La Turchia svela un raro e antico affresco cristiano durante la visita del papa

[Turkish](https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/turkey) President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed a recently discovered rare and ancient Christian fresco on Thursday, in a gesture to mark Pope Leo XIV’s first official visit abroad. 

In Ankara, Erdogan presented the pope with a tile depicting Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The tile is a replica of a fresco excavated in the city of Iznik, at an archaeological site dating to the early Byzantine period. 

One of the main reasons for the pope’s visit to Turkey is to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, which was held in what is now Iznik. 

Turkish officials told Middle East Eye that the Good Shepherd fresco, located at the Hisardere Necropolis, is the only known early Christian-era example of its kind outside Italy. 

The fresco, dated to the third century CE, was unearthed on the north wall of a richly decorated burial chamber earlier this year. It is considered the best-preserved example of its type ever found in Anatolia. 

A Turkish official familiar with the discovery told MEE that a papal team which visited Iznik earlier this month to prepare for the pope’s visit was deeply impressed by the fresco. 

Scenes of the Good Shepherd were widely used in Roman funerary art, before becoming central motifs in early Christian imagery.

# Unique outside Rome

Similar depictions, archaeologists note, are found only in three underground tombs in Italy – in Rome’s catacombs of Priscilla, Domitilla and Callixtus. 

The newly discovered scene portrays a beardless young Christ in a simple tunic, carrying a ram with large horns on his shoulders, flanked symmetrically by two goats. 

Archaeologists from the Iznik Museum and the Turkish Ministry of Culture also found evidence that the necropolis was in use between the second and fifth centuries CE. 

Unlike in other previously discovered painted tombs, human figures feature prominently, alongside animal and vegetable motifs. 

Experts note that Good Shepherd imagery represents a transition from pagan to Christian artistic expression. 

[https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-unveils-rare-christian-artefact-during-popes-visit](https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-unveils-rare-christian-artefact-during-popes-visit)