"Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, and had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angel's food" (Psalms 78: 23-25). From time immemorial, humankind has been concerned with the sustenance of both material and spiritual needs. The assurance of nature's abundance was sought by supplication and votive offerings to the divinities.
Fruits of the harvest were offered by various ancient peoples at New Year festivals I celebration of the Lord's granting another productive growing season. The first fruits of seven species (Hebrew, bikkurim)—wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olive oil, and honey—were offered to the Lord by the ancient Israelites in gratitude for the "land of milk and honey" during the period from the festival of Shavouat (the celebration of the Giving of the Torah) until Sukkot (The Feast of the Tabernacles), a harvest festival.
As early as the sixth millennium B.C.E., nature's munificence was personified in images of fat-hipped fertility goddesses, which had been placed in wheat-bins. These idols later developed into the more seductive Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Minoan, Canaanite, Greek, and Roman goddesses associated with the creatures and fruit of the earth: snakes, doves, fish, wheat, pomegranates, and flowers, which could in themselves signify the powers of the deities to provide a bountiful present and a blissful hereafter.

The Fauna of the Catacombs

In addition to ascribing symbolic meaning to flora, ancient writers on natural history attributed particular qualities and traits of behavior of birds and animals. Certain birds and animals became symbols for the vices and virtues with which they were endowed. Their well-known attributes served in art as a shorthand for abstract ideas. Thus, in the imagery of the catacombs, a few familiar motifs could express complex theological ideas; and the humblest worshiper, even though illiterate, could be reminded of scriptural teachings about God's grace toward man and man's duty to God, of sin, redemption, and man's hope for eternal life in the abode of the blest.

The Dove

For the pagans, the dove was an attribute of Aphrodite; in the Old Testament, Noah's dove signified God's covenant with mankind; in the New testament, John the Baptist likened the dove to the Spirit, the Holy Ghost, descending upon Jesus at his baptism.