The early Christians adopted this symbolism and adapted it for the four Evangelists as the tetramorph, which first appears in Christian art in the 5th century, but whose interpretative origin stems from Irenaeus in the 2nd century. The creatures of the Christian tetramorph were also common in Egyptian, Greek, and Assyrian mythology. In Western astrology, the four symbols are associated with the elements of, respectively Earth, Fire, Water, and Air. The animals associated with the Christian tetramorph originate in the Babylonian symbols of the four fixed signs of the zodiac: the ox representing Taurus the lion representing Leo the eagle representing Scorpio the man or angel representing Aquarius. The creatures in his vision, from which the images of the tetramorph are derived, are reminiscent of ancient Assyrian art. The prophet Ezekiel lived among the Jews who were exiled to Babylon in the 6th century BC. The image of the sphinx, found in Egypt and Babylon, depicted the body of a lion and the head of a human, while the harpies of Greek mythology showed bird-like human women. ![]() Images of unions of different elements into one symbol were originally used by the Ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, and Greeks. Origins An Assyrian lamassu dated 721 BC. The tetramorphs were especially common in Early Medieval art, above all in illuminated Gospel books, but remain common in religious art to the present day. ![]() In English usage, each symbol may be described as a tetramorph in the singular, and a group as "the tetramorphs", but usually only in contexts where all four are included. The word comes from the Greek for "four forms" or "shapes". Evangelist portraits that depict them in their human forms are often accompanied by their symbolic creatures, and Christ in Majesty is often shown surrounded by the four symbols. In Christian art and iconography, Evangelist portraits are often accompanied by tetramorphs, or the symbols alone used to represent them. The most common association, but not the original or only, is: Matthew the King, Lion Mark the lowly Servant, Ox Luke the Son of Man, Man and John the Eagle. Each of the four Evangelists is associated with one of the living creatures, usually shown with wings. In Christian art, the tetramorph is the union of the symbols of the Four Evangelists, derived from the four living creatures in the Book of Ezekiel, into a single figure or, more commonly, a group of four figures. The term is derived from the Greek tetra, meaning four, and morph, shape. ![]() Matthew the man, Mark the lion, Luke the ox, and John the eagle.Ī tetramorph is a symbolic arrangement of four differing elements, or the combination of four disparate elements in one unit. Symbolic arrangement of four differing elements A composition of the Four Living Creatures into one tetramorph.
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