Image Details

Cameraphoto Arte, Venice/Art Resource, NY

Peter sends a talking dog to Simon Magus to challenge him to a magician’s duel. The insult is not lost on Simon, who tells the dog to tell Peter he is not at home. The scene appears at upper right on this fourth-century sarcophagus from the crypt of a church in Verona, Italy. (The lid, depicting the apostles Simon and Jude Thaddeus dates to the 14th century.) To the left of Peter appear Daniel and the lions, Moses receiving the law and an unusual, unidentified scene in which a woman with a serpent is confronted by a man (Daniel or an apostle?). The lower register shows several scenes from the life of Jesus.