Was Jesus depicted as dark skinned during the beginning of Christianity
Upvote:-3
Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure, by all which is known today. He was a Galilean jew, born in Nazareth. His father was a carpenter, and Jesus possibly had the same occupation, because it was customary to learn one's fathers profession. He probably did not rise much above his father economically. From spending time outside beneath the Middle Eastern sun, his skin could have become dark.
There is no reason to call him dark-skinned, apart from what the sun did. Since his parents were Galilean jews, probability theory says that they were like most Galilean jews. And the majority did not look African.
Upvote:4
Well, one should not necessarily be surprised by the depiction of Jesus as a darker skinned figure during the early years of Christianity. Remember, Jesus was from the Middle East and his earliest followers.......were from the Middle East. If one is to view the iconography of various Middle Eastern, as well as Eastern Mediterranean Churches dating to the Early Middle Ages, one will typically see a swarthy, darker complexioned looking Jesus. Again, this should not be such a surprise.
The image of Jesus has been diversely expressed for nearly 2 millennia, due to the gradual emergence of Christianity on the world stage. Yet, despite the worldwide diverse and centuries old imagery, there was only a single historical Jesus, who, was of a Middle Eastern ethno-racial background and in turn, would have had a single chromatic appearance that was commonplace within that particular region.
Upvote:10
The depiction of Christ (and other entities in the Christian pantheon, and no doubt other religions as well) tend to reflect the cultural and racial background of the audience they're intended for and/or the creator.
Thus, as in the early days Christianity was mostly confined to the middle east, where people have a darker skin than in northern Europe, they'd have those features.
I've seen depictions made in Indonesia that show them all as having Malay features, African depictions show dark brown to black skin, etc. etc. etc.
The European "standard" I've indeed heard was based on Borgia's representation, and with the large scale sending of priests around the world from Europe in the colonial era probably influenced at least at some level depictions elsewhere.
Upvote:13
First off, there are no depictions of Jesus made by contemporaries. That means any depiction you find, anywhere, is more a representation of how the artist felt like viewing Jesus than an attempt at an accurate reconstruction of the man's features.
Complicating this was the iconophobic views of early Jews (backed up by the "graven image" prohibition in the 10 Commandments)
The first exemplars we have are both from 2 centuries later, and are the following:
The first it would probably be tough to argue contained a definitive attempt to depict skin color. The second depicted him as really no darker than a well-tanned European might achieve (but also probably consistent with a Semitic person from the area).
Lest someone get excited and think old depictions were universally tanned, here's another from less than a century later:
It took a while for the "standard" bearded longhaired depiction to take shape. According to Wikipedia this took until the 6th century in the East, and until the 12th in the West.
More post
- 📝 What do the last four digits of this postal cancellation stamp mean?
- 📝 What is the origin of the black/devil riders?
- 📝 Is there a special name for the beginning of the 20th century?
- 📝 Why were harvest times in Cyrenaica earlier than in Greece in antiquity?
- 📝 In the governments of the Reconstruction South, were Blacks in government always under the control of Whites?
- 📝 How did Gothic differ from Baroque architecture?
- 📝 Were the ancestors of Malays originally from Yunnan, China?
- 📝 What process have countries followed when creating constitutions?
- 📝 What effect did the Bronze Age collapse have on India?
- 📝 What is the Truth behind Lord Macaulay speech ?(another version)
- 📝 In a challenge to duel, what happened if a thrown gauntlet (and later, glove) was refused?
- 📝 Why did the Soviet Union not "grant" Inner Mongolia to Mongolia after World War Two?
- 📝 What were the rejected designs for the Euro symbol?
- 📝 Why would "loose women" give you bad health?
- 📝 Is there a standard authority on the textual history of the authors of antiquity?
- 📝 How did the "weather conditions" for an invasion at Pas de Calais compare to those of Normandy?
- 📝 Which country can be called the successor of the Roman Empire, after 476?
- 📝 What is the real origin of the stereotype that associates fried chickens with African Americans?
- 📝 How do ancient Chinese "mirrors" such as these in the National Museum function?
- 📝 Is there a confirmed historic record of using "non-standard" live animals for military purposes?
- 📝 What would have been the carrying capacity for 11th-13th century backpacks?
- 📝 How were horses disembarked from sail ships?
- 📝 What is the name of the theory opposite to the Great Man theory?
- 📝 What is the origin of the name Fallopian tubes?
- 📝 What became of the daughter of Cixi‘s photographer?
- 📝 How common was decimation in the Roman army?
- 📝 Are there any historical conceptions that accurately depict a scenario of swinging rapidly from a state of war to a state of tranquility?
- 📝 Could the U.S. have used "Lend Lease" to force Germany onto the horns of a dilemma?
- 📝 Why didn't continental eurotpeans aid the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms (Mercia, Northumbria, Wessex and East Anglia) against the invading Danes and Norse?
- 📝 What was the extent of France's material support during the American Revolution?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Was Jesus depicted as dark skinned during the beginning of Christianity
- 📝 What was the size of surface of a cereal crop needed per man per year during the Dark Ages in Western Europe?
- 📝 Was Christianity legalized during the Meiji Restoration?
- 📝 To what extent was Christianity responsible for the dark ages of Western Europe?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What was the typical peasant's diet like in Europe during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 What was the status of Arab Christians during the crusades?
- 📝 Why was there a surge in the US incarceration rate during the 1990s?
- 📝 What was the role of the Soviet Navy during WWII?
- 📝 Why was Switzerland not attacked during the two World Wars?
- 📝 How difficult was to escape from a naval battle after engaging into one during the Age of Sail?
- 📝 What was the ratio of German to Soviet losses on Eastern front during different stages of the war?
- 📝 What was the strategy to protect the British Museum during the World Wars?
- 📝 Why was there lack of food during WW2 in the UK?
- 📝 How advanced was the satellite technology during the Yom Kippur War?
- 📝 How close was the Soviet Union to collapsing during WW2?
- 📝 Was there a Japanese equivalent of the Gestapo during WW2
- 📝 What was the value of the spice trade during the age of exploration?
- 📝 What was the liquor that was based on petrol which was produced in the USSR during the Second World War?
- 📝 How was beer production affected by the war during WW2?
- 📝 Was Col. John K. Waters (Gen. Patton's son-in-law) wounded in the buttocks or the stomach during Patton's raid on Oflag XIII-B near Hammelburg?
- 📝 What was the actual value of tea destroyed during the Boston Tea Party?
- 📝 How wide-spread was antisemitism in the USA during WWII?
- 📝 Was the European slave market in the East during the colonial era similar to the transatlantic slave market? If not (less brutal, etc), why?
- 📝 After the fall of the Roman Empire, where did their armor go? Was it used by any dark ages forces?
- 📝 Was the act of servicemen exchanging their weapons for enemy weapons common during WWII?
- 📝 During World War I, why were church bells stopped until the war was over?
- 📝 Did Hitler have an end goal during the "appeas*m*nt" phase, or was he just picking a fight?
- 📝 Was the population of Moscow wildly overstated during the Cold War?
- 📝 How much oil was spilled by the naval combatants during WW2?