Early Christian art and architecture is the art produced by Christians or under Christian patronage from about the year 200 to about the year 500. Prior to 200 there is no surviving art that can be called Christian with certainty. After about 500 Christian art shows the beginnings of Byzantine artistic style. The term Christian means belonging to Christ and is derived from the Greek noun Χριστός Khristós which means anointed one, which is itself a translation of the Hebrew word Moshiach (Hebrew: משיח, also written Messiah), (and in Arabic it is pronounced Maseeh مسيح). Christian is primarily an adjective, describing an object associated... For other uses, see number 200. ... Events Possible date for the Battle of Mons Badonicus: Romano-British and Celts defeat an Anglo-Saxon army that may have been led by the bretwalda Aelle of Sussex (approximate date; suggested dates range from 490 to 510) Note: This battle may have influenced the legend of King Arthur. ... The 11th-century monastery of Hosios Lukas in Greece is representative of the Byzantine art during the rule of Macedonian dynasty. ...

Prior to 200 Christians may have been constrained by their position as a persecuted group from producing durable works of art. Since Christianity was largely a religion of lower classes in this period, the lack of surviving art may reflect a lack of funds for patronage. The Old Testament restrictions against the production of graven images may also have constrained Christians from producing art. It is also possible that Christians purchased art using pagan iconography, but gave it Christian meanings. If this happened, "Christian" art would not be immediately recognizable as such. Generally, patronage is the act of supporting or favoring some person, group, or institution. ... The Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures (also called the Hebrew Bible) constitutes the first major part of the Bible according to Christianity. ... Ancient gravestones mark the position of graves in the parish churchyard at Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, England Graves are where old people go after Florida. ... Within a European Christian context, paganism is a catch-all term which has come to connote a broad set of not necessarily compatible religious beliefs and practices (see Cult (religion)) of a natural religion (as opposed to a revealed religion of a text), which are usually, but not necessarily, characterized... Salvator Mundi is an iconography depicting Christ with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand holding an orb. ...

Early Christians used the same artistic media as the surrounding pagan culture. These media included fresco, mosaics, sculpture, and manuscript illumination. Early Christian art not only used Roman forms, it also used Roman styles. Late classical style included a proportional portrayal of the human body and impressionistic presentation of space. Late classical style is seen in early Christian frescos, such as those in the catacombs of Rome. A XIV Century fresco featuring Saint Sebastian Note: Fresco is the NATO reporting name of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17. ... Mosaic is a medium of art that may embody the most meaningful iconography in a cultures most important settings, as in the cathedral of Monreale (below), or it may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration. ... Ancient Greeks depiction of ideal form of the body is expressed through sculpture such as this one. ... In the strictest definition of illuminated manuscript, only manuscripts decorated with gold or silver, like this miniature of Christ in Majesty from the Aberdeen Bestiary (folio 4v), would be considered illuminated. ...

Early Christians adapted Roman motifs and gave new meanings to what had been pagan symbols. Among the motifs adopted were the peacock, grapevines, and the good shepherd. Early Christians also developed their own iconography, for example such symbols as the fish (ikhthus), were not borrowed from pagan iconography. Peacock re-directs here; for alternate uses see Peacock (disambiguation). ... Species Vitis acerifolia Vitis aestivalis Vitis amurensis Vitis arizonica Vitis x bourquina Vitis californica Vitis x champinii Vitis cinerea Vitis x doaniana Vitis girdiana Vitis labrusca Vitis x labruscana Vitis monticola Vitis mustangensis Vitis x novae-angliae Vitis palmata Vitis riparia Vitis rotundifolia Vitis rupestris Vitis shuttleworthii Vitis tiliifolia Vitis... Salvator Mundi is an iconography depicting Christ with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand holding an orb. ... The ichthys or fish symbol represents Christianity Ichthys (ιχθυς in the Greek alphabet, also transliterated Ichthus, Icthus, Ikhthus, etc), is the Greek word for fish. It refers to a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs resembling the profile of a fish, used by the early Christians as a secret symbol...

After about the year 200 Christian art must be broken into two periods: before and after the Edict of Milan in 313. The Edict of Milan (313 AD) declared that the Roman Empire would be neutral with regard to religious worship, officially ending all government-sanctioned persecution especially of Christianity. ...

Christian Art prior to 313

• Funerary art
  • Catacomb Frescos
  • Sarcophagi
• Cleveland Statuettes of Jonah and the Whale
• House Church - Dura-Europos

The word catacomb comes from Greek kata kumbas (L. ad catacumbas), near the low place and originally it meant a certain burial district in Rome. ... A XIV Century fresco featuring Saint Sebastian Note: Fresco is the NATO reporting name of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17. ... A sarcophagus is a stone container for a coffin or body. ... Jonah (יוֹנָה Dove, Standard Hebrew Yona, Tiberian Hebrew Yônāh) was a person in the Bible Old Testament and Jewish Tanakh, the son of Amittai, from the Galilean village of Gath-hepher, near Nazareth. ... Whales are the largest species of exclusively aquatic placental mammals, members of the order Cetacea, which also includes dolphins and porpoises. ... Dura-Europos was a Hellenistic and Roman walled city built on an escarpment 90 meters above the banks of the river Euphrates. ...

Christian Art after 313

• Constantinian Basilicas
  • St. John Lateran
  • Old St. Peters
  • Church of the Holy Sepulchre
  • Church of the Nativity

• Centralized Plan Churches
  • Church of Santa Constanza, Rome

• Manuscripts
  • Vienna Genesis
  • Rossano Gospels
  • Cotton Genesis

• Mosaics
• Sculpture and Carving