Oh Goddam. Grading undergrad papers. Here. I've got one, too:

[Hissyspit]

Did you know:

That early Christian iconographical imagery of 'Jesus Entering Jerusalem' depicts him as riding a donkey/mule/ass side-saddle and this is very wrong because it makes him look homosexual.

Not making this up.

[joneschick]

1. O.M.F.G.

this just isn't right........dare I ask what the paper was? Do I want to know?

[Hissyspit]

3. It was a short paper arguing for or against the Roman

entrance pageant as setting visual precedent for the Christian depictions of Jesus entering Jerusalem - for a 400 level Medieval Art class.

[Kid OfThe Black Hole]

6. Is there a definitive answer to the question?

My guess would be that, culturally, Roman trappings would've HAD to have an influence on the way early Christianity presented and defined itself but, outside of the occasional PBS special, I never develed into it past the 2000 class level

[Hissyspit]

9. No. The conventional thinking is as you state it.

But there is a scholar, I forget his name right off the bat, who has argued that the conventional thinking is not true. I don't have the article on me, so cannot give you the details, but visual codes, conventions, forms, iconography, etc. pretty much always have precedent and most of Christian conventions come from Roman ones, after all, the early Christians WERE Romans, in one way or another.

[Kid OfThe Black Hole]

10. Thanks

any more in depth of an answer would've been lost on me, but I was curious to see if it was a trick question and my thinking was way off base or not.

Also, I was curious if maybe this was a segui into showing the parallels between Genesis and other Creation Myths found in other societies. I've always been curious about that in particular, but following a math/hard science track I never really had the time to branch off on that particular foray :)

[Lisa]

12. wow -- cool! The topic you set for them, I mean ...

...not that particular student's opinion. (Even I, a mere social scientist, would argue that it wouldn't be a "theory", by any stretch!)

By some weird coincidence -- I have been been looking at a lot of 2nd through 5th century Roman/Byzantine artwork recently. The new edition of Roman Military Equipment (Bishop and Coulston) is coming out this month, and besides getting one for me, I thought it would be nice to order an extra copy for our college library, since they have hardly any post-Flavian stuff. I figured I'd throw in some extras, like the Osprey Roman clothing series, and other books with lots of illustrations of fabrics and artifacts ... so I've been wallowing in documentation this past week, trying to decide what to part with!

This part is way off topic -- though it does kind of relate to Roman culture -- one author claims that the crown of thorns and borrowed red cloak they put on Jesus sounds a lot like the troops mocking a hated authority figure (various shapes of crowns were given as military awards to centurions and such). And that little rituals like this, dressing someone up as an officer (willingly or otherwise), might have been done at Saturnalia -- or maybe even at other times, when the men were bored, and maybe a bit drunk, and wanted to blow off some steam by humiliating someone who couldn't retaliate. If people had been around Roman soldiers, or been in the legions themselves, this detail of the Crucifixion might have struck a chord -- and made it into the emerging Christian tradition.

[WCGreen]

19. The Grass Crown....

Given to a commander by his troops...

In the field....

[Lisa]

20. the siege crown -- also the civic, gold, and mural crowns ...

"Rewards were generally allocated on the basis of the rank of the recipient with the exception of one decoration, the “civic crown” of oak leaves (corona civica), which could be awarded to a soldier of any rank who saved the life of a citizen."

"Besides the above decorations, centurions were entitled to various other crowns, including a plain gold crown (corona aurea) and the mural crown (corona muralis), given to the first man over the walls of a besieged city. Higher officers could be awarded a ceremonial silver spear (the hasta pura) or a small silver replica of a standard or flag (the vexillum). The highest military decoration was the siege crown (corona obsidionalis), made or grass or other vegetation and awarded to the officer responsible for delivering a besieged army."

http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/romanarmy2.html
http://www.legionxxiv.org/glossaryC/


"As to rewards for valour, I have brought out of those contests fourteen civic crowns, bestowed upon me by those I saved in battle, three mural crowns for having been the first to mount the enemy's walls and hold them ..."
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/10C*.html

[ZombieNixon]

2. Huh...I thought it would be the Brazilian joke.

:P

[tigereye]

4. hmmm

Christ was gay! Who knew? That would put the starch in a few shorts, no doubt. ;)

[Callalily]

8. OMG NO!

Christ was NOT gay! Didn't you read The Da Vinci Code? He had a thing with Mary Magdelene.

[JitterbugPerfume]

5. but the question remains

"is our children learning?"

[mitchum]

7. BWAHAHAHAHA!

Thanks for the laugh!

[xchrom]

11. gack!

:puke:

i wish you were making this up.

[Hissyspit]

13. kick because it misses its companion

[NMMNG]

14. Every picture I've ever seen of him riding on a donkey

depicts him riding side-saddle. And that includes pictures in various Bibles I've seen over the years, including the one my grandparents gave me when I first became a Christian at 8 years of age. I wouldn't be surprised if many people back in that time rode side-saddle, considering they wore long robes, which would make it unwieldy and uncomfortable (as well as undignified) to ride straddling the animal.

[nemo137]

15. Seriously, doesn't makes him look like a homosexual

Makes him look smart. "Hm, which way hurts less? I'm-a go with side saddle."

[NMMNG]

16. Spoken like a true homersexual

If you can't handle a little pain in your groin you must be a sissy. :sarcasm:

[Hissyspit]

17. Spoken like a true, um, thinking person

student, scholar, etc.

[WCGreen]

18. I think it was because they didn't want to present

a threatening Jesus....

Coming in on an ass, in and of itself, should have been viewed as non threatening....

Cut side saddle....

Beside, isn't an ass small so that riding it regular would cause you feet to drag across the ground....