Browse Items (21 total)

The stylite saints depicted on tall glass vessels made in Syria were men who renounced the world and lived atop pillars (styloi). Most renowned was Saint Symeon the Stylite the Elder (389–459), whose pillar on the mountain of Qal‘at Sem‘an, near…

This silver plaque is a precious record of the worship of stylite saints in the eastern Mediterranean in the 6th and 7th centuries. It was originally part of the treasure of the church of Ma'arrat an Numan, Syria. The decoration, figured in relief,…

According to the inscription on this lead vial or ampulla, it contained oil from the wood of the true cross, obtained from the Holy Land. At the sites of sacred events, pilgrims could acquire “eulogiae,” literally “blessings,” in the form of tokens…

Pilgrim-token; terracotta; medallion depicting on one side the Nativity, the Virgin on the left.

Commentary
Flasks bearing images of Saint Menas are not uncommon in Egypt. Menas was a Roman soldier who was martyred; veneration of him as a saint centered on an oasis near Alexandria. On better-preserved ampullae bearing the same scene, the…

Description
Both sides of this terracotta ampulla (pilgrim flask) are decorated with the same scene in relief: Saint Menas in prayer, flanked by two kneeling camels within a circular border of dots or studs. The saint stands frontally, arms held…