Iconography of the Procession of Virgins, Chapel of Exodus (Egypt): Origins and Parallels

Abstract

This study attempts to trace back iconographic origins of an Early Christian scene depicting a procession of women moving towards a temple. The scene makes part of the pictorial program of the so-called Chapel of Exodus-a Coptic mausoleum from Kharga Oasis in Egypt. Never being among the most popular subjects of the Early Christian art, the images of the female processions are found in the monuments throughout the Late Roman Empire, from Roman catacombs to a small house-church at the Eastern border of the Pax Romana (Dura Europos, Syria).The extant scenes are dated back to different periods and belong to the different cultural milieu. The iconographic ambiguity of the procession scene from the Exodus Chapel triggered an intense scholar discussion and gave way to multiple interpretations. Still, the meaning of the episode and the reasons for its inclusion into the pictorial ensemble concept is not quite clear. The study aims to fill these particular gaps in the previous works. The semiotic and contextual analysis allows examining the scene in its relationship with juxtaposed compositions, to compare its iconographic features with descriptions of contemporary religious practices, and clarify the function of the image in the iconographic program of the Chapel of Exodus.