James, son of Zebedee James, son of Zebedee James, son of Zebedee (Hebrew: , "Yaʿqob"; Greek: Ἰάκωβος; ; died 44 AD) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, traditionally considered the first apostle to be martyred. The son of Zebedee and Salome is James, styled "the Greater", to distinguish him from the Apostle James "the Less", with greater meaning older or taller, rather than more important. He was the brother of John the beloved disciple. James is described as one of the first disciples to join Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels state that James and John were with their father by the seashore when
Vocation of the Apostles Vocation of the Apostles The Vocation of the Apostles is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, executed in 1481–1482 and located in the Sistine Chapel, Rome. In 1481 a group of Florentine painters left for Rome, where they had been called as part of the reconciliation project between Lorenzo de' Medici, the "de facto" ruler of Florence, and Pope Sixtus IV. The Florentines started to work in the Sistine Chapel as early as the Spring of 1481, along with Pietro Perugino, who was already there. The theme of the decoration was a parallel between the Stories of