Insights From Tom Schmidt, PhD, on the "Statue of Hippolytus"

Assistant professor of religious studies Thomas C. Schmidt, PhD, visited the Vatican Apostolic Library this past summer to participate in a conference on the ancient "Statue of Hippolytus." The statue, dating back to 222 A.D., is considered the oldest precisely datable Christian artifact in the world.

The "Statue of Hippolytus" is a key artifact in understanding this complex figure's legacy as the only person in Christian tradition to be both an antipope and a saint. Dr. Schmidt, a specialist in early Christian texts and their historical context, was among a diverse group of experts from around the world who were invited to contribute insights on the statue's mysterious inscriptions, which have puzzled scholars for centuries.

The experience was both exhilarating and humbling for Dr. Schmidt, who is co-editing a book on the conference proceedings alongside András Németh, Curator of Greek Manuscripts at the Vatican Library.

“This statue of Hippolytus is so precious,” Dr. Schmidt said. “It stands at the entryway to the Vatican Apostolic Library and is one of their chief objects because it's so early and its inscriptions are very extensive. Hippolytus of Rome was an early bishop. He was actually traditionally thought of as an antipope. He opposed the bishop of Rome, but then reunited with the Church.”

The statue had been largely inaccessible to scholars until recently. For centuries, it stood in the high entryway of the Vatican Library, making it difficult for scholars to closely examine its details. However, recent renovations to the library have moved the statue to a more accessible location, allowing researchers to study it up close for the first time.

Dr. Schmidt’s primary focus at the conference was to decipher the inscriptions on the statue, much of which had been damaged over the centuries. The seated figure had been broken off when the statue was discovered in the 1500s, and later repairs were made. Despite these alterations the inscriptions remain intact, offering valuable clues about the statue’s origin and purpose.

“The inscriptions are all original and authentic, and they're fairly extensive. For me, that's what makes it so interesting — these beautiful inscriptions,” said Schmidt. “They're in Greek. The educated elite often wrote in Greek instead of Latin, even though the statue was in Rome.” 

Among the multiple components of the inscriptions are two large calendars. One is a lunar calendar used to calculate the dates of Passover, which was important to early Christians who observed Easter around the time of the Jewish Passover. The second calendar relates to Easter itself, a fact that Dr. Schmidt said was crucial in pinpointing the exact date of the statue’s creation: 222 A.D. "[It] let us date the statue because it says in the heading that it comes from the first year of Emperor Alexander Severus, and that's 222 A.D.," he noted.

In addition to the calendars, Dr. Schmidt also focused on deciphering a list of Christian book titles inscribed on the statue’s chair. Though the inscriptions do not explicitly state that the figure depicted is Hippolytus, Schmidt’s research suggests that the titles could offer clues to the statue's identity. “There is no inscription that says this was written by the person sitting on the chair, and unfortunately the beginning of the inscription had been broken off when it was discovered," he said. "So what my research was trying to understand is who wrote the titles that are listed, to perhaps help us figure out who's depicted sitting on the chair."

Dr. Schmidt’s work is also shedding new light on the possibility of multiple authors: “The inscriber made mistakes and kept confusing letters, [which] seems to suggest there's 'more than one cook in the kitchen’ here.”

The conference featured cutting-edge technology, including 3D scans of the statue, which allowed Dr. Schmidt and fellow scholars to examine the statue in unprecedented detail. Agnes Bencze, a Hungarian scholar, created a 3D model of the statue using laser scanning, allowing researchers to investigate the statue more closely than ever before.

Dr. Schmidt is the author of Hippolytus of Rome: Commentary on Daniel and 'Cronicon', which contains an introduction and first-ever English translation of the oldest Christian commentary on Scripture. His involvement in the conference is part of his long-standing interest in Hippolytus, whose feast day is Jan. 30. 

The conference attendees' work at the Vatican Library is expected to influence the broader field of early Christian studies, as it brings new perspectives on both the figure of Hippolytus and the culture of early Christianity. As he and his colleagues work to compile the proceedings of the conference, Dr. Schmidt hopes that the research will continue to inspire scholars to revisit key moments in the history of the Church.

As for the statue itself, Dr. Schmidt remains fascinated by its history and the questions it continues to raise. “The Hippolytus statue is a remarkable witness of this lost past,” he said. “He was a remarkable scholar who wrote works of history, theology, philosophy, and astronomy. His work has mostly been lost and forgotten, and only recently have scholars been trying to reconstruct what he says. I think he is one of the most underappreciated early Christian scholars.”

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