There is debate over the first known artistic representation of the
Christian Devil. In his book, The Devil: The Archfiend in Art from the Sixth to the Sixteenth Century, art historian Luther Link
argues that the first illustration of Satan is depicted in an early
representation of the fall of Lucifer. This image dates to the early fifth
century. In Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages, historian Jeffrey Burton Russell argues that a 6th century
mosaic (circa 586) is the first known illustration of Satan.
In my belief, the richest period in the history of Satan is the
millennium that followed the fall of Rome. This is the middle period between
the classical world and the Renaissance, also known as the Middle Ages, the
Medieval period, or the Dark Ages. All the foundations of Hell and Satan were
already in place when Rome fell, but the development of the Devil was vastly
elaborated during the Middle Ages. Augustine, who had much to do with the
blossoming of Christianity into an imperial religion, lived to see the Roman
Empire fall. The Visigoths sacked the city in 410; Barbarians swarmed over
Roman territories, and the Vandals broke into Africa in 429. To say that the
fall of the Roman Empire singled the end of the world is not to exaggerate by
much – at least not for the people who were living during that time.
Civilization, as it had been known for many years around the Mediterranean and
up into Europe, collapsed as the tribes from the north and west (the Goths, Visigoths,
Ostrogoths, Franks, Saxons, Alemanni, Suevi) and the Huns from the east swarmed
over the old territories until final capitulation in 476. Rome was not
physically destroyed until the next century, but the Barbarian invasions meant
the destruction of civilization as it was known. Byzantium preserved itself,
its currency, military defense, and trading systems for the next thousand
years, and the West fell into the Dark Ages, at least until the reign of
Charlemagne (742-814).
The collapse
of unified civil power, together with the loss of state-supported school systems and universities, gave the
Church, the only large collective body that remained, an opportunity to take
control. Largely because of the vision, administrative capability, and
practical common sense of a remarkable pope, Gregory the Great (540-604), the
Church moved into a leadership position.
Gregory was elected pope in 590. As the first monk to hold the office,
he was in a unique position to appreciate the enormous administrative potential
in his elite corps of Benedictine monks. He trained his Benedictines in law and
business administration, encouraged their interests in art and literature, and
sent them off as missionaries to the Barbarians, many of whom were already
somewhat Christianized. In addition to founding monasteries as cultural and
theological centers, the Benedictines helped illiterate local leaders develop
written laws based on the Roman legal system, keep accounts, collect taxes,
administer legacies, and formulate their own histories. In short, the
Benedictines made themselves indispensable.
Stay Tuned for The Medieval Origins of Satan in Literature & Art: Part 2