Pio Cristiano Sarcophagus 31551: Detail, Abraham and Isaac

See Genesis 22:1-18. Young Isaac kneels at the flaming altar as Abraham lifts his sword to sacrifice him. The text then says, "an angel of the Lord from heaven called to him" with the order to "lay not thy hand upon the boy." The angel is the figure at right; the divine message he brings is represented by the hand reaching down from the upper left. In the design of the upper register, that hand echoes the one on the left of the clipeus that gives Moses the Law.

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Photographed at the Museo Pio Cristiano by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.