Romans + Christianity

[Carlton Bach]

Another Roman fresco of a woman touching the hem of Jesus' garment. From Rome area catacomb.

Jesus' garment looks like a senatorial tunic with a simplified toga?

I appreciate any additional details, website links, etc. you may have to further describe this work. +r

I've seen that one before. It's in the catacomb of St Peter and Marcellinus, Cub 65 (an elaborately painted burial chamber) together with two more images of Christ's healing miracles (the crooked woman and the Samaritan woman).

The clavi on Christ's tunic are a standard featuire at the time, not at all limited to senatorial wear (though only senators were permitted to have wide purple ones). His mantle is a pallium, not a toga (though the two are broadly related), in combination with the tunic the typical male civilian garb of the Greek East (cf the Dura synagogue). IIRC there is a reference to the pallium being proper garb for a Christian in the patristic literature somewhere - presumably because it was non-ostentatious, being universal, and non-military) - that is believed to have strongly influenced early Christian iconography in that respect.