was when Jesus ascended a mountain (by tradition, Mt. Tabor in the Jezreel Valley) and, in the presence of Moses and Elijah, revealed his divine nature to three of his disciples: Peter, Jacob (often called James in English translations), and John (Matthew 17:1–13; Mark 9:2–13; Luke 9:28–36).

DROR MAAYAN

Since its discovery more than a century ago, however, the painting has deteriorated to the point that one wonders if it was simply a figment of Wooley and Lawrence’s imaginations. In what remains, we see outlines of the figure of a haloed Jesus, depicted inside a mandorla (an almond-shaped halo of light around his body). Only outlines of the scene’s other figures have survived. On the left, a bowing figure with an outstretched hand is identified as John the Apostle by an accompanying Greek inscription. Directly behind him is a kneeling figure, Peter, whose beard—painted with beautiful brushstrokes of overlapping bright colors—is one of the best-preserved elements in the whole painting. Behind Peter stands a poorly preserved prophet, either Moses or Elijah. Unfortunately, the right side of the scene has nearly completely disappeared, although it presumably once showed the apostle Jacob and the other of the two Old Testament prophets.

FROM FORSYTH & WEITZMANN, THE MONASTERY OF SAINT CATHERINE AT MOUNT SINAI: THE CHURCH AND FORTRESS OF JUSTINIAN (ANN ARBOR: UNIV. OF MICHIGAN PRESS, 1973); BY PERMISSION FROM PUBLISHER.

Although the Transfiguration represents one of the most important events in the Gospels, very few depictions of the scene have survived from the Byzantine period. The closest comparison to Shivta’s Transfiguration scene is the extraordinary sixth-century wall mosaic found in the apse of St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai. In the scene from St. Catherine’s, Jesus is clearly depicted inside a mandorla, surrounded by two Old Testament figures—Moses and Elijah—and the three apostles, all of whom are identified by inscriptions.

One element clearly visible in the Sinai depiction but not so at Shivta is the rays of light extending out from Jesus’s body and the mandorla. However, by using a special photographic technique, we were able to detect the rays of light that were originally painted in the Shivta scene but disappeared long ago, at least to the naked eye.²

The Shivta painting thus shows remarkable similarities to the scene from St. Catherine’s, although in its style and composition it is more faithful to the Gospel narratives, especially regarding the postures and gestures of the apostles. Unlike the St. Catherine’s mosaic, the scene from Shivta shows Peter facing Jesus and raising his hand in a gesture of speech that seems to convey the words, “Lord, it is good for us to be here” (Matthew 17:4; cf. Mark 9:5 and Luke 9:33). John, at the same time, kneels and avoids gazing upward, symbolizing the sense of reverence and fear conveyed in the Gospels (Matthew 17:6).

Another wall painting with a scene from the life of Jesus was identified only recently, in the baptistery of Shivta’s North Church,³ which was likely part of a monastic complex situated on the edge of the settlement. The church was first built with a single apse but was transformed into a triapsidal church in the sixth century. The baptistery chapel likely dates to the late sixth or seventh century. It featured a cruciform baptismal font built on a raised, two-stepped platform that was separated from the aisle by a chancel screen.

Only the outlines of two figures remain visible in the painting: a front-facing male youth with a long face and short curly hair and, to the left, another larger male with a much bigger face surrounded by a halo. The scene likely represents Jesus’s baptism, one of the best-known events from the Gospels (Matthew 3:13–17; Mark 1:9–11; Luke 3:21–23) and a frequent motif of early Christian and Byzantine art. The prime early examples of this popular scene come from the mosaics in the Neonian and Arian baptisteries in Ravenna, Italy, which date to the fifth and early sixth centuries, respectively. Other examples appear in illuminated manuscripts and on small objects (e.g., plaques, pilgrim tokens, textiles) that circulated in Syria-Palestine and Egypt during the sixth and seventh centuries.

PHOTOSTOCK-ISRAEL / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Despite its poor preservation, the Shivta painting clearly follows established early Christian iconographic conventions. John the Baptist is shown proportionally larger than Jesus, who is depicted much smaller and younger. Jesus is also shown waist deep—and presumably naked—in the waters of the Jordan River, which was once painted a brilliant Egyptian blue.⁴ Unfortunately, most of the scene’s other essential elements—namely, the hand of God and a dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit—are no longer visible, though the scene’s basic iconography means they were once surely there. In addition, traces of paint detected on either side of the main scene suggest the painting was originally much wider and perhaps included depictions of accompanying angels and the personification of the Jordan River, both of which sometimes appear in such scenes.

PHOTO: DROR MAAYAN / DRAWINGS: EMMA MAAYAN-FANAR

Most notable, however, is the depiction of Jesus’s face, which, though poorly preserved, is still discernible. No other comparable depiction of Jesus has been found among the many Byzantine churches excavated in Israel, which underscores the significance of both the painting and its preservation within its original architectural setting. Moreover, the face of Jesus is quite unexpected for a modern viewer: He is shown as a young, beardless man with short curly hair. This stands in marked contrast to the mature, bearded man with long, wavy hair that many often imagine.

PHOTO: DROR MAAYAN / DRAWINGS: EMMA MAAYAN-FANAR

In early Byzantine art, Jesus was depicted in various ways, even within the same monument or manuscript. In the baptism scene, for example, his youthful image reflects a theological convention—baptism as a symbol of rebirth. By the ninth century, however, this iconography had changed, and Jesus was more often depicted as an older, mature man at the time of his baptism.

The Shivta image is also very similar to depictions of Jesus with short, curly hair that, though uncommon in medieval Western art, were widespread in Byzantine Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Indeed, this short-haired Jesus existed right alongside long-haired depictions and was deemed no less authentic. The short-haired type, however, largely disappeared when the Byzantine Empire’s eastern provinces were lost during the Islamic conquests in the seventh century, leaving the long-haired image as the primary way of depicting Jesus.

ZAIRON, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS; CC-BY-SA-4.0

When viewed in the context of the church’s architecture, this painting helps us imagine how baptism was experienced by early Christians at Shivta. A new convert would descend into the baptismal font in the apse of the church’s side chapel, where a priest stood waiting to receive him. Jesus’s baptism scene was positioned in the vault directly above the baptismal font, creating a visual and symbolic connection between the two events. This arrangement expressed the common Byzantine liturgical formula that Christ descended into the waters to sanctify them, and the Christian descends into the water to be sanctified through baptism. The priest, as mediator, placed his hand on the convert’s head, echoing John the Baptist, who placed his hand on Jesus’s head. After the ceremony, the newly baptized person entered the church for his or her first communion.

The early Christian paintings preserved at Shivta are of immense significance, as they provide valuable glimpses into the religious and cultural life of an important Byzantine-era site of the Negev. Both the Transfiguration and baptism scenes are rarely found within the iconography of Byzantine churches in Israel and, as such, are all the more important because they have been preserved in their original architectural settings. It is imperative that we ensure their preservation and presentation for future generations.