How Do We Know What Jesus Looked Like?

What Did Jesus Look Like?

1. In Western cultures, the most popular representation of Jesus Christ has been that of a bearded, fair-skinned man with long, wavy, light brown or blond hair and (often) blue eyes, who has been shown in this manner for millennia.
2. However, the Bible does not describe Jesus’ physical appearance, and all of the evidence we do have shows that he looked significantly different from how he has been shown for so many years.

What Does the Bible Say?

1. The Bible provides just a few hints as to Christ’s physical characteristics.
2. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which comprise the first four volumes of the New Testament, contain the majority of what we know about Jesus.
3. According to the Gospels, Jesus was a Jewish man who was born in Bethlehem and reared in the town of Nazareth in Galilee (then Palestine, now northern Israel) around the first century A.D., according to the New Testament.
4. While the Bible informs us that Jesus was around 30 years old when he began his ministry (Luke 3:23), it tells us almost little about his physical appearance, other than the fact that he didn’t stand out in any particular manner.
5. During Jesus’ imprisonment in the garden of Gethsemane before to his execution (Matthew 26:47-56) Judas Iscariot had to point out Jesus to his troops among the disciples, apparently because they all looked to be the same size as one another.

WATCH: JESUS: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Vault According to several academics, the passages from Revelation 1:14-15 provide evidence that Jesus’ complexion was a deeper shade and that his hair was of a shaggy texture.″His hairs were as white as white wool, as white as snow,″ the story claims of his head hairs.In the light of day, his eyes were like a blaze of fire, and his feet were like burnished bronze, purified as though by fire.″ ″We don’t know what he looked like, but if all of the things that we know about him are true, he was a Palestinian Jewish man living in Galilee in the first century,″ says Robert Cargill, assistant professor of classics and religious studies at the University of Iowa and editor of Biblical Archaeology Review.

″We don’t know what he looked like, but if all of the things that we know about him are true, he was a Palestinian Jewish man living in Galile Thus, his appearance was that of a Palestinian Jewish guy living in the first century AD.He would have had the appearance of a Jewish Galilean.″ READ MORE: Who Was the Author of the Bible?

How Have Depictions of Jesus Changed Over the Centuries?

1. Some of the oldest known artistic images of Jesus date back to the mid-third century A.D., more than two centuries after his death, according to archaeological evidence.
2. These are the paintings found in the ancient catacombs of St.
3. Domitilla in Rome, which were uncovered for the first time about four hundred years ago.
4. The paintings represent Jesus as the Good Shepherd, a youthful, short-haired, beardless man with a lamb wrapped over his shoulders, which was one of the most popular depictions of Jesus at the time of their creation.
5. Another early image of Jesus was discovered on the walls of a damaged chapel in southern Israel in 2018, adding to the growing collection of early portraits.

It is the earliest known image of Christ found in Israel, and it depicts him with shorter, curly hair, a depiction that was common to the eastern region of the Byzantine empire, particularly in Egypt and the Syria-Palestine region, but which was later lost to later Byzantine art.It was painted in the sixth century A.D., and it is the earliest known image of Christ found in Israel.MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT: Is this 1,500-year-old painting a depiction of Jesus’ physical appearance?

During the fourth century A.D., the long-haired, bearded picture of Jesus began to develop, which was significantly influenced by portrayals of Greek and Roman gods, notably the all-powerful Greek deity Zeus.As a result, Jesus began to appear dressed in a long robe and sitting on an elevated platform, such as the fifth-century mosaic on the altar of the Santa Pudenziana church in Rome, and occasionally with a crown of gold encircling his head.Joan Taylor, a professor of Christian origins and second temple Judaism at King’s College London, argued in The Irish Times that the goal of these depictions was never to depict Jesus as a human being, but rather to convey theological arguments about who Jesus was as Christ (King, Judge, and divine Son).″They have progressed through time to become the typical ‘Jesus’ that we know today.″ To be sure, not all depictions of Jesus are consistent with the prevailing picture of him that has been presented in Western art.

• In reality, he has been represented as a member of many different civilizations across the world, at least in terms of visual representation.
• Cultures tend to represent major religious leaders as having the appearance of the prevailing racial identity, as Cargill elucidates.
• MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT: The Bible asserts that Jesus was a real person.
• Is there any further evidence?

What Is the Shroud of Turin?

1. One of the most well-known of the many probable relics associated with Jesus that have appeared throughout the years is the Shroud of Turin, which was discovered in 1354 and has since become a worldwide sensation.
2. According to believers, Jesus was wrapped in the piece of linen after he was crucified and that the shroud has a distinct image of his face.
3. Many scholars, however, believe the shroud to be a forgery, and the Vatican even refers to it as a ″icon″ rather than a relic in its own documents.
4. ″The Shroud of Turin has been refuted on a couple of occasions as a medieval fake,″ says Cargill.
5. ″The Shroud of Turin has been debunked as a medieval forgery.″ In the words of the author, ″It’s part of a larger phenomenon that has existed since Jesus himself, of attempting to acquire and, if they can’t be acquired, to produce objects that were part of Jesus’ body, life, and ministry—for the purposes of either legitimizing his existence and the claims made about him, or, in some cases, harnessing his miraculous powers.

READ MORE: According to a forensic study, the Shroud of Turin does not represent Jesus’ burial cloth.

What Research and Science Can Tell Us About Jesus

1. An international team of forensic anthropologists and computer programmers led by retired medical artist Richard Neave collaborated on the creation of a new image of Jesus in 2001, using an Israeli skull from the first century A.D., computer modeling, and their knowledge of what Jewish people looked like at the time.
2. However, while no one asserts that this image is an exact reconstruction of what Jesus himself actually looked like, scholars believe that this image—roughly five feet tall and featuring darker skin tones and eyes as well as shorter, curlier hair—is more accurate than many artistic depictions of the son of God.
3. The author of What Did Jesus Look Like?
4. (2018) analyzed archaeological evidence, historical writings, and ancient Egyptian funerary art to reach the conclusion that Jesus, like the majority of people in Judea and Egypt at the time, had brown eyes, dark brown to black hair, and olive-brown skin tone.
5. The typical man’s height at the period was around 5-feet-5-inches (166 cm), so he may have stood about that height.

In spite of the fact that Cargill believes that these more contemporary depictions of Jesus—which include darker, maybe curlier hair, deeper skin tone, and dark eyes—are likely to be closer to the truth, he emphasizes that we will never be able to know precisely what Jesus looked like.″Can you imagine what Jewish Galileans looked like 2,000 years ago?″ he wonders.″That’s the question,″ says the author.

″It’s likely that they didn’t have blue eyes or blond hair.″

What did Jesus really look like?

1. Joan Taylor contributed to this article.
2. King’s College London is a prestigious educational institution.
3. Published on December 24th, 2015.
4. Everyone is familiar with the appearance of Jesus.
5. He is the most portrayed character in all of Western art, and he is easily recognized by his long hair and beard, as well as his long robe with long sleeves (typically white) and a cloak, which he wears everywhere (often blue).

As a result, Jesus may be recognized on pancakes and slices of bread.But did he truly have this appearance?In truth, this well-known image of Jesus dates back to the Byzantine period, from the 4th century onwards, and Byzantine portrayals of Jesus were symbolic rather than historically accurate – they were concerned with symbolism rather than factual accuracy.

In the Santa Pudenziana church in Rome, the altar mosaic depicts an emperor seated on his throne, and this was the inspiration for the mosaics used there.Jesus is clad in a toga made of gold.A statue of long-haired and bearded Olympian Zeus on a throne is well-known across the globe; in fact, the Roman Emperor Augustus had a duplicate of himself built in the same manner.Zeus is also renowned as the deity of thunder and lightning (without the godly long hair and beard).

• For the purpose of depicting the divine reign of Christ as cosmic King, Byzantine painters created a younger version of Zeus, who was known as Christ the Younger.
• This depiction of the heavenly Christ, which is occasionally updated in hippy fashion, has evolved into our typical model of the early Jesus as a result of historical development.
• So, what was Jesus’ physical appearance like?
• Let’s take it from top to bottom.

1. Hair and beard

1. In those instances where early Christians did not depict Christ as the celestial king, they depicted him as a regular man with a short beard and short hair.
2. Nevertheless, as a traveling sage, it is possible that Jesus wore a beard, for the simple reason that he did not visit barbers.
3. An individual philosopher (who was pondering about higher matters) was supposed to be distinguished from the rest of society by his general scruffiness and beard.
4. Epictetus, a Stoic philosopher, thought it was ″acceptable in accordance with Nature.″ Being clean-shaven and having short hair was thought extremely necessary in the first century Graeco-Roman civilization, if for no other reason.
5. A magnificent mane of luxuriant hair and a beard were divine features that were not matched in contemporary masculine fashion.

Even a philosopher wore his hair in a rather short style.In antiquity, having a beard was not considered to be a distinguishing characteristic of being a Jew.In reality, one of the difficulties for oppressors of Jews at various eras was distinguishing them from everyone else when they looked the same as everyone else (a point made in the book of Maccabees).

Jewish captives who are beardless, however, appear in depictions of Jewish males on Judaea Capta coins, which were minted by Rome following the conquest of Jerusalem in 70AD.So Jesus, as a philosopher with a ″natural″ appearance, may have had a short beard, like the men represented on Judaea Capta coinage, but his hair was most likely not extremely long, like the males depicted on Judaea Capta coinage.In the event that his hair had been even slightly longer, we would have expected some sort of reaction.When it came to Jewish males, those who had untidy beards and slightly long hair were instantly identified as those who had taken a Nazirite vow stood out.

• These individuals would commit themselves to God for a period of time, refrain from drinking alcohol or cutting their hair – and at the conclusion of this period, they would shave their heads in an unique ritual held in the Temple of Solomon (as described in Acts chapter 21, verse 24).
• However, Jesus did not adhere to the Nazirite vow, as evidenced by the fact that he is frequently spotted drinking wine – his enemies accuse him of consuming an excessive amount of it (Matthew chapter 11, verse 19).
• If he had long hair and looked like a Nazirite, we would have expected someone to point out the contradiction between what he appeared to be doing and what he was actually doing – the problem would be that he was actually drinking wine.

2. Clothing

1. During the time of Jesus, affluent men wore long robes on important occasions in order to flaunt their social standing in front of others.
2. The following is from one of Jesus’ teachings: ″Be wary of the scribes, who seek to stroll around the temple courts in long robes (stolai), to be saluted in the markets, to have the most important seats in the synagogues, and to be seated in the places of honour at feasts″ (Mark chapter 12, verses 38-39).
3. Because the sayings of Jesus are widely believed to be the more accurate sections of the Gospels, we can infer that Jesus did not actually wear such clothes.
4. An ankle-length tunic and chiton were the norm for males in Jesus’s time, while an ankle-length tunic was the norm for women, and swapping these around was a fashion statement in and of itself.
5. As a result, when Thecla, a woman, dresses in a short (male) tunic in the 2nd Century Acts of Paul and Thecla, it comes as a bit of a surprise.

They would typically have colored bands extending from the shoulder to the hem, and they may be made entirely of one piece of fabric.On top of the tunic, you would wear a mantle, also known as a himation, and we know that Jesus wore one of these since it was this that a lady touched when she requested to be cured by hom in the Gospel of Mark (see, for example, Mark chapter 5, verse 27).A mantle was a huge piece of woollen stuff, yet it was not particularly thick, so you would need to wear two of them to be sufficiently warm.

Histation, which could be worn in a variety of ways, including as a wrap, would fall beyond the knees and entirely cover the short tunic.The huge himation was worn without the tunic by certain austere thinkers, exposing their upper right torso, but it is an another tale altogether.The quality, size, and color of these mantles all served as indicators of power and status in their respective societies.Purple and certain shades of blue were associated with affluence and prestige.

• Because the dyes used to create these colors were extremely uncommon and expensive, they were referred to as ″royal colors.″ Colors, on the other hand, might signify something else.
• A gang of deadly transvestites, according to the historian Josephus, dressed in ″colored mantles″ (chlanidia), which denoted that they were women’s clothing, the Zealots (a Jewish faction that sought to drive the Romans out of Judea).
• Real men, unless they were of the greatest social position, should, according to this, dress in undyed garments.
• Jesus, on the other hand, did not dress in white.
• A notable feature of this hairstyle was that it required bleaching or chalking, and it was linked with a sect known as the Essenes, who adhered to a stringent interpretation of Jewish law.
• During a prayer session on a mountaintop with three apostles, Jesus begins to emit light, which is portrayed in Mark chapter 9 as the difference between Jesus’ garments and brilliant, white clothing.

As Mark describes it, Jesus’ himatia (in the plural, the term may refer to ″clothes″ or ″clothes″ rather than precisely ″mantles″) started off ″glistening and exceedingly white, as if no fuller on the face of the world could bleach them.″ As a result, before his transfiguration, Jesus is depicted by Mark as an average man, dressed in ordinary garments, in this instance undyed wool, the kind of material that would be sent to a fuller for processing.More information regarding Jesus’ attire is revealed after his death, when the Roman soldiers split his himatia (in this context, the term most likely refers to two mantles) into four portions, each of which contains a different piece of clothing (see John chapter 19, verse 23).One of these, most likely, was a tallith, or Jewish prayer shawl, in some way.

• This cloak with tassels (tzitzith) is expressly mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 23:5 when he speaks of the kingdom of God.
• A lightweight himation, typically constructed of undyed creamy-colored woollen material, and it was likely embellished with some sort of indigo stripe or threading, as was the case here.

3. Feet

1. Jesus would have walked about with sandals on his feet.
2. Everyone walked about in sandals.
3. Sandals from the time of Jesus have been discovered in desert caverns between the Dead Sea and Masada, allowing us to observe firsthand what they were like during the time of the Savior.
4. The soles were made of thick strips of leather that were sewed together, and the top sections were made of leather straps that went through the toes.
5. They were extremely plain and straightforward.

4. Features

1. And what about Jesus’s physical characteristics?
2. They were of Jewish descent.
3. The fact that Jesus was a Jew (or a Judaean) is unquestionable since it is repeated in a variety of literary sources, including the writings of Paul, provides more evidence.
4. Furthermore, as stated in the Letter to the Hebrews, ″it is unmistakable that our Lord was descended from the tribe of Judah.″ So, how do we see a Jew at this time, a guy who, according to Luke chapter 3, was ″around 30 years of age when he began,″ in this situation?
5. According to a BBC documentary, Son of God, developed in 2001 by forensic anthropologist Richard Neave, the model of a Galilean man was based on a real skull discovered in the region.

He did not assert that it was the face of Jesus.It was only intended to arouse people’s curiosity in Jesus as a man of his time and location, as we are never told that he appeared in a special manner.Although much has been done to reconstruct Jesus’ physical appearance from ancient bones, I believe the most accurate representation of Jesus’ physical appearance is found in the depiction of Moses that can be found on the walls of the Dura-Europos synagogue in the 3rd Century, because it demonstrates how the Graeco-Roman world imagined a Jewish sage.

Moses is depicted in undyed clothing, and his one mantle is in fact a tallith, because tassels (tzitzith) can be seen at the corners of the Dura image of Moses parting the Red Sea.The short hair and slight beard of this Jesus, as well as his short tunic with short sleeves and his himation, make this image a far more accurate basis for picturing the historical Jesus than the adaptations of the Byzantine Jesus that have become standard: the historical Jesus is dressed in a short tunic with short sleeves and a himation.Distinguished Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism at King’s College London, Joan Taylor is also the author of The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea (King’s College London Press).Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine’s email newsletter to get items delivered directly to your inbox on a regular basis.

What Did Jesus Look Like?

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The Bible’s answer

• Because Jesus’ personal appearance is not detailed in the Bible, no one knows what he looked like in his physical appearance. This suggests that the bodily characteristics of Jesus are unimportant. The Bible, on the other hand, does provide us with a basic description of Jesus’ physical appearance. Characteristics: Jesus was a Jew, therefore it is possible that he received common Semitic characteristics from his mother. (See also Hebrews 7:14.) It is doubtful that his physical characteristics were very distinguishing. He was able to travel in stealth from Galilee to Jerusalem on one occasion, and he did it without being discovered. (See also John 7:10, 11) And he did not appear to stand out even among his closest disciples, according to reports. Remember that Judas Iscariot was tasked with identifying Jesus to the armed mob that had surrounded him when he was arrested? —Matthew 26:47-49.
• Mark 12:47-49. Because the Bible states that ″long hair is a shame to a man,″ it’s improbable that Jesus had long hair. —1 Corinthians 11:14
• Beard: Jesus had a beard on his face. He did so in accordance with Jewish law, which forbade adult males from ″disfiguring the margins of their beards.″ (See also Leviticus 19:27 and Galatians 4:4). In addition, the Bible makes reference to Jesus’ beard in a prophesy of his suffering. [See also Isaiah 50:6.] Body: All indicators point to Jesus being in good physical condition. During his ministry, he covered a great deal of ground. The Bible records that Jesus cleansed the Jewish temple twice, first by toppling the tables of money changers, and secondly by driving out cattle with a whip (Matthew 9: 35). (2:14–15
• Luke 19:45–46
• John 2:14–15) Volume IV, page 884 of McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia argues that ″the entire evangelical story shows strong and vigorous bodily condition.″ The facial expressions of Jesus: Jesus was a loving and caring person, and his facial expressions undoubtedly reflected this. (Matthew 11:28
• Matthew 11:29) People from many walks of life came to him for consolation and assistance. (See also Luke 5:12, 13
• 7:37, 38.) Even youngsters appeared to be at comfortable in his company. Jesus said in Matthew 19:13-15 and Mark 9:35-37,

Misconceptions about Jesus’ appearance

1. As a result of the book of Revelation’s comparisons of Jesus’ hair to wool and his feet to ″burnished bronze,″ some believe that Jesus must have been of African heritage.
2. According to the New Jerusalem Bible (Revelation 1: 14, 15).
3. Fact: The book of Revelation is delivered ″in signs,″ as the title suggests.
4. The Book of Revelation (Revelation 1:1) While the description of Jesus’ hair and feet is written in symbolic language, it is not intended to represent his physical appearance while he was on earth.
5. Instead, it is intended to illustrate the traits of Jesus following his resurrection.

When it says that Jesus’ ″head and his hair were white as white wool, as snow,″ the author of Revelation 1: 14 is comparing color rather than texture to describe Jesus’ appearance.This shows the wisdom he has gained as a result of his age.Revelation 3: 14 (KJV) Neither the texture of Jesus’ hair nor the texture of snow are being compared in this verse; rather, they are being compared in this verse to the texture of wool and snow, respectively.

″Jesus’ feet looked like fine copper when it was blazing in a furnace,″ according to the author.(15:15) (Revelation 1: 15) In addition, his face was ″as dazzling as the sun when it is shining at its brightest.″ According to Revelation 1:16, This vision, which depicts the resurrected Jesus as the one ″who dwells in unapproachable brightness,″ must be symbolic, because no race possesses skin tone that corresponds to these descriptions.Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6:16.Misconception: Jesus was a fragile and helpless man.

• The truth is that Jesus acted in a masculine manner.
• For example, he bravely identified himself to the armed throng that had gathered to apprehend him and take him into custody.
• (See John 18:4-8.) Jesus must have also been physically fit in order to have worked as a carpenter with hand tools on the cross.
• —Matthew 6:3.
• So, why did Jesus want assistance in carrying his torture stake?
• And why did he die before the other people who were killed beside him?

(Luke 23:26; John 19:31-33; Acts 2:42) Jesus’ corpse was in a state of significant decomposition just before his execution.He’d been up all night, in part because of the emotional torment he was experiencing.(Luke 22:42-44; cf.

• Overnight, the Jews abused him, and the next morning, the Romans tormented him until he died from his injuries.
• According to the Scriptures (Matthew 26:67, 68; John 19:1-3) Such things almost certainly contributed to his death.
• A common misconception is that Jesus was usually depressed and sad.
• The truth is that Jesus accurately represented the characteristics of his heavenly Father, Jehovah, who is referred to in the Bible as ″the cheerful God.″ Among the passages cited are 1 Timothy 1:11 and John 14:9.
• In fact, Jesus demonstrated to others how to be content.
• (Matthew 5:3-9; Luke 11:28; John 5:19) These findings demonstrate that Jesus’ facial expressions frequently indicated his contentment.

What Did Jesus Really Look Like?

1. Is there anyone who can provide an answer to the question ″What did Jesus look like?″ Staff of the Biblical Archaeology Society on July 24, 2021 82068 views and 4 comments What was Jesus’ physical appearance like?
2. The cover of the November/December 2010 edition of BAR has a juxtaposition of two creative renderings of Jesus’ visage, which has become rather famous.
3. Photo courtesy of the BBC Photo Library (on the left); mosaic of Jesus from the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey/photo courtesy of Pavle Marjanovic (on the right) (right).
4. Our attention has been sparked by novelists, screenwriters, and casting directors, among others.
5. Jesus is perhaps one of the most well-known and talked-about figures in ancient history, if not the most well-known.

But what was Jesus’ physical appearance like?D.Moody Smith studied the problems involved in addressing this issue in his article ″Painting a Portrait of Jesus″ (which is included here) published in the Biblical Archaeology Review.

In many ancient stories of a person’s life, we can get a sense of what the individual looked like physically.For example, the Old Testament informs us that King David was ruddy and attractive in appearance.In contrast, the New Testament makes no mention of the question, ″What did Jesus look like?″ We also don’t know much about Jesus’ personal life, as Smith points out in his piece, which you can read here.There is some information about his family in the Gospels: his mother and brothers (including James, who rose to become a leader of the first-century church in Jerusalem) are identified, and there are references to nameless sisters.

• Although Jesus is referred to as ″son of Joseph″ in John 1:45, Joseph is not featured as a player in the subsequent Nativity tales.
• Some of Jesus’ supporters were female, including Mary Magdalene, who was crucified with him.
• The Gospel of John suggests a close relationship between Jesus and Mary, as seen by her participation in the resurrection account.
• Mary Magdalene, as portrayed by Nikos Kazantzakis in The Last Temptation of Christ and Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code, was Jesus’ wife or not.
• Most Jewish males would have been married by this time, but it does not appear that this was the case with Jesus’ contemporary John the Baptist.
• And the apostle Paul says that he was a bachelor at the time.

As a result, the possibility of Jesus being unmarried and celibate was extremely real.The catacombs of Rome include the earliest known images of Jesus Christ.But did the people of Rome have any idea what Jesus looked like in real life?

• Could they have known the answer to this question?
• He was shown as a shepherd with no beard in the painting.
• By the fourth century, Jesus is depicted with a beard, which is similar to how we commonly see him pictured now.

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1. With an All-Access pass, you may access more than 9,000 articles from the Biblical Archaeology Society’s extensive collection, as well as much more.
2. Since antiquity, gaps in the historical record of Jesus have encouraged writers to concoct other narratives.
3. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas narrates the story of a young Jesus who makes birds out of mud.
4. When it comes to Jesus’ connection with Judas Iscariot, the Gospel of Judas takes a more favorable stance.
5. In his article ″Painting a Portrait of Jesus,″ D.

Moody Smith poses the following question: Any of these authors were able to provide a more specific solution to the question ″What did Jesus truly look like?″ No, not at all.We’ll simply have to make do with our imaginations.

Painting a Portrait of Jesus

by D. Moody Smith

1. We are inundated with stories about Jesus.
2. It shouldn’t come as a surprise.
3. Although Jesus is the most well-known historical figure, he is also the least well-known in many aspects.
4. This would be an excellent subject for a novelist.
5. The look of the subject is described in most ancient bioi (the Greek plural of the word for ″life″), just as it is in current bios.

Even portrayals of King David in the Old Testament, for example, make reference to his physical loveliness (1 Samuel 16:12; 17:42).However, there is no mention of Jesus’ physical appearance in the New Testament Gospels, much alone a description of him.We don’t know what he looked like when we met him.

It is interesting to note that this unexpected omission is consistent with the New Testament’s portrayal of Jesus in general.We are given very little information about his personal life or connections.His immediate family is the one exception.Throughout the gospel account (Mark 6:1–6), his mother, brothers, and sisters play important roles.

• It appears that his brother James, who had not previously been a disciple, claimed to have seen the rising Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:7).
• After that, James rose to prominence as a significant figure in the early church (Galatians 1:18–19; 2:9).
• However, Joseph does not appear during Jesus’ career, and he is only occasionally referred to as ″son of Joseph″ (John 1:45).
• From antiquity, it has been deduced that Joseph died before the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.
• That is a possibility, however we are not informed of it in the New Testament as it is.
• Joseph is just missing from the scene.

Aside from the fact that women were among his followers (Mark 15:40–41; Luke 8:1–3), we don’t know anything about Jesus’ connection with women.Mary Magdalene was one of the most prominent of these women.The only person who sees Jesus after he has risen from the dead, according to the Gospel of John, is Mary Magdalene (John 20:11–18).

• This heartwarming scenario implies a deep friendship between the two characters that is not else portrayed in the Gospels.
• Was their connection sexually explicit?
• Was she the mother of Jesus’ progeny?
• The popular novel The Da Vinci Code, written by Dan Brown, is based on the premise that he did.
• The purported truths about Jesus that are ″exposed″ along the course of the book’s story are, in reality, fabricated inventions.
• The idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene was first proposed in Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel The Last Temptation of Christ, which was published in 2004.

You may get further free articles about Jesus by visiting the historical Jesus study page in Bible History Daily (Bible History Daily).Of course, any typical Jewish man would have been married at the time of the incident.But was Jesus a ″typical″ person, or were the times atypical?In reality, the idea that Jesus was married is highly implausible based on historical evidence alone.John the Baptist served as Jesus’ preceptor.

The Baptist’s food, clothing, and location in the desert were all unbecoming of a married man (Mark 1:4–6).The Baptist, like the Jewish occupants of the Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls) group, lived in the wilderness, practicing asceticism and waiting for God’s involvement in ordinary history, as did the Jews of the Qumran community.Paul of Tarsus, Jesus’ apostle and himself a Jew, was likewise unmarried at the time of Jesus’ death and advised Christians to continue as they were since a period of crisis was approaching (1 Corinthians 7:25–31).Jesus himself talked of individuals who had chosen to be eunuchs (celibate) for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:12), a reference that was very certainly intended to be a reference to his own practice.

The catacombs of Rome include some of the oldest known images of Jesus Christ.The portrait is stereotyped, as are many other portraits from this time period as well.In these images, Jesus is shown as the Good Shepherd, complete with no beard.

1. But by the fourth century, he has grown a beard and is beginning to resemble a more recognisable figure.
2. There are significant lacunae, or blank spaces, in the Gospel accounts of his life that are appealing to fiction authors, both ancient and modern, to fill in the blanks.
3. When Jesus was five years old, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (not to be confused with the Nag Hammadi gospel attributed to Thomas) speaks of his creating 12 birds from clay in a brook, probably ignorant that it was the Sabbath.

1. The youngster is reprimanded by Joseph, after which Jesus claps his hands and the birds take flight.
2. Peter’s Gospel, often known as the Gospel of Peter, recounts the emergence of the resurrected Jesus from the tomb in amazing and plainly legendary language.
3. The Gospel of Judas, which was just released, tells the tale of Jesus’ positive relationship with Judas Iscariot, and how his betrayal was, in reality, an act of loyalty to Jesus.
4. Recent novels and films have continued to fill in the gaps left by the previous generation.
5. —————— In the March/April 2007 edition of Biblical Archaeology Review, D.

Moody Smith published ″Painting a Portrait of Jesus,″ which is based on his article.The piece was originally published in Bible History Daily in December 2011 and has since been republished several times.

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4. Here is your invitation to come along with us as we learn more and more about the biblical world and its inhabitants.
5. Each issue of Biblical Archaeology Review has papers that are richly illustrated and easy to read, such as the following: Discoveries from the time periods of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament are fascinating.

The most recent research by some of the world’s most renowned archaeologists and outstanding scholars Color pictures, maps, and infographics that are both beautiful and educational BAR’s distinct divisions, such as First Person and Strata, are examples of this.Book reviews of the most recent publications in biblical archaeology The BAS Digital Library contains the following resources: Biblical Archaeology Review has been publishing for more than 45 years.Bible Review has been online for more than two decades, presenting critical readings of biblical texts.

The Archaeology Odyssey online series has been running for eight years, investigating the ancient origins of the Western civilization in a rigorous and engaging manner.The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land is a comprehensive resource on archaeology in the Holy Land.Experts from across the world deliver video lectures.Complete online access to more than 50 well chosen Special Collections, Four highly regarded volumes were released in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution: Aspects of Monotheism, Feminist Approaches to the Bible, The Rise of Ancient Israel, and The Search for Jesus.

• Aspects of Monotheism is a collection of essays on the history of monotheism.
• With the All-Access membership package, you can learn whatever you want about the Bible through biblical archaeology.

Is it Possible to Really Know What Jesus Looked Like?

1. In the words of the Rev.
2. Billy Graham, from his writings The Bible does not tell us what Jesus looked like, save from a few indications offered in Isaiah 53, and there were no paintings or sketches of Him created during His lifetime.
3. Artists have tried to picture what He must have looked like throughout history, but the fact is that we don’t know.
4. We can only speculate.
5. For a very excellent reason, I’ve decided to do this.

God foresaw that if we had an exact depiction of Jesus, we would be tempted to worship it instead of adoring Jesus Himself.So he created a portrait of Jesus that was accurate.It is possible that we will even descend into a form of idolatry, which is unacceptable.

But, one day, we will be able to see what the resurrected Christ looks like, since one day, everyone will be able to see Him.Those of us who have come to know Him as Savior will spend the rest of our lives in His presence.In fact, the Bible states that when we do, ″we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He truly is″ (1 John 3:2).That is the case, and we shall then partake in His resurrected glory, as well as share in His spotless perfection.

• While the Bible does not provide us with a physical representation of Jesus Christ, it does provide us with a representation of His heart, and it tells us not to despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, ″knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance″ (Romans 2:4).
• (Romans 2:4).
• His love for mankind is so tremendous that He is willing to forgive man’s sin and to reserve a place in Heaven for each and every one of those who will turn to Him in repentance.
• There is no greater love than this.
• That is the question that everyone must ask themselves: Are we prepared for that magnificent day?
• We must all come to the point when we either embrace Him as Savior and follow Him, or we must reject Him, and it is this decision that decides our everlasting future.

(The words and writings of the late Rev.Billy Graham serve as the foundation for this column.)

What did Jesus really look like?

1. ALAMY A picture of a bearded man (161-180) on a mummy from Fayyum, Egypt, painted with encaustic on wood.
2. The mummy is dated 161-180.
3. In the second and early third centuries, identifying the appearance of Jesus was made more difficult by the fact that most men had beards, and in some cases had hair reaching the nape of their necks.
4. MORE IMAGES CAN BE FOUND IN THE GALLERY.
5. A picture of a bearded man (161-180) on a mummy from Fayyum, Egypt, painted with encaustic on wood.

The mummy is dated 161-180.″Identifying the appearance of Jesus in the second and early third centuries.Since the release of my book What Did Jesus Look Like?, a number of individuals have approached me and inquired as to how I became interested in the subject.

I’m sure I’d been thinking about it since I was asked to draw Jesus at Sunday school for the very first time.There were drawings of Jesus with light-brown hair and blue eyes in my children’s Bible, but I also had a King James Bible (given to me by an uncle at my baptism) with illustrations by Edward S.Hardy, which I used as well.The artist Evelyn Stuart Hardy, like many other artists working in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, represented Jesus and his disciples as Europeans dressed in Palestinian garb.

• Rather of a keffiyeh (scarf), which is folded over his head and tied with an agal (rope), Jesus chooses to dress in the traditional manner.
• He wears on his body the thobe (long, sleeved shirt), jibbeh (thin-striped coat), and abaya (long, sleeved dress) (cloak).
• Clearly, Hardy was attempting to depict a more realistic Middle Eastern Jesus in her film, and she succeeded.
• It is, however, entirely out of date: in the past 2000 years, attire in the Middle East, as in the rest of the world, has evolved dramatically.
• I had a passion for painting and continued to sketch depictions of Jesus throughout my adolescence.
• One of them was based on one of Hardy’s pictures, and another was based on a photograph of an Afghan guy, both of which I recall doing.

My Jesus was the traditional long-haired, bearded Jesus in long robes, with light brown hair that was slightly Eastern-styled, but otherwise the standard Jesus.This is, of course, how Jesus is shown in films, despite the fact that he is becoming increasingly scruffy in appearance.When I was in my twenties, I went on a trip to Israel and Palestine, where I got attracted with the discovery of old pieces of fabric in archaeological digs.

• Such relics demonstrate that the inhabitants of Judaea wore a different form of clothing in the first century than the kind that I had envisaged.
• As a result, they are consistent with attire seen on the walls of Pompeii or in pictures on Egyptian mummies.
• This is because, culturally, Judaea was a part of the Graeco-Roman civilization, and individuals dressed in ″Western″ fashion.
• There were undoubtedly some regional variations — for example, Judaean women tended to wear veils when they didn’t in Roman circumstances — but, in general, the clothing code was the same across the empire.
• The fact that Jesus would have looked like the people I saw in this region of the globe was also a stark reminder to me: he would have been a Palestinian or a Sephardi Jew, with brown complexion and black hair, just as I had imagined.
• ALAM In the fourth-century church of Santa Pudenziana in Rome, a mosaic in the apse, which was repaired in the sixteenth century.

″Christ is the ‘ruler of all,’ and this is a scenario of cosmic judgment at the end of the present world,″ says the author.I authored a book on John the Baptist a few years later, titled The Immerser: John the Baptist in Second Temple Judaism (Eerdmans, 1997), which was published in 1997.They also mentioned how important John’s physical appearance was: he clothed in camel hair (sackcloth) with a skin tied around his waist, much like people believed Elijah would have (Mark 1.6 and parallels).It was critical to include a description of John’s clothing in order to help people understand his significance.It occurred to me at the time that the Gospels did not provide a portrait of Jesus that was comparable.

After spending so much time describing what John looked like, Jesus is merely described as ″coming from Nazareth of Galilee″ in St Mark’s Gospel, with no more physical description of himself.Later in the Gospels, individuals fail to recognize Jesus after he has risen from the dead, but we are not informed how he looked to be different from what he had been previously.We don’t notice since we ″know″ what Jesus looked like based on depictions in art.We have a template of what Jesus looked like imprinted on our minds from an early age, and we envisage him in the manner in which we were taught.

Without this, however, the absence of a description is concerning, since as people of faith, we desire to correctly visualize and describe Jesus’ story and person.We have an emotional reaction to the picture.In my book, I take the reader on a trip through time, from the Veronica cloth to the Turin Shroud, to see whether there is anything in these sacred artifacts that indicates a genuine memory of Jesus’s apparition.

1. However, in the end, this probe came up empty-handed.
2. I did learn some interesting things along the way, though, such as the fact that the tale of Veronica is considerably older than I had previously realized, and that the original Veronica (in Greek, Berenice) was believed to be the woman who had the issue of blood with the devil (Mark 5.25-34 and parallels).
3. After that, I went back to the Byzantine era (fourth century onward) and early Christian art (third century onward), and discovered that Jesus was depicted in the style of various Graeco-Roman gods: either with long curly hair and a beard, as with Zeus/Serapis, or else with short curly hair and no beard, as with Dionysus, among others.

1. The message was clear: Jesus was divine in every way.
2. Nonetheless, we are left with the Zeus-type of Jesus as our basic paradigm, which has been altered over time.
3. He is dressed in regal clothing (as befits a king) that are lengthy, highly colored, and have broad sleeves.
4. Then there were the catacomb depictions of Jesus as a sort of Moses, complete with the miracle-working staff, which depicted him as a kind of philosopher.
5. Moses appears to be quite attractive in this image, with shorter, coarser hair and a light beard (Moses was regarded beautiful), while one school of thought in the Early Church felt he was ugly and short, most likely based on reading Isaiah 53.

(see Origen, Contra Celsum 6.75).Another school of thought said that Jesus’ appearance changed on a regular basis, depending on whether or not the spectator believed in him.Although the Moses-type pictures appear to me to be the most useful, Jesus himself appeared to me to be a kind of wise old man (or woman).People have also inquired as to why I believe this research is significant.When expressed in a hostile manner on social media, this might be as follows: ″What’s the point?″ It makes the assumption that I am asking a frivolous inquiry, and it ignores the fact that Jesus is actually significant in my life.Actually, as I attempt to demonstrate in the book, if we begin to hunt for signs and proof of Jesus’s true appearance, we will learn something about him as a result of our efforts.

• Our physical appearance is not the only thing that matters.
• It is not just about our ethnicity, but also about the color of our skin, hair, and eyes.
• What we do with our body has an impact on our overall look.
• We all dress our bodies in specific ways and style our hair in specific ways.

Our whole appearance is a combination of our physical appearance and the actions we do to display ourselves to the rest of the world.Jesus would have dressed in the traditional manner of his day, in a woollen tunic and a mantle (a big rectangular fabric), both of which would have been uncolored.It was frequently decorated with colored stripes that ran from shoulder to hem, and it was usually short, ending about the knees for males, and long, ending around the ankles for women, depending on the style.

Tunics for affluent men might also be lengthy and fashioned of luxurious fabrics, which served to advertise their riches, social standing, and leisure.Jesus, on the other hand, did not dress in long robes because he clearly criticizes males who do so as being different from himself (Mark 12.38).ALL RIGHTS RESTRICTIONS APPLY JOAN TAYLOR’S PERSONAL WEBSITE In the Letter of Lentulus, a fabricated account of Jesus’s trial that appeared in the late 14th century, depictions of Christ with a European appearance are influenced by the story of the emerald vernicle (c.1500), an English example of depictions of Christ with a European appearance, influenced by the story of the emerald vernicle (c.

1500), an English example of depictions of Christ with a European appearance (Matthew 9.20, 14.26).In contrast to the common understanding of the word ″hem,″ the Greek word kraspedon, which means ″edge,″ is used as a technical phrase to translate the Hebrew tsitsith, which was a tassel made of blue thread that all Israelite men were required to wear on the four corners of their mantles (Numbers 15.38-9).Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for wearing tassels (″edges″) on their garments to advertise their piety.He clearly utilized the attire of other individuals as a means of identifying the source of the problem.He then donned a short tunic with short tassels and a cloak with shorter fringes.

• But there’s more to it than that.
• When I looked into what was stated about Jesus in the second century, as documented by the anti-Christian scholar Celsus, I discovered that there were some strange recollections of the way he appeared to be.
• ″Jesus walked around very shamelessly in the presence of everyone,″ the Bible says (Origen, Contra Celsum 6.10; translated by Henry Chadwick).
• He was described as ″a wanderer…
• an outcast who went around with his body in disgracefully disheveled″ by the author (2.38).

1. a disheartening appearance Jesus’ tunic was composed of a single piece, which corresponds to what we know from John 19.23-24, which states that Jesus’ tunic was one piece.
2. While there were one-piece tunics produced well and woven to shape in subsequent centuries, particularly in Egypt, at this time a one-piece tunic was generally an under-tunic, as was the case in the Middle Ages.
3. Tunics for the outside of the body were formed of two sections that were linked at the shoulder and sides.

1. As a result, Jesus’ physical appearance is consistent with his teaching.
2. He urged his followers to give away their goods to the destitute, which they did (Matthew 19.20-22).
3. It is likely that he would have followed John the Baptist’s instruction, which states: ″Whoever has two tunics, let them give one to the one who has none″ (Luke 3.11).
4. Those who are destined for the Kingdom of God are described as follows in Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats: ″I was unclad, and you placed something around my waist″ (Matthew 25.36).

He dispatched his apostles, instructing them not to wear two tunics at the same time (Mark 6.9).Jesus was more than only compassionate toward the poor; he also dressed in the manner of those in need.Walking throughout Galilee, Jesus invited individuals to join a group of disciples who were not wealthy in their own right, where no one would be absolutely destitute, without clothing or food: among those who sought the Kingdom and his righteousness, enough clothing would be given for everybody to wear (Matthew 6.25-34).

Joan E.Taylor is a Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism at King’s College, London, where she has taught for more than 30 years.What Was the Physical Appearance of Jesus?Flowers for Algernon, released by Bloomsbury on March 23rd, is priced at £17.99 (CT Bookshop £16.20).

What did Jesus look like, and does it matter?

1. Q.
2. This may seem like a ridiculous question, but do we have any idea what Jesus looked like?
3. Is it really that important?
4. A.
5. There is a level of complexity to this subject that may not be immediately apparent.

Because, after all, Jesus Christ is described as ″the image of the invisible God″ (Colossians 1:15).″Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,″ Jesus himself has stated (John 14:9).When the Word became flesh, he did so in order for us to be able to see and understand him.

It appears that being able to view Jesus is a positive experience.Even more amazing, the Incarnation exposes the very nature of God himself, which is a revelation in itself.The completeness of revelation is most closely associated with the words and deeds of Jesus throughout his time on this planet.There is no mention of ″Jesus stretched out his long finger and scribbled in the dirt on the ground″ or ″Jesus stared through his piercing, dark eyes at the rich young man″ in the Gospels.

• In the beginning of the Book of Revelation, St.
• John uses figurative language to describe Jesus’ appearance, and in his prophecy about the Suffering Servant, Isaiah describes something of Christ’s appearance, but these are less about the actual visage of Jesus and more about the nature of how he looked.
• Based on this, we might conclude that knowing what Jesus looked like is far less crucial than knowing his identity.
• His true identity is exposed via the words he spoke and the actions he took.
• In terms of artistic representations of Christ, there is a staggering range of options.
• Some of it is fine art, and some of it is awful art.

Some are good theologians, while some are awful theologians, depending on your point of view.A lesson or revelation is intended to be conveyed through the imagery.It is essential that what they share be correct.

• Nonetheless, regardless of the artist’s ability and neutrality, practically all depictions of Jesus are ultimately caricatures; one aspect of the picture is exaggerated at the expense of the entire image.
• When it comes to representations of Jesus in art, the same holds true.
• They are products of their period, as well as of the element of Christ that the artist is attempting to express via his work of art.
• They are ultimately constrained by the constraints imposed by the creator.
• We’ve all heard the criticism of Hollywood’s ″blond haired and blue-eyed Jesus,″ as he’s been dubbed.
• That’s good, but it’s no more limited than the ″African Jesus″ or the ″Asian Jesus″ were in their scope.

If it serves to remind us that Jesus identifies with all human beings, regardless of color or nationality, this may really be a positive development.Yes, Jesus was of Semitic descent.As a result, he would have seemed to be no different than any other Jewish guy of his period and location.He would have had a dark complexion and black eyes, and he would have been a man of substance.He was most likely approximately five and a half feet tall and weighed less than 200 pounds, if not less.

Mary was the only woman who contributed to Jesus’ DNA in its whole.In many aspects, he would have resembled her in appearance.The Shroud of Turin appears to be authentic in that it appears to be a very realistic ″picture″ of Jesus.Naturally, it is possible that it is not legitimate, but it is my understanding that the most recent study has upheld its authenticity.

No matter how well-executed a piece of Jesus art is, its availability will always be limited.Some of them will be unaffected by us.So, what are our options?

1. Is there no such thing as a ″face″ of Jesus?
2. We have at least two, if not more.
3. First and foremost, Jesus connects himself with those who are poor, immigrant, marginalized, widowed, and orphaned, among others.

1. To get a sense of what Jesus looks like, we just have to look at individuals who are rejected by the rest of society.
2. We are preoccupied with good-looking people, as well as with those who are strong and healthy.
3. Beauty and power are valuable, and they mirror something of God in their manifestation.
4. Jesus, on the other hand, identifies himself more with the weak and the rejected than with the powerful and popular.
5. The other representation of Jesus is equally as stunning and intriguing as the first.

In contrast to all other pictures of Jesus in the world, which are all approximations of what Jesus could have looked like, the Eucharist is the actual presence of Jesus.We are looking at art.We take a look at the icons.The presence of Christ in the Eucharist is something we can see and feel.In the Eucharist, his face is both visible and invisible to the observer.Father Schmitz is the director of adolescent and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and the chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

• He is also a chaplain at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
• You may reach him by email at [email protected].
• Catholic, Christian, and Jesus are some of the terms used.
• Ask Father Mike is a category that contains a variety of questions.

The long history of how Jesus came to resemble a white European

1. The post was published on July 22, 2020, and the update was published on July 22, 2020.
2. By Anna Swartwood House, [email protected], courtesy of the University of South Carolina No one knows what Jesus looked like, and there are no known photos of him during his time on the earth.
3. Anna Swartwood House, an art history professor, writes in The Conversation on the tangled history of pictures of Christ and how they have fulfilled a variety of functions throughout history.
4. When it comes to portraying Jesus as a white, European guy, there has been heightened scrutiny during this era of reflection on the history of racism in our culture.
5. At a time when demonstrators in the United States demanded for the destruction of Confederate monuments, activist Shaun King went even farther, stating that paintings and artwork representing ″white Jesus″ should be ″demolished.″ His worries regarding the image of Christ and how it is used to promote conceptions of racial supremacy are not unique to him or to the church.

Prominent scholars, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, have urged for a reexamination of Jesus’ image as a white man in Christian literature.The developing image of Jesus Christ from A.D.1350 to 1600 is the subject of my research as a European Renaissance art historian.

During this time period, some of the most well-known images of Christ were created, from Leonardo da Vinci’s ″Last Supper″ in the Sistine Chapel to Michelangelo’s ″Last Judgment″ in the Vatican Museum.However, the image of Jesus that has been replicated the most is from a different historical period.It is Warner Sallman’s ″Head of Christ,″ a light-eyed, light-haired sculpture from 1940.Sallman, a former commercial artist who specialized in creating artwork for advertising campaigns, was successful in marketing this photograph across the world.

• Sallman’s collaborations with two Christian publishing houses, one Protestant and one Catholic, resulted in the inclusion of the Head of Christ on a wide range of items, including prayer cards, stained glass, fake oil paintings, calendars, hymnals, and night lights, among other things.
• Sallman’s painting is the culmination of a lengthy tradition of white Europeans who have created and disseminated images of Christ that are in their own image.

In search of the holy face

1. Historically, the actual Jesus most likely had brown eyes and complexion similar to those of other first-century Jews from Galilee, which is a location in biblical Israel No one, however, is certain about Jesus’ physical appearance.
2. In addition, there are no known photos of Jesus during his lifetime, and whereas the Old Testament kings Saul and David are specifically described in the Bible as ″tall and attractive,″ there is no evidence of Jesus’ physical appearance in either the Old or New Testaments.
3. Even these passages are in conflict with one another: The prophet Isaiah writes that the coming savior ″had neither beauty nor majesty,″ whereas the Book of Psalms states that he was ″fairer than the children of mankind,″ with the term ″fair″ alluding to physical attractiveness.
4. It was around the first through third century A.D.
5. that the earliest representations of Jesus Christ appeared, amidst worries about idolatry.

They were less concerned with accurately portraying Christ’s physical appearance than they were with establishing his function as a ruler or as a savior.Early Christian painters frequently used syncretism, which is the combination of visual formats from other civilizations, in order to clearly show their functions.A common syncretic picture is Christ as the Good Shepherd, a beardless, young figure based on pagan images of Orpheus, Hermes, and Apollo that is perhaps the most widely recognized.

In some popular portrayals, Christ is depicted as wearing the toga or other qualities associated with the emperor.One interpretation is that the adult bearded Christ with long hair done in the ″Syrian″ style combines traits of the Greek god Zeus with the Old Testament hero Samson, among others.The theologian Richard Viladesau disagrees.

Christ as self-portraitist

1. Portraits of Christ that were considered authoritative likenesses were thought to be self-portraits: the miraculous ″image not formed by human hands,″ or acheiropoietos, which means ″image not made by human hands.″ This belief dates back to the seventh century A.D., and it is based on a legend that Christ healed King Abgar of Edessa in modern-day Urfa, Turkey, through a miraculous image of his face, now known as the Mandylion.
2. The Mandylion is a miraculous image of Christ’s face that was created by the Holy Spirit.
3. Between the 11th and 14th centuries, a similar legend spread throughout Western Christianity, telling how, before his crucifixion, Christ left an impression of his face on the veil of Saint Veronica, an image known as the volto santo, or ″Holy Face,″ which became known as the volto santo, or ″Holy Face.″ Together with other comparable relics, these two portraits have served as the foundation for iconic legends regarding the ″real image″ of Christ.
4. If