In a process known as syncretism, the architects of early Christian Churches assimilated images from other traditions and gave them new meanings. Either deliberately or unconsciously, the iconographic motifs in the architecture are borrowed depending on the context they would be made to represent. For example, Stokstad and Cothren show the orant figures in the early churches, with worshippers with arms stretched in prayer, might have been Christian, Jewish, or even pagan.
Arguably, the best associated syncretic image, borrowed from pagan rituals, is the image of the good shepherd. In pagan art, the image represents Orpheus among the animals, Hermes the shepherd, Apollo, or philanthropy personification. In Christianity, the same image is associated with the good shepherd in the book of Psalms 23 and the Gospels of Matthew 18:12-14 and John 10:11-16.
There is no stable meaning associated with similar images found in early Christian Churches since their associated meaning is attributed to the specific groups using them. Therefore, the images of the good shepherd and others associated with the church serve as reminders instead of instructors.
Moreover, the art and architecture used in Early Christian Churches were symbolic of the rituals they housed. The sacred spaces were decorated using art that proclaimed the theological meaning of the rituals. What would later come to be used by Christians as catacombs were reflections of the affluent of Rome and Pompeii, who used long rectangular niches in walls to bury their loved ones.
The semi-circular compartments found in Early Christian Churches reflected the murals associated with the Roman and Pompeii affluent used to preserve the bodies of the dead. Similarly, the churches borrowed the idea to create presumably images of the faithful Christians that were buried awaiting everlasting life.