As we move toward an understanding of the transition from martyrdom to the veneration of martyrs we can do so through an understanding of the iconography of the martyr-hero in terms of feast, image, heroa, and dome. Here ...

Close up of feast of the martyr-hero evidenced by fish on the tripod table. Fresco at the catacomb of Pietro e Marcellino

A catacomb fresco of martyr-hero/Eucharistic feast in Rome.

Inscription reads "Stir up in me peace" and the skull and bones of the deceased still present. The fish on the eucharistic table may be a reference to the acrostic for Jesus Christ God's Son Savior, or a reference to Acts ...

Eucharist Scene with three legged table (Left), Eucharist scene with basktes of bread (Center), Good Shepherd with an orantes (Right).

Scenes of the Lord's Supper apparently began as something of a conflation with the Roman custom of the refrigeria, a memorial meal at the site of the grave. Refrigeria/Eucharist, fresco from the Catacomb of Callistus.

Close-up of "Shorthand for the Eucharist" (CAT0046). A fresco of bread basket and fish in reference to Eucharistic meal on a damaged loculi. A basket of bread, and a fish, a reference to a meal with the risen Lord. Cript ...

Undamaged fresco of Eucharist between two opened loculi. The baskets of bread imply the Eucharist in this fresco.

Fresco of refrigerium/Eucharist and Good Shepherd medallion on ceiling, Catacomb of Pietro & Marcellino, Rome.

Fresco of Eucharistic meal in the Capella Greca, Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome. The memorial meal at the grave site soon elided into the Eucharist. The fish on the table clearly marks this early image as that of the Eucharist.