Syncretism is appreciating a subject from one culture and giving it a new meaning in another culture. In the mosaic of Christ as the sun god, the beliefs of both early Christians and pagans are combined. Like early Christian art, the mosaic has Pagan subjects, a vineyard of Bacchus, and a charioteer with a beam of lights streaming from his head (Britt, 2018). In Pagan beliefs, Helios is a sun god often depicted in art with a radiant crown riding a chariot across the sky.
In early Christian art, the image depicts Christ as the sun god pulled by a chariot of two horses. The triumphant Christ with rays shooting from his head, which are rays of the sun, is also associated with healing Christians. The image has Dionysian vines in the background, which portrays the vines of Christ. Many early images of Christianity represent Christ as the vine, a symbol of fertility, resurrection, and the creative power of God.
The sun’s rays are in a cross pattern, and the charioteer is shown holding an orb which is a symbol of being a ruler of the world. Christ is wearing a sun crown on his head, showing a resemblance to Helios, the sun god in the Roman tradition (Britt, 2018). The illusion of the sun represents both death and resurrection as the earth travels around the sun. Moreover, early Christians had the custom of praying towards the east, the direction of his ascension, and the second coming. From earth, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Similarly, it symbolizes that Christ died on the cross, and was resurrected.
Reference
Britt, K. C. (2018). Early Christian mosaics in context. The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology, 275.