I - Scene from Anastasis : Hades take Judas down the hell ; Here Hades depicted in chains and Jesus Christ asks him “What happened to your glory ?”Anastasis scene shows a highly influence of Greek mythology in Iconography.Christ smashes the gate of hell and resques Adam and Eve ,ie he defeats the death.This symbolizes the salvation of mankind ; on the other hand it also shows influence of Hebrew tradition : Jewish Kings David and Salamon always portrayed in the scene.From a broader point of view , Hades probably refers to Devil – and Jesus Christ changelles the hell ( Associate with the concept of kingdom of heaven).
As Christian iconography ‘partly’ based on the allegorical interpretation of imagery , it can also associated with Zeus –father figure / Jesus-God (father again ) Note that “Early Christians adapted Roman motifs and gave new meanings to what had been pagan symbols. Among the motifs adopted were the peacock, grapevines, and the good shepherd.
Early Christians used the same artistic media as the surrounding pagan culture. These media included fresco, mosaics, sculpture, and manuscript illumination. Early Christian art not only used Roman forms, it also used Roman styles. Late classical style included a proportional portrayal of the human body and impressionistic presentation of space. Late classical style is seen in early Christian frescos, such as those in the catacombs of Rome”.
Greek source : Orphic and Dionysiac religous movements
Firstly seen at : Christian tomb decorations
Where to see in Cappadocia : Gülsehir ‘Karsi’-Opposite-Church and Karanlik-Dark-Church in Göreme Open Air Museum
II - ‘Christianizing Roman Basilica : ‘Byzantine art begins with emperor Justinian in the 6th century AD ; we call Byzantine christian art as the expressionist way of Roman art.St. John the Baptist church is the oldest and the biggest church in Cappadocia triangle so have a chance to study it in terms of early christian art. For beginning ; its very obvious here that the way how they christianized the Roman ‘basilica form’ : In the 4th century , christians were prepared to build larger edifices for worship.
Architectural formulas of pagan temples simply associated with pagan belief so they didnt want to use the same system.But as emperor Constantine the great wanted to memorialize his imperial piety , they already had useful model at hand ; Basilica : Basilica orginally very classic model of Roman meeting halls with high platform and columned large halls.Especially higy platform part gave an idea for Priests sections ,altar , as whole an apsis !!
Where to see in Cappadocia? : St. John the Baptist Church in Çavuþin Village.