- Musei Vaticani - Tempo Divino - D1065

Tempo Divino
I sarcofagi di Bethesda e l’avvento del Salvatore nel Mediterraneo antico
Umberto Utro
Institutional greetings by HE Msgr. Pietro Lagnese; presentation by Barbara Jatta
Edizioni Musei Vaticani – Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Vatican City 2019

«… i “sarcofagi di Bethesda” non sono più solo tombe lussuose da esportare per le classi abbienti cristianizzate dei diversi popoli romani: le loro immagini suggellano il diffondersi di una nuova concezione della morte (il dies natalis d’una nuova vita) ed echeggiano eloquentemente l’annuncio (kérygma) dell’avvento del Salvatore, nel suo propagarsi “fino agli estremi confini” (At 1, 8) e nel richiamare “le isole più lontane” (Ger 31, 10) a far parte del nuovo Mondo cristiano».
Umberto Utro

The idea of this catalogue and of the exhibition dedicated to the sarcophagi of Bethesda – presented at the Pio Christian Museum and scheduled for a subsequent rearrangement at the Diocesan Museum of Ischia – originated with the dialogue between the Diocese of Ischia and the
Department of Christian Antiquities of the Vatican Museums. The peculiar diffusion of this kind of sarcophagi along the shores of the Mare nostrum shows multiple testimonies – after Rome – in the cities of Gaul, of Spain, of the African coasts, and in the Italian city of Ischia. Both the Vatican Museums and the Museum of Ischia hold two examples: two very rare testimonials of the first Christian century art, two sarcophagi ornated by scenes in relief, compared for the first time. Their joint exhibition is the occasion for a deeper study of the few existing examples of this kind of art and for a reflection on the rich contents proposed by means of their images: a real ‘christology in figures’, a chronologicaltopographical presentation of the earthly mission of the Savior, that closely echoes the ‘programmatic’ speech of Peter in the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius.
The large introductory sections and the catalogue of the works are interspersed with short but effective supplementary worksheets.

Product code: D1065
Binding: hardback
Language: Italian
ISBN: 978-88-266-0366-7
Number of pages: 66 
Size: 27 x 21 cm
Illustrations: 55 b/w and colour 

Book Cover: detail of the Vatican “sarcophago of Bethesda”.
Back Cover: detail of the “sarcophago of Bethesda” of Ischia, during the restoration.

Exhibition info: Tempo Divino. I sarcofagi di Bethesda e l’avvento del Salvatore nel Mediterraneo antico, 6 December 2019 – 29 March 2020, Vatican Museums, Vatican City. 4 April – 27 September 2020, Diocesan Museum of Ischia