- Kant, Laurence Harold. “The Interpretation of Religious Symbols in the Graeco-Roman World: A Case Study of Early Christian Fish Symbolism (Volumes I-III).” Ph.D., Yale University, 1993.
One would expect that by the time we are one-fifth of the way through the twenty-first millennium that such an item would be accessible on the web. I have tried archive.org, hathi trust and bookzz with no luck. (But that does not mean a slightly different search term or method won't produce a positive result.)
What I am hoping to find in Dogler's volumes (Hathi trust says there is something in volume 1 and 4 but does not index volume 5) is some analysis of
- simboli_paleocristiani.jpg (158.46 KiB) Viewed 652 times
. . . or at least some description that identifies its actual place in the Catacomb of Domitilla -- is it in a pagan or a Christian area of the catacomb? Is there anything about the image and partial inscription that clearly identifies it as Christian?
The referencing source of Laurance Kant acknowledges that it is sometimes impossible to tell whether a particular image is Christian or pagan because of the overlap of imagery: Christians did use the same images as pagans sometimes, and these could include the fish and anchor. So I would like to be able to establish whether the above image is reasonably interpreted as Christian or not. If it is in a pagan section of the catacomb then we can reasonably discount it as evidence for early Christian iconography. (That would pull a plank from the hypothesis that Christians were pointedly embracing a Flavian image -- if the same image could be dated as early as some seem to imply. But more generally and usefully, it would help anyone interested in the archaeological evidence for early Christianity to get a better grasp of the data.)
So: Is there any sleuth out there who can locate Dolger's volumes (esp volume 1) online, somewhere?
If not, I may be forced back on to checking my bank balance and seeing if I can afford another international library loan and testing my patience to see if I can wait 3 or more months for a delivery.
