Did early Christians, often, use one or two fishes as a representation of Jesus? Please elaborate for me.
Here is a picture of an ancient Chruch in Israel, displaying the fishes:
http://www.jordanmaxwell.com/images/religion/oldest-church-on-earth/Migiddo%20Church%204.jpg
2007-12-22 01:36:40 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
That certainly is the standard symbol for Pisces, the zodiac constellation.
Venus and her son Cupid escaped from Typhon by swimming through the sea as two fish.
The symbols arranged around it are interesting too. I bet if you could understand the whole pattern it would be the complete Zodiac.
There should be a total of 12 symbols located somewhere around this one including it, but smaller.
The israeli antiquities site has the opinion that it might be 3rd or 4th century. I personally would bet late 4th century or later. It seems like a later style than Rome and more in line with the Mosaics from post Constantine Byzantium.
I mentioned the surrounding mosaic work. The ancient symbolism for the Earth is a square, the Symbol for heaven or the Sky is a circle. The shift from a circle to an octagon to a square is significant symbolically. So are the small squares and their decorations.
I can not interpret all of it, The most obvious is that the reference is to the constellation in Heaven (or the sky, they were considered identical back then) and above the earth.
(given from the earth being the field the circle is set in.)
The use of the octagon indicated the idea of rebirth, of cycles and of periodic renewal. All pertinant in this representation.
Before getting excited this is not more ancient than the last half of the third century,very close to the Christian seizure of the Roman government and likely after the Council of Nicea.
It is decidedly not an orthodox presentation of Christianity and is heavily Paganist in nature.
On another site I see a narrower shot of the Fishes. They are not the modern twin fish, but the earlier style Venus and Cupid style fish. This is definitely presenting the zodiac symbol. It is strongly related to the Roman Pagan cult of Mithras.
2007-12-22 01:46:26 · answer #1 · answered by Buke 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I looked at your link and saw the two fish. First off, we do not know the context of the mosaic. As fish were the main staple of all people around the world, it is common to find pictures of fish everywhere.
Why did Jesus feed the 5000 and the 4000 with fish?
From a religious standpoint it is a common anagram for Jesus Christ for the Greek root is "ichthus". This is an acrostic for :
i - Jesus
ch - Christ
th - Theo (God)
u - Urio (Son)
s - Savior
It makes no difference if it's one fish or two. What do YOU want to take from the symbolism?
2007-12-22 01:55:09 · answer #2 · answered by craig b 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They could have used more than one.
I think it was adopted as a sign for xians because they mostly
came from the fishing communities.
One of the early sayings of Jesus was: "I will make you fishers of men".
I dont know if it has anything
to do with the age of pisces, as people interpret it today.
2007-12-22 01:47:56 · answer #3 · answered by chris_muriel007 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
modern day Christians use one fish
the two fish represent Pisces ... the age of Pisces
2007-12-22 01:41:43 · answer #4 · answered by ☮ Pangel ☮ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Red fish, blue fish
Beautiful mosaic!
I think they only used one, but I would do some more research.
2007-12-22 01:41:10 · answer #5 · answered by J Fo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Icthus is one fish - nice mosaic though.
2007-12-22 01:40:55 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why use any fish at all?
love and blessings Don
2007-12-22 01:44:47 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
one fish is enough.
2007-12-22 01:41:17 · answer #8 · answered by chin 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋