Slumber under divine protection : from vague pagan hopes to Christian belief

It is by now a commonplace that Christian iconographies are firmly rooted in, or at least based upon, pagan precursors. But what exactly the relationship be- tween the two was, is still a matter for debate. This paper contributes to the discus- sion by comparing, and trying to understand, the most popular images on Roman mythological sarcophagi and in early Christian funerary art, namely sleepers such as Endymion or Ariadne, and Jonah. It argues that the iconographic similarities be- tween the sleepers are all but accidental or simply come down to artistic convention, but that they are indicative of key ideas about what may come after death, ideas that were shared by Christians and non-Christians. The traditional mythical sleepers ex- press pagans’ hope for a peaceful existence free from the toil of earthly life, which they often envisaged as everlasting sleep in proximity to, and under the protection of, the divine. Christians imagined the interim state between death and Judgement Day in a similar way, manipulating the biblical Jonah story to express this idea. Their beliefs were not so much a contrast to pagan hopes as an extension of them, in that they were certain one day to wake up and enjoy peace and closeness to God in eternity.