Early Christian.

The suidicide of Judas and Crucifixion ivory plaque from c. 420 is a classic sculpture-type art piece from the early Christian era. This era in history did not provide many pieces that we focused on. But the role of deity in the lives of people in this era was obvious. The title of the era is named after Jesus Christ, the same of whom the piece of art is about. The people named themselves Christians after this same deity. Not only did they hold a firm belief in their God, but they knew through history and faith that Jesus Christ had come down among his people years before.

Although this is one of the few early christian pieces we studied in class, I'm sure there are thousands of other pieces out there. This was a very spiritual time for these people, because of the recent birth and death of Christ, and of all of the time periods that we review for journals, this is the only one in which the era is in the name of the god of the people studied.