{"id":15265,"date":"2025-12-12T18:17:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T01:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rare-fresco-of-jesus-as-good-shepherd-found-in-turkish-town-visited-by-the-pope\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:33:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:33:41","slug":"rare-fresco-of-jesus-as-good-shepherd-found-in-turkish-town-visited-by-the-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rare-fresco-of-jesus-as-good-shepherd-found-in-turkish-town-visited-by-the-pope\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare fresco of Jesus as \u2018Good Shepherd\u2019 found in Turkish town visited by the pope"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Archaeologists
Archaeologists clean and restore frescoes Dec. 12 inside a third-century tomb where a rare early Christian depiction of Jesus as the \u201cGood Shepherd\u201d was discovered, in Iznik, Turkey. (Khalil Hamra\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Khalil Hamra<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

IZNIK, Turkey \u2013 Archaeologists in Turkey have uncovered one of the most significant finds from Anatolia\u2019s early Christian era: a fresco of a Roman-looking Jesus as the \u201cGood Shepherd.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fresco was discovered in August in an underground tomb near Iznik, a northwestern town where the Nicene Creed was adopted in A.D. 325. Pope Leo XIV visited last month on his first overseas trip.<\/p>\n

The region was part of the Roman Empire, and the Hisardere tomb likely dates to the third century, when Christians faced persecution.<\/p>\n

The fresco shows a youthful, clean-shaven Jesus in a toga carrying a goat across his shoulders. Researchers say it is a rare example of Jesus with Roman attributes in Anatolia.<\/p>\n

\"A
A fresco depicting Jesus as the \u201cGood Shepherd\u201d adorns the wall of a third-century tomb in Hisardere on Dec. 12. (Khalil Hamra\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Khalil Hamra<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Before the cross became Christianity\u2019s universal symbol, the Good Shepherd motif signified protection, salvation and divine guidance.<\/p>\n

Few Good Shepherd examples have been found in Anatolia, and the Hisardere fresco is the best preserved.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press was the first international outlet granted access. Lead archaeologist Gulsen Kutbay called the artwork possibly the \u201conly example of its kind in Anatolia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tomb\u2019s walls and ceiling feature bird and plant motifs, along with portraits of nobles and their attendants.<\/p>\n

Eren Erten Ertem of the Iznik Museum said the frescoes show \u201ca transition from late paganism to early Christianity, depicting the deceased being sent off to the afterlife in a positive and fitting manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

The excavation uncovered five skeletons, anthropologist Ruken Zeynep Kose said. Two were young adults and one an infant; the other two were too deteriorated to age.<\/p>\n

Leo visited Iznik last month to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which produced a creed still recited by millions of Christians.<\/p>\n

Joined by Eastern and Western church leaders, Leo prayed for Christian unity.<\/p>\n

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented Leo with a tile painting of the Good Shepherd during the visit.<\/p>\n

Anatolia saw pivotal Christian moments: St. Paul was born in Tarsus, St. John spent his final years in Ephesus and the Virgin Mary may have lived nearby.<\/p>\n

\"Archaeologist
Archaeologist cleans and restores frescoes inside a third-century tomb where a rare early Christian depicting Jesus as the \u201cGood Shepherd\u201d was discovered, in Iznik, Turkey. (Khalil Hamra\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Khalil Hamra<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A fresco depicting Jesus as the \u201cGood Shepherd\u201d adorns the wall of a third-century tomb in Hisardere on Dec. 12. (Khalil Hamra\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Khalil Hamra<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A fresco depicting Jesus as the \u201cGood Shepherd\u201d adorns the wall of a third-century tomb in Hisardere on Dec. 12. (Khalil Hamra\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Khalil Hamra<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hisardere tomb likely dates to the third century, when Christians faced persecution<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1220,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-christianity","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15265"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19566,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15265\/revisions\/19566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15265"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}