The faras mural of the three youths in fiery furance: some observations
P. Giovanni Vantini
The mural of the Three Youths in the Fiery Furnace from the Faras Cathedral - which now stands right at the entrance of the Christian Pavilionin the Sudan National Museum, Khartoum-catches the attention of every visitor. I often stopped to admire the vividness of its colours, especially of the red, the imposing stature of the Angel (about 7ft high), the calm posture of the Three Youths and the elaborated decoration of their garments.
I try to find an answer to a question which I often set to myself: What could be the source of inspiration of the master painter? I consulted the Bible to check how far the details of this painting agree with the text of the Bible (Dan. ch. 3).
King Nebuchadnezzar "gave orders for the furnace to be made seven times hotter than usual, and commanded certain stalwarts from his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the burning fiery furnace. They were then bound, fully clothed, cloak, hose and head-gear and thrown into the burning fiery furnace. The king's command was so urgent and the heat of the furnace was so fierce that the men carrying Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were burnt to death by the flames from the fire; the three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego fell, still bound, into the burning fiery furnace. And they walked in the heart of the flames praising God and blessing the Lord, (3: 19-23, Engl. Version of the Jerusalem Bible).
There follows the song of Azariah (= Meshach) (3: 24-45) and that of the Three Youths (w 46-90) which are found only in the Greek Version.
"The Angel of the Lord came down in the furnace beside Azariah and his companions; he drove the flames of the fire outwards and fanned in to them, in the heart of the furnace, a coolness such as wind and dew will bring, so that the fire did not even touch them or cause them any pain or distress"(w -19-50)
Then the following passage is found in both the Septuagint and the Hebrew (Aramaic) text. "Then King Nebuchadnezzar sprang to his feet in amazement. He said to his advisers: ,Did we not have these three men thrown bound into the fire?,, They replied, <certainly, O King>. "But, he went on, I can see four men walking about freely, in the heart of the fire without coming to any harm. And the fourth looks like a son of the gods". Nebuchadnezzar approached the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and shouted. «Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, come here!,, And from the heart of the fire out came Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego... The fire had had no effect on their bodies; not a hair of their heads had been singed. their cloaks were not scorched, no smell of burning hung about theme (w 24/91 - 27/94).
In the Faras mural we see a splash of flamered background rising higher than the Angel and the three men. Perhaps, the lavishing use of red was made purposely by the painter to translate into colours the passage: "the furnace was made seven times hotter than usual".
The four characters stand in the middle of the painting. The Bible says (four times): « in the heart of the fire». They are in the Orans position with raised arms, the usual attitude for prayer. The Bible says that they sang a song of praise to God.
"They were thrown fully clothed,. In the mural we see the three men wearing several garments: headgear, cloak, tunic, girdle, a pair of trousers and boots: practically all the body is covered except the face and the hands.
The original Aramaic text mentions three kinds of clothing, in particular: sarbolê-bon, fattishe-bon and karbelôt-bon; then it addswe-lebuse-bon (their clothes, in general).
The LXX translated respectively: sarabárois, kai tiárais kài periknemisi; and the Latin Vulgata, closely following the LXX translated: cum bracis suis, et tiaris et calceamentis. The various translators allowed themselves some freedom in the translation of these three words, because no parallel passages exist in the Bible for comparison and also because each word can be applied to several different garments and therefore is not specific. The Greek translators rendered the word (Aramaic) sarbolin by sarabkra in v. 21 and v. 27/94. The Latin translators wrote «bracae» in v. 21 and sarabala in v. 27/94. - probably hecause they had no precise Latin equivalent to the Persian garment (sarbolin/sarabara) (1).
The Faras painter - whether he read the Hebrew text (which seems most improbable) or the Greek (which is very probable) certainly knew that the sarbolin/sarabara were a kind of trousers in use among the Parthians; therefore he clothed the three young men according to that fashion. On their heads he put a cap/turban to translate the Greek tiára and on the feet a sort of boots in accordance with the Greek perikrtemisi(a kind of boots to the calf).
The Angel came down in the furnace beside Azariae. This was the one who first made a song to God while in the fire. In the mural we see him standing at the right hand of the Angel and his name Azaria) is written under him.
The Angel "drove the flames of the fire outwards". In the mural we see the red flames rising high on the background, away from the three men, split into tongues exactly as one can see when the wind blows on a fire. The Angel «fanned». For this reason the wings of the Angel are spread from one extreme of the painting to the other so as to express just the act of fanning.
"The fire did not touch them". This is probably shown in the noble, calm posture of the Three Youths.
The king, on looking into the furnace, said: "I can see four men walking about freely". Actually, no chain or rope is to be seen in the painting. "And the fourth looks like a son of the gods". The painter painted the Angel with an imposing stature, almost twice the size of the three men. The Angel is clad in a long, white robe decorated with vertical stripes and a large, festoon-striped cloak. The striking whiteness of the Angel contrasts with the colour of the three human beings (2).
"Not a hair of their head had been singed". The black hair of the three young men is shown well arranged right and left of their faces. Was this done intentionally to express what the book says? We don't see intentions, but we just take notice of what is seen in the painting. "Their cloaks were not scorched". In the mural the cloaks of the three men open in the front and allow us to see also the other garments - tunic, shirt, girdle and trousers - under the cloak, a11 richly decorated with a network design and pearls in the middle of the lozanges: no disruption in either the fabric or the decoration.
I think I may conclude that the master painter of this mural was familiar with the Scripture and probably made it a point in his painting to follow very closely the biblical text. Whether he read the Bible in Greek or in any other language (possibly in Nubian) is irrelevant here; what is sure is that the text on which he depended was the Greek version of the Septuagint.
Notes
- The catholic Arabic Bible (19th century) used the words: saruwihtt (pants) for sarbolin, aqmisat (shirts) for faltishfn and ardivat (mantles) for karbelot. Almost the same (except sarawil) is to be found in the Arabic version made for the Bible Society, about the same time. The LXX Greek and English edition says respectively "coats", "caps" and "hose". The Bible Society Hebrew and English edition (London 1974) says, in the same order: "mantles", "tunics" and "turbans". Besides the Arabic word siruial (pants) (pl. sarawil) there is the verb tasarbala (to wrap the upper part of the body) which is akin with the Hebrew sarbal (to cover the flesh with any clothe) and the Chaldean sarbal (trousers).
- The Angel holds in his right hand a long stick ending in the shape of a cross. This symbolizes that the victory over the Evil is through the cross. But this point is not relevant with our topic here.
