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Fish Gem
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
To avoid punishment, early Christians practiced their faith in secret. Images of fish were part of a code developed to refer to Jesus Christ. To those in the know, the Greek word for fish (ICHTHYS), was an acronym for the phrase Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter which translates as Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineFish Gem, c. 250–350 CE. Syria(?) or Anatolia, early Christian. Rock crystal; overall: 3.5 x 7.5 cm (1 3/8 x 2 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1954.592
