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This is a chamber richly decorated with
pictures in the Pompeian style. There are panels painted to look like
marble and stucco reliefs. The chamber has an unusual architectural
plan with three niches for sarcophagi and a long bench for visitors
along the left wall.
Many episodes from the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
as well as from Greco-roman mythology allude to the resurrection and
the immortality of the soul. Among these are the Phoenix and the personification
of the Four Seasons.
In the far arch of the chamber one can see the "Fractio
Panis" (the Breaking of the Bread) and on the other side of this
arch Jesus calling Lazarus out from the tomb. Other figures in the
chamber recall salvation through baptism (Noah and Moses) or salvation
through divine intervention (Daniel in the Lion's Den, the Three Youths
in the Fiery Furnace, and the story of Susanna) |
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