Red Sea

ROSSO, MARE — The Exodus from Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea. Fresco of the 3rd century, Dura Europos, synagogue.

the altarpiece of Villamagna. From 1522 dates the great Dei altarpiece, formerly in S. Spirito and now in the Pitti, which reveals a greater study of formal and compositional balance, certainly owing to the influence of analogous compositions by Andrea del Sarto. In S. Lorenzo is the Marriage of the Virgin, dated 1523, likewise carefully composed according to traditional models but extraordinarily acute in its details; from the same year comes the extraordinary Moses and the Daughters of Jethro: an exceptionally daring composition resolved through truly anticipatory formal boldness. In 1523 R. moved to Rome where, led astray by the overwhelming examples of Raphael and Michelangelo, he frescoed in S. Maria della Pace the Creation of Eve and the Original Sin, perhaps his weakest works. Having fled because of the sack of 1527, he went to Perugia and Arezzo: from this period date the Deposition (1528) in S. Lorenzo of Borgo S. Sepolcro and the Transfiguration for the cathedral of Città di Castello (1528–30). In 1530 he moved to France. The works executed there have not survived, except for the Deposition in the Louvre (1537–40), since the Gallery of Francis I in the château of Fontainebleau, painted with collaborators between 1534 and ’37, has been seriously disfigured by alterations and repainting. R.’s work in France had a major influence on the formation of the Fontainebleau school.

Of the greatest importance is his graphic production, which has survived in numerous examples (Paris, London, Florence, etc.).

R.’s personality, long unrecognized, has only recently been reassessed as one of the highest and most original expressions of early Tuscan Mannerism.

Carla Guglielmi]

RED SEA (Gr. ἡ ἔρυθρα θάλασσα; Heb. jām sūph). - A vast expanse of sea extending from the entrance of Bāb el-Mandeb, between southwestern Asia to the east and the coasts of northeastern Africa to the west, up to Cape Mohammed in the north, where it bifurcates into two branches: the Gulf of Suez (Sinus Arabicus) to the west, and the Gulf of el-'Aqabah (Sinus Aelanticus) to the east. The Hebrew appellation jām sūph, "sea of reeds" or "sea of rushes" (Ex. 10, 19; 13, 18; 15, 4), is of uncertain origin; however, its identification is not in doubt, as its extremity is indicated (Ex. 23, 31; I Reg. 9, 26; Ier. 49, 21) in the Elanitic Gulf or Gulf of el-'Aqabah.

The general opinion, supported by biblical texts, is that the miraculous passage of the Hebrews through the Red Sea (Ex. 15, 4-22) occurred in the Gulf of Suez, which at that time, through natural channels, was connected to the basin of the Bitter Lakes. Reed beds still exist there today, and it is not unlikely that they were abundant at the time of the Exodus, thus justifying the Hebrew appellation.

The precise location of the crossing has been variously determined: near Serapeum, between Lake Timsāh and the Bitter Lakes; at Šaluf, between the Bitter Lakes and Suez; or at the ford that once connected Clysma (= Suez) to el-Šatt. The most probable opinion, presented by Bourdon and based on geography, archaeology, and the study of papyri, places the crossing between Gebel Geneffef and Gebel Hasan along the path leading to the ford situated in the southern part of the Little Bitter Lake.

Forced to change direction in their march toward Palestine, the Hebrews, from Serapeum, headed along the route west of the Great Bitter Lake that led to Suez. Leaving to their right the marshy terrain extending between the road and the lake—referred to in a papyrus by the Egyptian name equivalent to Phihahiroth (= marshes)—they encamped at the foot of Gebel Hasan, where, since the time of Seti I, there had been a fort (Magdal) opposite the stele of Beelsephon (Ex. 14, 1-2), with a garrison to oversee both the road leading to Suez and the track to the ford of the Bitter Lakes.

The Egyptians, confident that the Hebrews would not venture through the ford and certain they could now cut off the fugitives' path, waited for them to surrender. But during the night, a violent wind arose from the east, concealing the two armies from view, and Moses, under the Lord's protection, ordered the movement toward the ford of the Bitter Lakes, which had widened due to the tide, and crossed to the other shore on dry land, reaching the desert. At dawn, the Egyptians also attempted the crossing; but the Lord threw panic into their ranks, and, at Moses' gesture, while they were in the midst of the sea, the waters resumed their course, and they, in their attempt to turn back, were engulfed by the waves.

ARCHAEOLOGY. - Christian art depicted the scene of the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex. 14:21-36; 15:1-6) in the 4th century, on the front of several sarcophagi: there, mostly on the left, horsemen and foot soldiers emerge from a large gate, preceded by Pharaoh on his chariot, in the act of pursuing the Hebrews. Beneath the horses, two or three symbolic figures represent Egypt, the land, and the Red Sea. The moment of the clash follows: men and horses struggle in the waves, drowning. On the right, the group of Hebrews, freed with Moses, who is depicted as a young beardless man striking the sea with his staff—contrary to the Scriptural text, according to which the prophet had opened the sea with his staff and, by stretching out his hand at God’s command, caused it to fall back upon the Egyptians. Among the Hebrews, some observe the ruin of the enemy, others are on their way, carrying children either by the hand or on their shoulders; others carry unleavened dough in the folds of their cloaks. The group is led by Moses’ sister, who plays a small drum, and follows the pillar of fire, depicted as a twisted column with a Corinthian capital, topped by a burning brazier.

This is seen on a sarcophagus lid discovered in San Lorenzo al Verano, belonging to a certain Gorgonio (late 4th century). Among other representations of the crossing on sarcophagi, seven are Roman and thirteen Gallic. The most famous sarcophagi include the Lateranense no. III, those in the museums of Split, Arles, Bellegarde, Avignon, and the church of Saint-Trophime in Arles, used as an altar frontal.

Other reproductions of the scene appear on a panel of the door of Santa Sabina and in one of the mosaics of the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (5th century), where the Hebrew people, with Moses, witness the drowning of the Egyptians.

Finally, the crossing of the Red Sea is frequently depicted in miniatures, such as, for example, in the codex of the homilies of St. Gregory Nazianzen (late 9th century) and in a Psalter of the 10th century (H. Omont, Les miniatures des manuscrits grecs de la Bibliothèque nationale, Paris 1902, pls. 42 and 9); in Octateuchs of the 11th and 12th centuries, such as the Vatican Greek codices nos. 746 and 747 (Wilpert, Mosaiken, p. 455), etc.

In this scene, G. Wilpert believed there was a symbol of the invocation: "libera l'anima del tuo servo come liberasti Mosè dalle mani del Faraone" ("free the soul of your servant as you freed Moses from the hands of Pharaoh"); E. Becker instead sees an allusion to the Battle of the Milvian Bridge with the defeat of Maxentius; F. J. Dölger a symbol of Baptism, according to St. Paul (1 Cor. 10:2).