The Reflection of Biblical Interpretating Schools in the Genesis of Christian Iconography

Holy Bible is the most important source of Christian iconography and correspondingly, this kind of iconography is a visual interpretation of Bible. Hence, considering the relationship between Christian iconography and Biblical interpretation is a crucial task. In some cases, the visual representation itself has an active role in the interpretation of Biblical texts and is not a mere passive illustration of the text. Therefore, in order to understanding of various periods of Christian iconography, it is necessary to consider Biblical interpretations schools. In this paper, two interpretational views of Antioch and Alexandria schools, and the reflections of these views in the early Christian arts (which is historically coincided with these schools) are considered briefly. In addition, some examples of the relations between images and texts of this period are illustrated.