The Sarcophagus of Marcus Claudianus: Detail, the miracle of the loaves and fishes

Fourth-century images of this type present a variable number of baskets. This time we see five. Jesus' divine authority is symbolized by the rod in his right hand and the scroll in his left. Jesus has the same rod in the Cana and Lazarus scenes. The scroll seems to be used to express erudition or a lesser level of authority. We see it also in the portraits of the decedent and the man pointing to Peter in the arrest scene.

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Photographed at the Palazzo Massimo by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.