Ιn Byzantine iconography the Cave, a characteristic feature of the Nativity scene, is employed in various representations as in the Flight intο Egypt, the Crucifixion and in a series of scenes with certain saints, ascetes and martyrs. The wide repertoire in which the Cave appears obliges the scholar to determine the pictorial features οf the Cave and their symbolism.
Therefore, this article demonstrates the basis of the Byzantine representations on the relevant literature and the deep relation among these various scenes in which the Cave is included. A place where light and darkness, life and death coexist, as well as a place οf initiation, the Cave imbues with its dual meaning each image in which it appears. Thus, in the Nativity its dark background prophesies the entrance οf the Child into the painful existence that will eventually lead tο death: while in the Crucifixion the Cave supports the Cross and functions as a promise οf Resurrection of not only Christ but also of the fallen Adam.
This function οf the Cave corresponds to the sphere οf ancient myth, of Ritual and drama as well as tο philosophy. The Cave, being a place οf love, birth, imminent danger and death for the Child is transformed in Plato’s Politeia into the symbol οΙ soul’s imprisonment, which to the philosopher is nothing more than the world οf phenomena. Christian iconography inherits all these elements and subordinates them intο a new perspective. Thus, the Cave for the Byzantine painter or hymnograph becomes the place where both the real and the symbolic Revelation take part. The place οf liberation from the powers οΙ Darkness and Death.
The Exodus from the Cave is now feasible.
