By Stephen Doster

In 1955, construction began on a new apartment building (Figure 1) located between the Via Latina and the Via Dino Compagni, two streets in southeast Rome (Figures 2 and
3). Workers pouring concrete for the building’s foundation were surprised to see the material quickly disappear into the ground. When they traced the seepage to its origin, they discovered a catacomb that had been sealed and hidden from public access centuries earlier. Deep within the catacomb is a fresco of a woman and a man standing on either side of a well. This paper will analyze the fresco known as “Christ and the Samaritan
Woman” of the Via Latina Catacomb.
The fresco (Figure 4) depicts a scene from John, chapter 4, in which Christ encounters an unnamed Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. In this image, a beardless and very Roman-looking Jesus stands to the right of a well (facing the fresco), which resembles a large jar with a wide lip, half buried in the ground. He wears a tunic that extends below his knees and Roman sandals. His hair is curly and cut short. His face is pale and round, more European than Middle Eastern. The Samaritan woman stands on the left side of the well. She, too, is well dressed in a tunic that extends almost to her ankles. She wears Roman shoes and appears to have Italian features. Her dark hair is parted in the middle and falls almost to her shoulders. Earrings are visible on both of her ear lobes. She holds a rope attached to an amphora in her left hand. The other end of the rope is attached to a windlass, which rests behind the well, used to lower vessels. It appears that the woman is in the process of lowering the amphora into the well since there are no signs that the vessel is already wet or that water has dripped on the lip of the well. However, due to the lack of detail in the painting, as will be described later, it
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could be just as likely that she has already drawn water, which would more accurately adhere to the narrative of Christ’s encounter with the Samaritan woman.
Shrubs and trees indicate that the scene is set in a rural location similar to the one depicted in Figure 5, near the modern-day city of Nablus, formerly the village of Sychar located about sixty miles north of Jerusalem (Figures 6, 7, and 8). Her right hand points to Jesus’ left hand, which appears to have been defaced as has the area around his right foot. He extends his right hand outward, about shoulder high.
i
The scene of Christ’s encounter with the Samaritan women is not uncommon in early illuminations and catacombs. Figure 9 is a rendering of an early example of this motif from the second century catacomb of Praetextatus.
ii The positions and postures of the woman and Jesus are similar to those in Figure 4. She stands on the left side of a much smaller well. Jesus stands on the right side with his left arm and hand extended as in
Figure 4. However, he appears more youthful and wears a shorter tunic. The woman, by contrast, looks matronly – hardly a fallen woman – and she is as tall as Jesus. In this instance, both are bare-footed.
The predominant paint colors used in the Via Latina fresco are red (terra cotta) and dark brown, and green. The well, clothing, and figure of Jesus and the woman are done in red. A darker color is used for hair coloring and tunic stripes. The surrounding foliage is depicted in green. The image, which appears to be an amateurish, two-dimensional rendering, isn’t centered on the wall. Jesus’ and the woman’s gestures seem to be mechanical; however, the depiction is an honest portrayal of the New Testament narrative. If dialogue was superimposed over the images of the woman and Jesus, one could readily imagine their conversation unfolding as recorded in scripture:
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Jesus: “Will you give me a drink?” (John 4:7)
Samaritan Woman: “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can
you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:9)
Jesus: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
(John 4:10)
Samaritan Woman (pointing with her right hand at his left hand): “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” (John 4:11)
Jesus (raising his right hand in the sweeping gesture of a rhetorician):
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks
the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will
become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-
14).
iii
In both the scripture text (John 4:27) and in other depictions of the Samaritan woman at the well (see Appendix), Jesus’ disciples are seen returning from the village of Sychar either nearby or somewhere in the background, approaching the well. However, in the
Via Latina version, the disciples not depicted.
The Via Latina Catacomb, like the other catacombs of Rome, is composed of soft, calcareous stone (tufa) that hardens when exposed to air. Figure 10 depicts the catacomb’s layout. Its dimensions are approximately 165 feet long by 115 feet wide, and it is located 50 feet underground. Construction of the catacomb began early in the fourth
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century. Its cubicula were created in four phases beginning around 315 CE and continuing through 370 CE. The fresco of Jesus and the Samaritan woman was likely created during phase II of the construction, during the period of 340 – 350 CE.
Historians have determined this date by comparing the decorative features of cubicula D through F, rendered in a coarse chalky style, with cubicula and arcosolia in the
Coemeterium Maius, the region of the catacomb of Domitilla, and in the catacomb of
Petrus and Marcellinus.
iv Figure 11 shows the relative position of the catacomb to the streets above.
The fresco depicting Christ and the Samaritan Woman is located on the left side of cubiculum F, circled in red (Figure 10). It measures approximately six feet in width and over four feet in height. The painting is, ostensibly, funerary art commissioned by someone of wealth, possibly for a woman, a wife or daughter of high rank.
v Why the
Samaritan woman at the well scene was chosen for the fresco is open to conjecture. The story, as told in the book of John, represents the promise of salvation – eternal life. In the historical sense, the scene provides hope for life after death. However, the scene may have been chosen for more personal reasons. It is unlikely a woman of rank would want to be associated with the Samaritan woman who had five husbands and was living with a sixth man at the time of her encounter. On the other hand, the Samaritan woman was arguably the first successful Christian evangelist to be recorded in the New Testament:
(John 4:39) “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.” The woman in the fresco has Italian features and is well dressed.
It’s possible that the woman buried there was an evangelist who opened her home to believers and proselytized others. Regardless of the reason, the scene assumes new
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meanings when the Samaritan woman is replaced with a contemporary image. After all, according to Christian belief, everyone is a sinner in God’s eyes whether they have had one husband, many husbands, or none. The scene may have been used as a backdrop for
Christian meetings, reinforcing the belief that Jesus’ offer of salvation is open to everyone, including Samaritans (despised by Jews) and Romans.
The artwork at first glance, compared to other work of the day (see Figure 12), is somewhat primitive or crude. Scripture notes that Jesus’ encounter with the woman took place at noon (John 4:6), but no indication of the time of day is provided either by use of shadow or the depiction of the sun. Both Jesus’ and the woman’s postures are rigid.
There are no spaces between the fingers of his hand. The image is flat, two-dimensional, unlike frescos on other parts of the catacomb, including the older frescos where gradations of color and shading give figures a physical presence. But this sub-antique style may have been done intentionally in an attempt to mimic “the traits of rudeness
(durus) and stiffness (rigidus)” seen in ancient sculpture to “describe ancient Roman oratory.” Characteristics of the primitive style “of the late third and early fourth centuries
– the rude handling of form, the simplification, the hardness of the angularity are the very qualities ascribed to ancient sculpture…by classical writers.” vi
Indeed, in the fresco Jesus gestures in the grand sweeping style of an orator or learned teacher pronouncing the final verdict on a subject. For Roman rulers, the primitive style represented a “true renewal of the greatness of Rome’s ancient origins.” (p. 45). Work on the frescos was probably divided among multiple craftsmen using different styles, some of whom created frameworks over which others painted figures of people, some of whom specialized in the sub-antique style of art.
vii
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It takes no great stretch of the imagination to assume that the craftsmen of the Via
Latina catacomb, like artists of any century, were inspired by the works of others and then transferred onto their subterranean frescos what they saw on statues and mosaics around Rome. Tronzo points out similarities between the heads of figures found on a mosaic (the Great Hunt) in the Piazza Armerina villa with the heads of Jesus and the
Samaritan woman in cubiculum F. The head of one servant (Figure 13A) “is almost identical in shape, features, position, and hairstyle to the head of Christ” (Figure 13B), and another servant (Figure 13C) featured on the mosaic “is also clearly related to the
Samaritan Woman flanking Christ” (Figure 13D).
viii
A comparison of the figures in question bears out Tronzo’s assertion. A close up of
Christ’s head does resemble the servant’s head of the mosaic. When the outline of the servant’s face (in blue) is superimposed on Christ’s, one can see that the fit is not perfect.
However, when lines are drawn on the servant’s face – from his left eye to his right, down the center of his nose, and across his mouth line (in red) – and then superimposed on the Christ figure’s face, the match is almost exact. Similarly, superimposing a mask
(in blue) of the second servant on top of the Samaritan woman, the match is almost precise. Again, superimposing the alignment of eyes, nose, and mouth (in red) from servant number two onto the Samaritan woman, the match is almost exact.
Perhaps more curious, though, is the rendering of the well in Figure 4. As stated before, it more closely resembles a jar buried in the ground than a traditional well. Is it meant to represent the body – a vessel – containing a “spring of water welling up to eternal life” as Jesus states (John 4:14)? Did the artists borrow it from another work of art? Behind the well is a windlass, which is attached to a horizontal bar set between two
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parallel vertical bars. It looks remarkably like the windlass attached to what is thought to be the original Jacob’s well in modern day Nablus, formerly Sychar (Figure 14). Does the windlass represent state-of-the-art technology of the day? It doesn’t appear on the well in an earlier version of this scene (Figure 9), and it doesn’t closely resemble the portrayals of wells with windlasses in later motifs (Appendix, except He Qi version).
The similarity of design might be pure coincidence, or the artists may have heard or read of a description of Jacob’s well.
Interestingly, none of the historians in the referenced material comment on the defacing of Jesus’ left hand and the area around his right foot, which may have occurred for religious or political reasons. There are several possible explanations for the hand defacement. First, persecutions of Christians in Rome occurred during the period from
250 to 311 CE.
ix Second, the city was invaded five times in the 5 th and 6 th centuries during which monuments were pillaged and left in ruins. The invasions decimated
Rome’s population, which dwindled from almost half a million in the mid-5 th century to around thirty thousand in the 6 th century.
x Third, relic hunters, believing that the remains of saints or martyrs guaranteed protection, further ransacked catacombs.
xi
However, it is unlikely any of these occurrences explain the defacement of the fresco in cubiculum F for the simple reason that little if any defacement of other frescos in the
Via Latina catacomb is evident. In fact, the catacomb may have been sealed before the first invasion of the city, removing it from the reach of relic hunters as well.
A more reasonable explanation may have to do with the object that was depicted in his hand. In scripture, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” The fresco’s artists may have depicted a drinking vessel in his left hand in order to adhere to the narrative. It
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is quite possible that someone took offense to the vessel based on religious grounds.
Evidence for similar defacement due to religious convictions can be seen in a fresco depicting Paul and Theoklia located in the Grotto of St. Paul near Ephesus (Figure 15).
Both Paul and Theoklia have their eyes lifted to heaven and their right hands raised in a teaching gesture. They are depicted as iconographically of equal authority. However, the woman’s eyes and right hand have been destroyed, the result of “post-Pauline obliterations of female authority.” xii
Likewise, the defacement of Jesus’ left hand in the Via Latina fresco might be traced to beliefs of the day. A plausible explanation stems from Rabbinic literature, the Mishna, which forbids that “which bears in its hand a staff or a bird or a sphere” or “that which bears aught in its hand.” xiii In this instance, the person defacing the fresco may have been of the Jewish faith or possibly someone converted from the Jewish faith to Christianity.
However, a more likely explanation may be tied to Clement of Alexandria (160-215 CE) who urged believers to “avoid seals with images of the gods, weapons, drinking cups…” xiv If his hand was defaced for this reason, then it is also plausible that a
Christian defaced the painting.
There is also some defacing of the plaster around Jesus’ right foot. Again, there is no explanation for this in the literature. Could it be that whoever defaced Jesus’ hand misjudged his or her first attempt and accidentally struck the fresco near Jesus’ foot?
Regardless of the reason, the defacement was not repaired, which would have been a relatively simple matter, indicating that either the deceased’s family was no longer around to amend the image or that it occurred just prior to the catacomb being sealed from public view.
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Despite the minor defacement, the fresco of Christ and the Samaritan Woman remains an outstanding example of early Christian art that provides insights into the third century Christian movement and Roman life.
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Figure 1
Figure 2
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Figure 3
Figure 4
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Figure 5
Figure 6
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Figure 7
Figure 8
13

Figure 9
Figure 10
14

Figure 11
Figure 12
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Figure 13
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Figure 14
Figure 15
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Notes:
1.
Frederick Perez Bargebuhr. The Paintings of the ‘New’ Catacomb of the Via
Latina and the Struggle of Christianity against Paganism , Edited by Joachim Utz,
Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, Heidelberg, Germany, 1991, p. 79.
2.
Frederic W. Farrar. The Life Of Christ As Represented In Art , Adam and Charles
Black, London, 1901, p. 333.
3.
The NIV Bible, Zondervan Press, Grand Rapids, MI, 1995.
4.
William Tronzo. The Via Latina Catacomb: Imitation and Discontinuity in
Fourth-Century Roman Painting , The Pennsylvania State University Press,
University Park, PA, 1986, p. 15.
5.
Matilda Webb. The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome: A
Comprehensive Guide , Sussex Academic Press, Brighton, England, 2001, p. XIV.
6.
Tronzo, p. 43.
7.
Ibid., p. 34).
8.
Ibid., p. 45).
9.
Webb, p. xii).
10.
Ibid., xxi).
11.
Ibid., xxii.
12.
John Dominic Crossan, Jonathan L. Reed. In Search of Paul: How Jesus’s
Apostle Opposed Rome’s Empire with God’s Kingdom , HaperCollins, New York,
NY, 2004, p. xiii.
13.
Heinz Schreckenberg and Kurt Schubert. Jewish Historiography and
Iconography in Early and Medieval Christianity, Fortress Press, Minneapolis,
1992, p. 153.
14.
xiv Robin Margaret Jensen. Face to Face: Portraits of the Divine in Early
Christianity , Fortress Press, Minneapolis, MN, 2004, p. 10.
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Bibliography
1.
Frederick Perez Bargebuhr. The Paintings of the ‘New’ Catacomb of the Via
Latina and the Struggle of Christianity against Paganism , Edited by Joachim Utz,
Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, Heidelberg, Germany, 1991.
2.
John Dominic Crossan, Jonathan L. Reed. In Search of Paul: How Jesus’s
Apostle Opposed Rome’s Empire with God’s Kingdom , HaperCollins, New York,
NY, 2004.
3.
William Tronzo. The Via Latina Catacomb: Imitation and Discontinuity in
Fourth-Century Roman Painting , The Pennsylvania State University Press,
University Park, PA, 1986.
4.
Charles Rufus Morey. Early Christian Art: An Outline of the Evolution of Style and Iconography in Sculpture and Painting from Antiquity to the Eighth Century ,
Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1953.
5.
Matilda Webb. The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome: A
Comprehensive Guide , Sussex Academic Press, Brighton, England, 2001.
6.
Robin Margaret Jensen. Face to Face: Portraits of the Divine in Early
Christianity , Fortress Press, Minneapolis, MN, 2004.
7.
Frederic W. Farrar. The Life Of Christ As Represented In Art , Adam and Charles
Black, London, 1901.
8.
The NIV Bible, Zondervan Press, Grand Rapids, MI, 1995.
9.
Heinz Schreckenberg and Kurt Schubert. Jewish Historiography and Iconography in Early and Medieval Christianity, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1992.
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Appendix
(Artists and Dates Identified Where Possible)
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