Image of Christ on 4th Century plate sheds new light on his appearance

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Archaeologists in Spain claim they have found one of the world's earliest known images of Jesus - and he doesn't have a beard.

The figure is engraved on a glass plate dating back to the 4th Century AD, according to Spanish reports. He is flanked by two apostles, believed to be Peter and Paul.

The scene is striking because Jesus looks very different from later depictions - he has no beard, short, curly hair and is wearing what appears to be a philosopher's toga.

Beardless: An engraving of Jesus believed to be from the 4th Century AD has been discovered, and shows him with short curly hair and no beard, contrary to traditional depictions

Beardless: An engraving of Jesus believed to be from the 4th Century AD has been discovered, and shows him with short curly hair and no beard, contrary to traditional depictions

Pieced together: The glass plate is one of the earliest known depictions of Jesus Christ

Pieced together: The glass plate is one of the earliest known depictions of Jesus Christ

This is a far cry from the traditional depictions we are used to today, of a bearded Jesus with long, brown hair. 

All three of the men have halos over their heads.

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The plate is believed to have been used to hold Eucharistic bread as it was consecrated in early Christian rituals.

It measures 22cm in diameter and fragments of it were unearthed by scientists working for the FORVM MMX project inside a religious building in the ancient town of Castulo in Andalusia, southern Spain.

Recreation: An image of what the plate would have looked like based on the pieces which have been found

Recreation: An image of what the plate would have looked like based on the pieces which have been found

Marcelo Castro, head of the FORVM MMX excavation project, said the building was erected in the second half of the fourth century AD and abandoned about a century later, The Local reports.

The find has made scientists 'review the chronology of early Christianity in Spain', FORVM MMX project director Marcelo Castro told El Mundo newspaper.

The pieces were in an excellent state of preservation - 81 per cent of its original area has now been pieced together by scientists.

'The scene takes place in the celestial orb, framed between two palm trees, which in Christian iconography represent immortality, the afterlife and heaven, among other things,' ABC writes. 

That's more like it: A traditional image of the long-haired, bearded Jesus we are all used to

That's more like it: A traditional image of the long-haired, bearded Jesus we are all used to

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