Sarcophagus of Julia Aurelia Hilara

From the Manastirine necropolis, Salona, Croatia
Late 3rd / early 4th century
Limestone
Archeological Museum, Split, Croatia

The Manastirine necropolis was a Christian burial site in Dalmatia. In the left acroterium of this sarcophagus the gospels' frequent topic of the Good Shepherd is expressed in an image of a rustic holding a sheep on his shoulders, like the shepherd in Jesus' parable who leaves his flock to find the lost sheep and brings it back on his shoulders (Luke 15:4-7, c.f. Matthew 18:12-14).

In the right acroterium the bliss of Paradise is expressed by two rams grazing peacefully around a tree in full leaf.

Here is a close-up of the shepherd image on the left:



And here is the image of the rams on the right:



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Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.