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Source Description
To avoid punishment, early Christians practiced their faith in secret. Images of fish were part of a code developed to refer to Jesus Christ. To those in the know, the Greek word for fish (ICHTHYS), was an acronym for the phrase <em>Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter</em> which translates as <em>Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.</em>
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
132029
label
Fish Gem
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
132029
contentType
object
title
Fish Gem
description
To avoid punishment, early Christians practiced their faith in secret. Images of fish were part of a code developed to refer to Jesus Christ. To those in the know, the Greek word for fish (ICHTHYS), was an acronym for the phrase <em>Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter</em> which translates as <em>Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.</em>
date
c. 250–350 CE
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60758334
genreSpecific
Glyptic
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 3.5 x 7.5 cm (1 3/8 x 2 15/16 in.)
cul
Syria(?) or Anatolia, early Christian
accession
1954.592
Source extras
tec
rock crystal
tombstone
Fish Gem, c. 250–350 CE. Syria(?) or Anatolia, early Christian. Rock crystal; overall: 3.5 x 7.5 cm (1 3/8 x 2 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1954.592
collection
MED - Early Christian
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:48:12.652000
sourceId
132029
dept
Medieval Art
coll
MED - Early Christian
med
rock crystal
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
86880e99c4402ce7