where He was modelled on Apollo. On either side of Him stand
SS Peter and Paul, with a canopy above and the three Hebrews in
the Fiery Furnace below. At the top are two Angels, confronted,
with a cross between them; at the bottom are scenes from the life of
Jonah. The side panels show to Christ's left the Healing of the Blind
Man and of the Man Possessed with a Devil, and to His right the
Raising of Lazarus and the miracle 'Take up thy bed and walk.' All
the scenes are strikingly vivid; that of Jonah and the Whale ( Ill. 8 )
is particularly expressive. They all represent illustrative art at its
peak. One would associate such competence with a great city, such
as Alexandria; the angular poses and the expressive gestures are
distinct from what was being done in Constantinople.

A pair of rather similar multiple diptychs in the Bibliothèque
Nationale ( Ill. 9 ) are also probably to be regarded as Alexandrine,
though the work is rather coarser than that on the Ravenna ivory.
One leaf bears, on the central panel, a bearded Christ, enthroned
between SS Peter and Paul, the other the Virgin Enthroned with the
Child on her knee between two Angels; both the central compositions
are surrounded by scenes from Christ's life, and at the tops are con-
fronted Angels supporting a cross within a wreath. Like the Ravenna
panel, this ivory is to be dated to the sixth century.

8 Detail of the left-hand
scene of the bottom panel
of the ivory shown on
p. 17. The panel is de-
voted to the story of
Jonah; here he is shown
resting under the Gourd
Tree, the whale beside him

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