On the ceiling of
a niche dug out from the upper wall of a gallery for a venerated tomb
one sees the Good Shepherd, a symbol of Christ amid trees with stucco
trunks with painted branches bearing red and green flowers. At the
far right there is a very evocative image of the Madonna and Child
with a prophet in a tunic and pallium pointing to a star considered
an allusion to the prophecy of Balaam: "A star shall come forth out
of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel" (Num 24:15-17).
The style of the fresco and its location (in one of the oldest areas
of the cemetery) contribute in dating the image to the beginning of
the third century A.D. making it the oldest known image of the Mother
of God. |