Unknown artist
Sarcophagus of the crossing of the Red Sea, 375–400 CE, White marble, 57 x 223 x 68 cm, Musei Vaticani, Vatican City; MV.31434.0.0, Eric Vandeville / akg-images
New Creation
Commentary by Geri Parlby
We have been rid of all this through baptism, as through the Red Sea, so called because sanctified by the blood of the crucified Lord. (Augustine Sermon 223E.2)
This Christian sarcophagus is dated to the reign of Emperor Theodosius (379–95 CE) and is a detailed portrayal of the events that occurred as Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea.
On the left, the pursuing Egyptian army are dressed as Roman soldiers and are led by Pharaoh who stands in a chariot on the exposed seabed (its wheels jammed, or soon to be; Exodus 14:25). A figure beneath the horses drawing the chariot is a personification of the Red Sea itself.
In the centre, the parted waters start to return and we see the Egyptians dramatically tumbling and drowning.
To the right of this, and viewing the destruction, stands Moses. Originally, he would have held in his right hand the staff he used to command the sea in parting and closing (Exodus 14:21, 26), but this is now lost. Nonetheless, like a vertical barrier, his body marks the point in the composition at which the chaos and violence of the waters come to an abrupt halt. Tumultuous waters are a frequent symbol in the Hebrew Bible for primal chaos: the formlessness from which God drew creation (cf. Genesis 1:2). Here, through Moses, God is again quelling the chaos and making a new beginning for his people.
Behind Moses gather the rescued Israelites. We see Moses’s sister, the prophet Miriam, playing a timbrel in celebration (Exodus 15:20), while just to her right is the (rather literally rendered) pillar of fire that lights the Israelites’ way at night (Exodus 13:21) and from which the Lord looks down to throw confusion onto the Egyptians (Exodus 14:24). On the far right, a boy looks back to the perilous sea which he has safely crossed, his wrist held by a man who is carrying a burden which evokes Exodus 12:34, ‘So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their cloaks on their shoulders’.
Given the funerary context of this sarcophagus relief, the Crossing scene proclaims a robust hope: the transition from death to life; from chaos and violence to heavenly salvation.
