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SCALA/ART RESOURCE, NY

CROSSING OF THE RED SEA (Exodus 14) is common on sarcophagi but rare in paintings. This wall painting from the fourth-century Via Latina Catacombs in Rome shows Moses commanding the waters with his staff. To his right are the saved Hebrews; to his left is the pursuing and overwhelmed Egyptian army. For early Christians, the passage through the Red Sea became a prototype of Christian salvation through the purifying waters of baptism (see 1 Corinthians 10:1-2).