The image of Christian Paradise in the Coptic tradition (on the materials of the late antique textiles from the Hermitage collection)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the iconography of the scenes with the depictions of Paradise on late antique textiles from Egypt. The iconographic motifs that will be examined are the images of personifications such as the Earth, rivers, the seasons and different kinds of allegories, including animals and plants that show the process of formation of the iconography of the Heaven Jerusalem. The best known Christian illustration of Paradise from the collection of the Hermitage Museum is a large-size hanging with a composition of a column flanked with two trees.

Keywords

• раннехристианское искусство египта, христианский рай, символ, аллегория