Entry Into Jerusalem

This event in our Lord's life is very frequently represented in the earlier art of the Christian Church, occurring on some of the first sarcophagi, though not, it seems, in fresco or mosaic in the catacombs or elsewhere, except in an ancient mosaic of the Vatican, and one from the basilica at Bethlehem. The earliest MS. representation of it is probably that in the Rabula or Laurentian Evangeliary. The treatment is almost always the same; the Lord is mounted on the ass, sometimes accompanied by her foal, and the multitude with their palmbranches follow, or lay their garments before him. His right hand is generally raised in the act of blessing, The multitude frequently raise their hands in thanksgiving. In one of the oldest MSS. of the New Test. in existence, the Gregorian Evangeliary of St. Cuthbert, the Lord is represented mounted on an ass, and bearing a large whip — evidently with reference to the scourge of small cords used in the expulsion of buyers and sellers from the temple. There is a certain variety in the examples taken from the different carvings. Sometimes Zacchaeus is represented in the "fig or sycamore tree" behind the Lord, as if to call attention to the beginning of his last journey at Jericho.