Sean Tarjoto
Humanities II
Prof. Hildebrandt
Feb 8, 2000

	One almost always sees art depicting the Virgin Mary with Christ.  The medieval thirteenth-century works by Giotto and Cimabue are only two such examples of the Madonna with Child.  But these works came after ten centuries of Christianity. Early Christianity needed to contend with the Greco-Roman paganism of Ancient Rome. The idea of the earthly Virgin being responsible for the divine-human incarnation of God has its origins in paganism and cult tactics.  
	Greek mythology, although polytheistic, has at the top of its Mount Olympus the all-too humanlike deities the god Zeus (or in the Roman version, Jupiter).  Like the other gods, Zeus frequently visits the young virgin nymphs on Earth in sexual liason. (insert Zeus and the girl who gets fried bylighting).  This idea, that the gods are interested in sexual exploits on earth, was an integral and common motif in almost every peice of Greek-Roman myth.  Roman culture essentially stole Greek culture, finding new names for the characters in their myths,but hardly ever altering the myth itself.  It was in this polytheistic cultural context early Christianity was born in. 
	Only the most radical and sometimes zealous kind attempted to follow Christianity in Ancient Rome.  In order to attract more followers it needed to cut its revolutionary doctrine.  Ancient Rome had been at least adequately tolerant enough of the various religions within its empire, but the official state-sponsored religion was that of the mythology borrowed from Ancient Greece.  Few wanted to depart from the perks of having such belief, especially those in office.  But once the idea that even the Christian god had come down to impregnate an earthly virgin, then the doctrine had not only become less radical and easier to accept, but also sexier.
	Although no such human-shaped form would approach the Virgin Mary, a young, most likely teenage girl, this abstract mysticism had a nice, abstentious quality which countered the tried and tired eroticism of Zeus.  The popular sexual exploits of the Greek divine denizenry had become old by the time of the empire, and the idea that such human qualities existed within the spiritual world made the entire religion seem no different from the earthly world. Indeed, the idea that even with a libido one could lift mountains or run like lightning or even throw lightning was attractive to the common man, but it was also implicit in mythology that these powers belonged only to the divine or their demigod children.  Indeed, even the intellectual elite living in Greece had no such faith in these notions.  Where Plato felt compelled to use religion only as a tool to organize his ideal state and Aristotle seeing the truly happy man as one uncompelled to do too much of anything, especially sex.  Although it is difficult to deny that the average Roman could not understand the safety of celibacy, he could not bring himself to do it.  The mystical quality of the Christian god's sex with the Virgin Mary was a middle-road between the ridiculous orgies of Greek gods and the painful absence of sex. 
	The Cult of the Virgin was born when Roman peoples began converting to Christian principles, having found psychological and social familiarity with the notion of the Madonna, virgin yet capable of birth.  These maternal motifs exist even further past the Greek rendition, from old naturalistic religions (which usually called the earth their “mother”).  

	The Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Saints, by the revolutionary painter Giotto is another depiction of the Virgin Mary with Christ.  Giotto’s interesting contribution is the responsiveness of each character in the painting to the Madonna.  A dramatic effect is created in the upturned heads of the angels and saints.  The Madonna sits at a throne in the position of the Queen of Heaven.  There is a recognizable physical and psychological nature in the activity here.  The features of the Madonna and Christ are heavy, weighty, existing in a spatial continuum in which “even gravity is an inescapable factor”   The angels’ robes are flowing downward, indeed, they are kneeling. 

	The Madonna of Jeanne d'Evreux is a Gothic sculpture commissioned by the French queen Jeanne d'Evreux.  It stands in “hip-shot” position, where one side of the hip juts out to support the Christ Child. It is less naturalistic than elegant, giving the body an S-shape.  The hip is the part of the Virgin’s body which supports him, and it is undeniable that it is also responsible for carrying him during the pregnancy. The child has a right arm in outreach, touching the Madonna on the lower lip.   The Virgin is blessed by the prodigial Christ, who, even as an infant, carries divine knowledge.  A feature in painted works of the two features a halo on Christ, but this is difficult or aesthetically problematic in sculpture.  Gold a perfect exposition of divinity.  In this case, the halo is the medium for which the depictions of Madonna and Christ are made; they are totally and inherently holy, and the Madonna, born without Original Sin, is equal in grace to that of Christ.