Sts. Judas Thadeus and Simon the Zealot

In the foreground, St. Simon leans against a large saw and St. Jude holds a heavy wooden square. Behind them, an angry crowd uses ropes and axes to pull down a classical temple and a statue of a solar deity crowned with rays. The scene depicts the martyrdom of these saints in Persia after they refused to worship pagan gods and caused the destruction of their idols.

This work captures the Mannerist preoccupation with the dramatic overthrow of the classical 'old world' by the Christian 'logos.' For the Western esoteric tradition, the depiction of the destruction of the Sun and Moon idols represents the historical conflict between early Christian theology and the older astral-magic traditions of the Near East.