A bronze medallion with a Greek inscription mentioning a hospice for pilgrims, named after *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, S00023). Found in Rusafa-Sergioupolis (north-east Syria/Euphratesia). Probably late antique.
E01485
Inscriptions - Inscribed objects
Images and objects - Lamps, ampullae and tokens
Images and objects - Rings and seals
A bronze medallion, found in Rusafa, at the site of Basilica B (see: E01462) (diameter 2.8 cm; 4 cm with extensions; Th. c. 0.1 cm). First published by Johannes Kollwitz in 1963, who identified it as the lid of an enkolpion (a small casket, often housing a relic, worn round the neck and resting on the chest). The object was independently published by Hermann Harrauer in 1992, who was unaware of Kollwitz's publication (see also the comments by Denis Feissel and Pierre-Louis Gatier in Bulletin épigraphique (1993), 617).
The medallion bears the following inscription:
Α + Ω
τοῦ ἐκκλ(ησιαστικοῦ)
ξένωνος
τοῦ ἁγίου
Σεργίου
3. ξένωνος Feissel and Gatier, Ζένωνος Harrauer Kollwitz || 2. ἐκκλ(ησιάρχου?) Diethart
'Α + Ω. Of the eccl(esiastical) hospice of Saint Sergios'
Text: BE (1963), 617.
Cult building - secondary installation (fountain, pilgrims’ hostel)
Places Named after SaintHospital and other charitable institutions
Non Liturgical ActivityPilgrimage
Visiting graves and shrines
RelicsAmpullae, eulogiai, tokens
Making contact relics
Cult Related ObjectsAmpullae, flasks, etc.
Other
Discussion
Both Kollwitz and Harrauer read the inscription differently, as: τοῦ ἐκκλ(ησιαστικοῦ) Ζένωνος τοῦ ἁγίου Σεργίου / 'of Zenon, the ecclesiastic (= ein Kirchenleiter as suggested by Harrauer) (of the church of) Saint Sergios'. However, Feissel and Gatier rightly point out that this reading is implausible. It is almost certain that a xenon: a hospice for pilgrims visiting the shrine of Sergios in Rusafa (see: E01460), is referred to here. The function of the object is unclear. Elizabeth Key Fowden names the object an enkolpion.Harrauer dated the object to the to the 11th c., but Feissel and Gatier place it in the pre-Islamic period.
Bibliography
Edition:Harrauer, H., "Katalog des ausgestellten Objekte, no. 92: Medallion", [in:] E.M. Ruprechtsberger (ed.), Syrien von den Aposteln zu den Kalifen [Ausstellung Stadtmuseum Linz-Nordico, 3. Dezember 1993 bis 4. April 1994; Schloss Schallaburg, 30. April 1994 bis 30. Oktober 1994; Bergbaumuseum Klagenfurt, 2. Dezember 1994 bis 1. April 1995] (Linzer Archäologische Forschungen 21, Linz: Stadtmuseum Linz-Nordico, 1993), 445.
Harrauer, H., “ΣΟΥΒΡΟΜ, Abrasax, Jahwe u.a. aus Syrien”, Tyche 7 (1992), 43, no. 5.
Kollwitz, J., “Die Grabungen in Resafa Frühjahr 1959 und Herbst 1961”, Archäologischer Anzeiger (1963), col. 358, fig. 20.
Further reading:
Key Fowden, E., The Barbarian Plain: St. Sergius between Rome and Iran (Berkeley, Calif.; London: University of California Press, 1999), 94-95.
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (1993), 617 (improved reading by D. Feissel and P.-L. Gatier).
Chroniques d'épigraphie byzantine, 576 (improved reading by D. Feissel and P.-L. Gatier).
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 42, 1364.
Images
)
From: Harrauer 1993, 445.
)
From: Kollwitz 1963, col. 358, fig. 20.
Paweł Nowakowski
07/06/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00023 | Sergios, soldier and martyr of Rusafa | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E01485 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01485