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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.

FIGURING THE TRANSFIGURATION. Thanks to this sixth-century mosaic preserved in St. Catherine’s Monastery, located at the base of Mt. Sinai in Egypt, we can identify individual components of the Transfiguration scene at Shivta. Enclosed in an almond-shaped halo, Jesus dominates the scene, emitting rays of light, which are invisible to the naked eye at Shivta. Unlike at Shivta, the figure prostrated at Jesus’s feet here is Peter, not John, who is the kneeling person behind him (left), at the feet of a towering figure of Elijah. The kneeling figure on the opposite side (right) is Jacob, paired with a standing Moses. Interestingly, the version of the scene found at Shivta corresponds better to the Gospel accounts, which have the disciples face down in fear as Peter says to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.”