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We all recognise Jesus of Nazareth. Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Hindu, believer or not, if you grew up in the past 60 years, chances are your image of Jesus looks a lot like the long-haired, kind-eyed man gazing up to heaven in the 1940 portrait, Head of Christ, by a Chicago graphic artist called Warner Sallman.


With more than 500million copies in circulation, Sallman's Head of Christ is the most common religious image in the world. So deeply is this conception of the face of Jesus embedded in our consciousness that few think to question its authenticity.


But do we really know what Jesus looked like? The Bible offers scant description, even by the disciples, and for more than 300 years after his crucifixion church authorities forbade images of him to be created, fearing that pagans would regard a depiction of Christ as an idol.


Instead, symbols were used: a ship, the ark of salvation, or a cross and a fish, because the letters of the Greek word for fish, ichthys, are the first letters of the Greek words meaning "Jesus Christ Son of God Saviour'.


But believers, especially the common people, desired a visible image, and they pushed church authorities to come up with a portrait.


Tracing the art history of the face of Christ is not made easier by the many books and websites devoted to the subject. Muddled by superstition and science, the history can be traced back through the legend of the Veil of Veronica, the mysteries of the Shroud of Turin and The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, whose rendering of Christ is the most imitated in the world.


Add great paintings by the likes of Rembrandt and Michelangelo, countless works of religious art in churches around the world, and contemporary images of Christ in popular culture, from Jesus Christ Superstar to Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, and you have a bewildering number of faces of Jesus to choose from - yet most look remarkably similar.


Generally, we expect Jesus to have long hair parted in the middle, a full beard, a narrow aristocratic nose, a penetrating gaze and intelligent, expressive features. Sensitive looking and handsome, Jesus is tall, thin and fairly masculine.


The face of Christ that most of us recognize probably first made its appearance in AD525, when the Mandylion of Edessa was discovered hidden in a wall of what is believed to be the first Christian city. Edessa is now known as modern Urfa in Turkey, near the Syrian border.


The Mandylion is considered one of the five oldest - if not the oldest - images of Christ. From the sixth to the early 13th century, it was considered the most famous miraculous image of Christ "not made by human hands".


To modern eyes, jaded by television, movies, photography and 1500 years of art history, the Mandylion is not too impressive. Darkened by the centuries, it is difficult to see, although you can recognize the face of Christ - thin nose, long hair, beard and dramatic eyebrows - staring back with a direct and powerful gaze.


Overshadowed by many later works of art, the Mandylion is still one of the most prized relics owned by the Vatican, perhaps the inspiration for all the images of Christ that came after.


Imagine the electrifying effect it must have had in the sixth century when, after centuries of having no official portrait of Jesus, a painting purported to be created during Christ's lifetime appeared.


According to legend, Abgar, King of Edessa during the time of Christ, suffered from arthritis and leprosy. Hearing of Christ's reputation as a healer, Abgar sent his servant and court painter, Ananias, with a letter asking Jesus to come to Edessa.


When Ananias arrived in Judea, he tried to draw Jesus, but Jesus called him over and gave him a letter declining Abgar's invitation but promising the king would be cured.


Then, Jesus washed his face in water and wiped off the moisture with a towel, which miraculously retained his image. The word Mandylion translates as "holy towel". Ananias returned to Edessa with the image, and Abgar was healed.


Actually, in the original version of the legend, Ananias painted the image; a later version contains the story of miraculous creation.


Art historians and scientific authorities who have examined the Mandylion for the Vatican concluded it is most likely a tempera-on-linen painting of Syrian origin dating from the third century, which would make it contemporaneous with the earliest known version of the legend written about AD400.


But there's much more to the Mandylion legend, and it was not described as "not made by human hands" until after its discovery in the sixth century.


Abgar, who lived until AD50, is said to have positioned the Mandylion in a place of honour in his palace. But the legend continues with his descendants returning to paganism and the sacred image being hidden, bricked in behind a wall until, hundreds of years later, attacking Persians tunnelled under the city.


According to the legend, a vision revealed to Eulalius, Bishop of Edessa, where the image was hidden.


He found a lamp still burning in front of it. The bishop took down the still-burning lamp and dripped oil from it into the Persians' tunnel, killing the invaders and saving the city.


Other sources indicate it was a flood that damaged the city and revealed the Mandylion, but the story of the image's divine intervention in the war against the Persians is much more dramatic.


As that story spread, so did the Mandylion's reputation as a miraculous image, which resulted in icons, mosaics and paintings of Jesus' face throughout the eastern Christian-Byzantine Empire.


One of the earliest icons is an AD590 fresco of Christ Pantocrator, a Byzantine icon in StCatherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai that bears a close resemblance to both the Mandylion and the Shroud of Turin.


Some scholars believe that the Mandylion and the shroud are the same, or at least share similar stories of origin, although the shroud does not appear in the historical record until the 14th century.


In the late seventh century, Justinian II had a coin struck bearing a likeness of Christ's face as imprinted on the holy towel. The Mandylion may have been incorporated into a 10th century triptych, whose side panels now at the St Catherine Monastery illustrate the Abgar legend.


The Mandylion remained in Edessa until AD944 after the city had fallen under Muslim control.


The Christian emperor in Constantinople acquired the Mandylion in return for the release of 200 Muslim prisoners and 12,000 pieces of silver.


The Mandylion became incorporated into the Palladium, or banner, of the Byzantine Empire. Always carried on military expeditions, it was presented by the emperor or commander in chief to inspire men in battle.


Then in 1204 Constantinople was sacked and this is where the history of the Mandylion becomes murky, because the Crusaders returned to the West with three versions of the holy towel.


One went to Paris and became a treasured possession of the French king Louis IX, although this image has been lost since 1792. The Vatican Mandylion is almost identical to another version that is now in Genoa, and there is debate about which one is a copy of the other.


Still mysterious 1500 years after its discovery, the Mandylion has had an enormous impact on Christian civilisation.

http://afr.com/articles/2005/12/20/1135032013132.html

של זאוס, מלך האלים היווני. לצערי אני לא זוכר בדיוק את שם המקדש בו היה פסל זאוס ענק בו הוא נראה עם שער ארוך, זקן ומבט נוקב.
כיוון שפנים אלו היו חקוקות בעת העתיקה במקומות רבים, והיו גם מוכרות לרבים כפנים של אל, קל היה להעביר את הקדושה של הצורה לישוע הנוצרי.
בנוסף לכתבה שהביא לנו שפינוזה בטובו, הרצון לראות פנים אמיתיות אחרי הסיפור הוא חשוב מאוד, בעיקר לפשוטי עם. לדוגמה משלנו, פניו של הרמב"ם ופסלו המצוי בטולדו. פסלו של הגאון מוילנה ודמותו המצוירת, להבדיל שבתאי צבי ועוד. כל הדמויות שאנו רואים הן פיקטיביות ונוצרו עד מאות שנים אחרי המאורעות ואחרי מות הגיבורים.
הצורך לראות תמונות ממחישות טבוע בנפשו של האדם, ואם יש ביקוש, יש היצע.

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