AQUILEIA

PATRIMONIO DELL'UMANITÀ

domenica 22 dicembre 2024

Inscription with baptismal scene

Lapide con scena di Battesimo presso il Museo Paleocristiano ad Aquileia. Foto di © Gianluca Baronchelli
On the first floor of the Paleochristian Museum there is the marble slab that identified the tomb of a little girl, who lived around the middle of the 4th century. In the inscription, the little girl is defined as an "innocent spirit", testifying that she had received baptism. On the other hand, the representation placed in the center of the slab, which portrays her, completely naked, standing within a small basin, was also interpreted as a baptism scene. From the starry sky, depicted as a disk with a flying dove, the water that washes 'the original sin' descends. On the sides of the girl are represented two male figures, one of which places his right hand on the girl's head. The sheep, symbol of Christ, shepherd of souls, and the shrubs that make up the setting of the scene, prefigure Paradise.