well the disaster of an opening ceremony
for the Paris 2024 Olympics has brought
the Last Supper back into public
conversation and one thing that I think
gets lost uh in the conversation is that
Leonardo da Vinci's version of it and
that's what our our Paris maybe it's a
parody maybe that's a charitable word
for it uh it it was a disaster how did
someone like how does that image even
exist in someone's imagination I don't
really relate to it I got to be honest
but we take Leonardo da Vinci's version
as sort of our our cultural norm uh so
much so that we get you know these
funky movies and books about it but
there's a problem that we don't see in
the Christian East and I'm going to look
at some syak iconography here to talk
about it and um that's the shape of the
table so you know whether it's Paris or
Da Vinci you've got this rectangular
table and that's not how early
iconography depicted the Last Supper in
fact the tables were
semicircular and these circular tables
reflect this Sigma um sitting
situation that's basically describing a
stadium a stadium is this semicircular
couch sort of thing that they used in
ancient Rome and so the the table
instead of being a full circle has one
side that is flat or straight and that's
presumably so that the table can be
waited upon right so that the uh service
or whoever is setting the table or
bringing the food has access to the
entire table and so if you look in early
iconography early iconography is
semicircular and that does couple things
it it showcases everyone in the picture
without it being awkward um but it's
also historically accurate and another
way that this is done is through a
circular
representation of the last supper and so
you know the question is what would have
been used in ancient Judea in the
Republican period so that's going to
exist prior to the Incarnation now would
that have entered into Judea maybe you
know we know that there's a strong Roman
influence there for about 40 years or so
prior to Christ um and in fact the time
of the Last Supper is going to be a good
70 years um around you or since the time
the Romans start really interacting in
the area we know there's a lot of Roman
architecture could it have been circular
that's another question we can ask for
History either way we know that this
semicircular version uh is something
that is present in in the
Mediterranean and it's probably how
people would sit the head of the table
would be at one of the ends right these
are the places of prestige and if you
look in the icons this is where Christ
is seated he's seated at the end not in
the center like you'd see in D vines or
whatever the heck is going on in in the
Paris thing the other major dignitary
being St Peter who is at the other end
so if you interested in the ancient syc
or Aramaic tradition of Christian ity go
ahead and look at its images as well and
in fact these aren't just exclusive to
the syak tradition I mean these are
found in Roman catacombs and in
Byzantine iconography um where these
Impressions or the layout of these
images all come together in a very
specific shape because the image tells a
story right if you've ever heard
anything about Orthodox iconography a
common refrain is that
it means to write an image right um econ
graphine right to write the econ to
graphine the econ to Graffiti the econ
you can think of the icon think of it
like that so every image tells a story
and every piece of it has something
going on um why wouldn't it use the form
of the day in the ancient world it
certainly differs from a da Vinci Type
image that we see painted you know and
that's one of the the issues that is
really at stake you know in the the
Renaissance when these old forms are are
being broken by new artists and where
you know sacred art is going through a
transition um is it the same as
scripture right is it something that's
pretty consistent everywhere at least in
its basic form um and then the
expression or the shadow of that form
exists in the local representation of it
um or in the Renaissance period is it
something that can be
reimagined and um you know art
historians spend a lot of time with that
or at least people who focus on that
period do so I hope this has been of
interest to you and maybe is a way of
recovering um whatever vomit you had in
your mouth after seeing the Paris
Olympic Games is just so
bizarre you know like part of me wants
to laugh like it's hysterical in a way
but I don't know that it it intends to
be I think it's trying to Revere
something um inverted to put it you know
mildly uh I'm confused by hey you know
if I'm wrong it's okay tell me in the
comments I'm I'm open to criticism and
I'm hearing other opinions but um you
know if uh you need to wash your mouth
out with uh with soap after seeing that
thing I don't blame you so um go ahead
and look at some really great classical
iconography whether it's syc
iconography whether it's General Eastern
Christian iconography you know the the
Orthodox iconographic tradition that
you'll find in different um regions of
the east or even you know the ancient
Roman world as well um check it out and
let me know what you think let me know
what you come up with and do some
searches on the
stadium and on the sigma the different
ways in which Roman Furniture you know
in the trinium would have looked in
those days um I I I love Roman Holmes
there there's just something really
really cool about them and um let me
know what you think thanks again for
watching go ahead and do the algorithmic
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