From Yale Divinty School, Image Database for Biblical Studies
Title / Description: Infancy of Moses
Object Location: Damascus National Museum
Provenance: Dura Europos, Syria
Object Type: image - painting
Date: 3rd c. CE
Commentary: The panel depicts episodes from the life of Moses. On the left, an attendant of Pharaoh's daughter lifts Moses from the basket which has been floating on the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter, then hands the infant to another figure, Moses's mother, to be nursed (Exod 2:5-10). The central portion of the panel apparently shows Pharaoh's daughter presenting her son to Pharaoh. Two women stand over the young man doing homage to the seated figure on the right, who is no doubt Pharaoh. They wear clothing identical to the women in the left panel. The woman in golden colored garments is probably Pharaoh's daughter; the woman beside her is probably the mother of Moses. The scene dramatically expands Exod 2:10.
The third portion of the panel, on the right, shows an open gateway, perhaps symbolic of Moses' flight to Midian (Exod 2:11-15). For a general description of the synagogue and further bibliography see Assembly Room. Author of Commentary: Harold Attridge Source: Goodenough, Erwin R. Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period (New York:Bollingen Foundation / distributed by Pantheon Books, 1964)
From the Mor Gabriel monastery dating back to 397 - this was the Assyrian Church of the East, which was due to the Roman-Sassanid wars, fully in Persia with no contact with the Christians in the Roman Empire
At St. Catherine's monastery in Sinai
