Published in Expressing the Divine: Language, Art and Mysticism

Keywords: Keywords: Early Christian Art, Face of Christ, Iconography, Late Antiquity Art, Portrait, Roman Emperors.

After the third century, a widespread repertoire of Christian images is created. Recognition of the characters of Biblical history was made by their assimilation to motifs of Roman art. The study of origin, development and modifications that modified the face of Christ offers the possibility of analyzing the multiple sources for this image as well as establishing the changes of its meaning, that run parallel to the history of the Church.