572 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1963 



Sophocles of the Lateran. In these Buddha figures the garment worn 

 is unmistakenly a liimation and not the regular sanghdtl : even though 

 the undergarment visible in some of these statues suggests the tunic 

 worn under the Eoman toga, this mantle should, as will be explained 

 directly, be described as a himation or pallium from the association 

 of this dress with the ancient philosophers. The various personages 

 in antique sculpture with the right hand emerging from the himation 

 or pallium illustrate a style of wearing the garment that prevailed in 

 every quarter of the late Antique world : it is paralleled at once in the 

 Buddhas of Gandhara, in Roman portrait statues, in portrayals of 

 Christ, and in the countless grave reliefs of Palmyra. The fact that 

 the pallium, draped in such a way that the right arm was supported 

 as though muffled in a sling, continued to be worn until at least 

 the fourth century is illustrated in many portrait statues, notably 

 the effigy of Julian the Apostate in the Louvre. It was not a prevail- 

 ing fashion of dress, however, but the association of this costume with 

 ancient representations of philosophers and teachers that led to its 

 adaptation to the early images of Christ and Buddlia. However, the 

 resemblance between the first statues of Christ and Buddha is not at 

 all surprising if we consider that both are the result of closely parallel 

 philosophic concepts in the religious complex of the Greco-Eoman 

 orbit: Justin had stated that Socrates was the "best" of the classic 

 philosophers, since he denied the ancient gods and enjoined man to 

 seek the unknown god in the Logos ; he therefore urged his followers 

 to know Christ as the personal appearance of the Logos indwelling in 

 all people. The implication that Christ is of the line of the great 

 classic teachers is almost too obvious. Augustine again draws a par- 

 allel between Christ, the Master of the new doctrine, and the ancient 

 philosophers: ^^paucis mutatis verbis,''^ he says, in speakmg of Plato, 

 atque sententiis Christiani fierentP Christ the Pedagogue is here 

 again thought of as replacing the teachers of the ancients. Concepts of 

 this sort made it natural to represent the great teacher of Christianity 

 in the iconography of the "teacher-orator" of the classic world. So 

 also Justin preached the Word of God clad in the philosopher's gown. 

 It seems almost redundant to point out that, in a similar way, Buddha 

 was regarded as the great teacher, the denier of the ancient order as 

 represented by the Vedas : the Greco-Roman workmen who fashioned 

 his images in Gandhara, like their early Christian cousins, chose the 

 classic orator type as the most suitable for portraying the Teacher, the 

 "Logos" of the Eastern world. The philosopher's gown was worn by 

 holy men in the Roman Christian world of the second and third cen- 

 turies and it was regarded as a garb of honor. There was nothing 

 unusual in the selection of the pagan orator type for the representation 

 of our Lord, who was Himself the supreme teacher, the eternal 

 Pedagogue. 



