Dura-Europos: The Earliest Christian Paintings and the Birth of Sacred Art
A historical account of how the Christian paintings at Dura-Europos reveal the earliest visual language of Christianity in the third century AD.
The Christian paintings discovered at Dura-Europos occupy a unique place in Christian history as the earliest surviving examples of Christian sacred art. Created in the early third century AD, these wall paintings do not merely illustrate biblical scenes; they provide rare material evidence of how early Christians understood their faith, organized their communities, and expressed Christian identity visually at a time when Christianity was still a minority religion within the Roman world. Their importance lies in the fact that they predate the legalization of Christianity and offer a direct window into Christian life before imperial patronage reshaped religious art and architecture.
