The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

Copper disc/medallion, resembling the bottom of a cup. Diameter: c. 0.14 m; Th. c. 0.01-0.015 m. Broken and lost on the lower, left-hand quarter.

The disc is now in a private collection in Munich. It probably comes from Constantina/Tella (modern Viranşehir) in north Mesopotamia.

The inner part of the disc shows the scene of the Annunciation. The Archangel Gabriel is approaching Mary from the left. He is wearing a chlamys and stretching his right arm towards the Virgin. In his left hand he is holding a staff (a spear?). Mary is facing the viewer of the object. She is wearing a maphorion, holding a spindle, and taking (purple) wool out of a basket lying next to her feet. The scene renders the story of the Annunciation, as described in the Protoevangelium of James (11,1-2). It is said there that Mary was chosen from among eight women, descendants of David, to make a new purple curtain for the Temple.

The inscription runs in a band, around the edges of the object. It reads:

+ εὐλογία τῆς ἁγ(ίας) Μαρίας δια[- - -]̣ν̣σταντίνης

The inscription is fragmentary and so far two possible completions have been suggested. Brigitte Pitarakis read the label of the objet as: + εὐλογία τῆς ἁγ(ίας) Μαρίας δια[κονία τῆς Κω]νσταντίνης (corrected to διακονίας by Christian Schmidt), which means '+ Blessing of the Holy Mary from the diakonia in Constantina'. In her opinion diakonia means here a charitable institution, run by a monastery. Pitarakis points out that some of such institutions, located near Constantina/Tella, owned copper mines and several copper liturgical vessels, found in that area, were identified as their products. The other possible reconstruction, paralleled by an inscription from a terracotta medallion that served as a souvenir of a pilgrimage/eulogia (see: $EXXXX), is: + εὐλογία τῆς ἁγ(ίας) Μαρίας δια[μονῆς τῆς Κο]νσταντίνης, i.e.: '+ Blessing of the Holy Mary from her dwelling in Constantina'. It is probable that our disc was, likewise, a souvenir that was acquired by a pilgrim, visiting a sanctuary of Mary or that it was used as a patera for serving blessed bread, distributed at the end of the Eucharistic liturgy.

Dating: Schmidt notes that the Annunciation scene with standing Mary, and Gabriel approaching her from the left, is characteristic of the 6th c.

Cult building - monastic
Cult building - secondary installation (fountain, pilgrims’ hostel)

Monastery
Hospital and other charitable institutions

Public display of an image
Private ownership of an image

Ampullae, eulogiai, tokens

Ampullae, flasks, etc.
Chalices, censers and other liturgical vessels

Bibliography

Images

From: Stiegemann 2001, no. I 45.