ARCHAEOLOGY. - The earliest pictorial cycle relating to the story of S. is on the two long walls of the so-called Greek Chapel in the cemetery of Priscilla (2nd century); there S. is depicted as surprised by the two elders, the accusation and the thanksgiving for her deliverance (Wilpert, *Pitture*, pl. 14). In the Catacomb of Callisto is the judgment of S. (ibid., pl. 86); other scenes of S. are in the cemeteries of Domitilla (ibid., pl. 142, 1), in the Maius (ibid., pl. 220) and in that "inter duas lauros" (ibid., pl. 232, 3). Typical is the scene in the catacomb of Praetextatus in the arch of Celerina: S. is painted as a sheep between two wolves indicated by the black inscription SENIORIS (ibid., pl. 251); above the sheep is the name SUSANNA.
Among the mosaic scenes is to be remembered the now lost one of S. Costanza in Rome, of which some good ancient copies remain (cf. R. Michel, *Die Mosaiken von S. Costanza in Rom*, in *Studien über christliche Denkmäler*, 12 [1912], p. 25, passim).
Few in number are also the sarcophagi so far known with the scene of S., but almost all with multiple representations, in a complete cycle: a fact explainable by the different possibilities and the greater space available to the sculptor. The prophet Daniel is the prominent figure, throughout the story, often seated as a judge in front of the curtain (velum) that separates him from the people. The elders can be depicted beardless (Gallic sarcophagi) or bearded (Roman sarcophagi). The sarcophagus of Gerona (Wilpert, *Sarcofagi*, pl. 196, 1) has among all the most extensive cycle of the episode of S. The scenes follow one another uninterruptedly from right to left, beginning with the attempt of the elders until the capital execution of the same. The other sarcophagi with the same scene do not present other significant variants; some are still doubtful (cf. bibl.).
Of notable interest for the care of S. is the well-known glass disc of Lothair II figured with the entire biblical cycle, now in the British Museum (cf. Ph. Lauer, *Le joyaux carolingien de Waulsort sur Meuse*, in *Bull. de la Soc. nat. des antig. de France*, 1908, pp. 102-107); the two pairs of glasses from Homblières and Podgoritza (cf. J. Pilloy, *Coupe gravée en verre trouvée à Abbeville, commune d'Homblères (Aise) dans une sépulture du IVe siècle*, in *Gazette archéol.*, 1884, pp. 224-30, pl. 32-33; G. B. De Rossi, *Insigne tazza vitrea figurata*, in *Bull. d'arch. crist.*, 2nd ser., 5 [1874], pp. 153-55, pl. 11; id., *L'insigne piatto vitreo di Podgoritza oggi nel Museo Basilewskit in Parigi*, ibid., 3rd ser., 2 [1877], pp. 77-85, pl. 5-6); and the double scene representing Daniel among the lions on the front side Brescia (v.). Hippolytus sees in S. the representation of the Church of Christ between two hostile peoples, that of Israel and that "ex gentibus" (In Daniel, 1, 14, 5-6). In the *Commendatio animae* the Lord is invoked to free the soul "sicut liberasti Susannam de falso crimine".
ICONOGRAPHY. - The Baroque painter Baldassarre Croce frescoed in the church of St. S. martyr in Rome in the early years of the 17th century the scenes sung by Daniel about the heroine S.; among them also the episode of the young woman who is surprised in the bath by the two elders.
Only this episode, among all the stories of S., had great success in the art of the 16th and 17th centuries, which conceived it as a profane genre scene. Its earliest depiction dates back to the last years of the 15th century and is seen among the frescoes of Pinturicchio in the Borgia apartment of the Vatican Palace. Notable 16th-century paintings with the subject "S. in the bath and the two elders" include: the panel by Lorenzo Lotto, formerly in the Benson collection in London; two paintings by Jacopo Tintoretto, one in the Nemes collection in Munich and the second in the Museum of Vienna; two paintings by Paolo Veronese, one in the Louvre in Paris and the second in the Academy of St. Luke in Rome; and also two paintings by Jacopo Bassano called da Ponte, one in the Civic Museum of Bassano and the second in the Museum of Nîmes (France). For 17th-century painting, mention should be made of the painting by P. P. Rubens in the Pinacoteca Sabauda in Turin and another in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, that by Gherardo delle Notti in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, that by Guido Reni in the Uffizi, and that by Artemisia Gentileschi in the Museum of Naples. — See pl. CVIII.