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“Marble Relief Flight to Egypt or Bethlehem 400 AD, ByzMAth BXM 312 081079” by Zde is licensed under CC-by-SA-3.0

WHERE’S MARY? Although a central figure in the Nativity story (Matthew 1:18–25; Luke 2:1–20), Mary is curiously absent from this depiction of Jesus’ birth. Dated to the late fourth or early fifth century, the scene appears on a marble slab from the Greek island of Naxos. It is on display at the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens.