Nahum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nahum - Essay Example Proofs to support his claim include one of the relics found in the excavations in Pompeii, a city destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius tremendous volcanic eruption. This artifact which Feder referred to was a wall painting dug from a building known as the House of the Physician. It had images of two mothers, the butcher block, the baby, the soldier waiting to divide the baby, and the onlookers (Feder, 2010). Feder explained that â€Å"these images of the painting represent a popular scene in the Bible where King Solomon displayed his wisdom when two women came to him, each claiming to be the mother of the same infant. When Solomon ordered the baby to be divided in half, the real mother, shown at the foot of the dais, pleaded with him to spare the child and announced her willingness to relinquish her claim. The other woman was shown standing by the butcher block on which the infant has been placed asked to continue with the King’s order to divide the child in half. It was obvious who the real mother was. So the child was given to the former woman who pleaded to spare the child’s life unharmed as soldiers and observers look on, marveling at Solomon’s wisdom (1 Kings 3:16–28). The painting contained all the essential narrative elements in the Biblical story without omissions or adumbrations. This wall painting is now on exhibit at the Museo Nazionale in Naples.† (Feder, 2010) Using this painting, Feder enumerates a number of possible drawn inferences, as follows: â€Å"First of all, this painting is â€Å"the earliest depiction of a full-fledged Biblical scene as there is no known precedent in the history of art. It must have been dated from the period immediately preceding the Vesuvius eruption in 79 A.D. Secondly, the onlookers in the painting were stand-ins for Socrates and Aristotle whose images clearly resembled the prototypes of the two Greek great thinkers. This becomes significant as it implies that their presence in the composition attested to the