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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Gavin Richardson, post: 2704674, member: 83956&quot;]Two of the oddest iconographical reflexes of the river god motif can be found in Ravenna in the Arian and Neonian Baptistries. Both baptistries depict the baptism of Christ in a dome mosaic. We obviously see Jesus (in full frontal nudity, which would embarrass later prudish Christians), John the Baptist, and...THE RIVER JORDAN AS AN OLD MAN! So here is the Jordan &quot;river god&quot; present at the baptism of Christ! Clearly by the fourth century the motif had become thoroughly conventional and the river symbol no longer held&nbsp; divine status. But these mosaics demonstrate just how hard it was to stamp out these pagan motifs, or better yet, how resourceful / heterodox early Christian artists were in adapting pagan motifs for their own purposes.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]609300[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]609301[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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