This thesis considers the evolution of narrative art in Judaism and early Christianity, and deals in particular with narrative figure scenes in which Moses is the principal figure. Current theories, espoused by the late Kurt Weitzmann, posit the existence of a Jewish illustrated manuscript tradition dating back to the Hellenistic period, which could have been the source for Old Testament scenes in art. In the light of these proposals and taking into account more recent narrative theory, this study of early Moses scenes in art takes up the suggestion that a large range of visual narrative scenes, closely following a given text and with a tendency for these scenes to be arranged in narrative sequence, might indicate the presence of a lost illustrated manuscript which artists are using as their model. Stories about Moses originate from within Judaism, and are mentioned also in Christian texts for the first three centuries AD, when Moses is regarded as the forerunner of Christ. While earlier Jewish art largely conformed to the proscription against figural art, narrative figure scenes illustrating Old Testament stories are known from the late second century AD. In the synagogue at Dura Europos (AD c.250), the range of biblical imagery includes five or six scenes illustrating stories from Exodus and Numbers, although Weitzmann�s criteria are only partially fulfilled. During the third century AD, when the earliest Christian art is found, Christians use Old Testament imagery as well, including a cycle of scenes illustrating the story of Jonah. The decoration in the baptistery in the Christian house at Dura, like that in the synagogue there, shows some interest in visual narrative, although in this case no Moses scenes are involved. At this time there is only one Moses story certainly illustrated in Christian art, The miracle of the spring (based on Exodus 17), which occurs in funerary art in Rome. The iconography for this scene is used "emblematically" to promote ideas rather than stories about Moses. If at this time Christian artists know of a narrative cycle involving Moses, they show very little interest in reflecting this.

Thesis (B.D.)--Western Evangelical Seminary, 1955. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [101]-103).

Thesis (B.Div.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 1970. / Bibliography: leaf 31.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2006. / Thesis directed by David E. Aune for the Department of Theology. "April 2006." Includes bibliographical references (365-379 leaves ).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / The accompanying CD-ROM contains maps and images for use with the dissertation. Filenames correspond to the catalogue numbers used in the dissertation. The MAPS folder contains a map of the tomb mosaic sites. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 238-259). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Religion)--Vanderbilt University, Dec. 2008. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / The accompanying CD-ROM contains maps and images for use with the dissertation. Filenames correspond to the catalogue numbers used in the dissertation. The MAPS folder contains a map of the tomb mosaic sites. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 238-259). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Vanderbilt University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 283-302). Also available on the Internet.

Due to the influence of the Greek-speaking immigrants who flocked into the city of Rome over the course of the 7th and 8th centuries, there was an explosion of interest in the cults of saints and their relics, one manifestation of which was the efflorescence in the depiction of saints' lives on the church walls. Five of these cycles survive--albeit in various stages of preservation--and portray the martyrdoms of Quiricus and Julitta, Erasmus, the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, Callixtus, and Paul and Anastasius. As the largest surviving body of early hagiographical cycles, the paintings serve as the standard of comparison for later works, but they have yet to be fully studied in the art historical literature. The aim of this dissertation is to help correct this oversight, and to examine the cycles, in the context of their cultural and architectural settings, in order to come to an understanding of how early hagiographical cycles functioned. The dissertation begins with an examination of the evidence for pre-8th century cycles, Biblical and non-Biblical, extant and non-extant, produced in any medium in Byzantium or the West. The aim is to discover patterns, either in the make-up of the cycles, or the contexts for their use. The paintings in Rome are then carefully analysed, both in terms of their content and archaeological context, in combination with the surviving hagiographical, liturgical, and historical texts. The conclusion reached is that non-Biblical hagiographical cycles first gained popularity in the East, where they were most commonly found decorating either the tombs of saints, or their reliquary shrines. Their appearance in Rome can be closely linked to the influence of the Greek-speaking immigrants, to the cults of saints and relics that they promulgated, and to the special veneration accorded the non-Biblical saint by members of the lay population. The cycles most commonly decorate chapels, or chapel-like spaces, that are located in diaconiae, the charitable institutions founded in Rome at the end of the 7th century, and whose administration was largely the responsibility of the lay community. Furthermore, as several of the cycles seem to decorate private chapels, perhaps provided to the wealthy laity in return for their donations to the church, they emerge as the early ancestors of the works found in the private chapels, decorated for rich benefactors, which proliferate in the late Middle Ages. / Graduate