Image Details

Konstantinos Politis

This Christian tombstone, colorfully decorated with deeply carved, green-and-red-painted symbols, belonged to Gorgonios, son of Claudius, a 55-year-old subdeacon of Zoara who passed away on August 23, 436 A.D. Above the stone’s 11-line Greek memorial inscription is a small cross flanked by two peacocks, symbols of immortality. Carved in the left margin is a fish, one of the earliest representations of Christ, while on the right side of the stone are a large cross with serifs, another peacock and a palm branch, an emblem of the victory of the Christian faith. Below the inscription are three more crosses, two circumscribed by circles.