The Making of Europe

Excerpt from The Making of Europe: An Introduction to the History of European Unity

The art of the catacombs is the first outward manifestation of Christian culture, and shows in a remarkable Way how the external forms of the old roman-hellenistic culture were assimilated and modified by the new Spiritual forces. Early Christian art took over the traditional commonplaces of the Hellenistic house - decorator, and infused them with a pro found Spiritual meaning. The subjects are mere generalised types or symbolsf - a fish, a clove, or a figure borrowed from heathen mythology - the value of which consists entirely in their hieratic and mystical significance to the initiated. Of these figures the most popular is that of a woman in an attitude of prayer - the orans-a figure that symbolised at once the soul of the deceased, the freed and enlightened Spirit of man, and also the Virgin Church, the Bride of the Spirit.

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História