Record | The Cult of Saints

Greek list of furniture from Oxyrhynchos (Middle Egypt), mentioning two gilded icons, one of Kollouthos (physician and martyr of Antinoopolis, S00641), the other of Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033), located in the triclinium of a suburban villa; datable to the late 6th/early 7th century.

Evidence ID

E02306

Type of Evidence

Documentary texts - List

Late antique original manuscripts - Papyrus sheet

P.Oxy. 16 1925

A list of furnishings drawn up to be handed over to an official messenger (symmachos). The purpose of the list is not clear, but it provides information concerning the content of a suburban villa of the Apions (proastion, line 1: ἐν τῷ προαστίῳ) and its various rooms, which in the triclinium (line 4: ἐν τῷ τρικλίνῳ) had two gilded icons, one of Kollouthos, the other of Mary.

Lines 6–8 read as follows:

ἰκονίδια δύ[ο] μιαν μὲν ἐχους τὸν ἅγι(ον) Κόλλουθον
περικεχρυ̣[σω]μέ(νον) τῇ κεφαλ(ῇ), την δὲ ἀλλην ἐχους
τὴν θεοτόκ[ον π]ε[ρ]ικεχρυσομε ὅλην

'Two small icons, one depicting saint Kollouthos, gilded on the head, the other depicting the mother of God, gilded entirely.'

The verso providing the caption to the document reads:

† γνῶ(σις) τῶν σκευῶν τοῦ προαστίο[υ] ἔξω τῆς πύλ(ης) μη(νὸς) Θὼθ ιγ ἰνδ(ικτίονος) ιβ.

'List of the equipment of the proastion outside the city gate, 13th of the month Thoth, 14th indiciton.'

Text: B. P. Grenfell, A. S. Hunt, and H. I. Bell
Translation: G. Schenke

A complete record of the document with images and bibliography can be found at: http://papyri.info/ddbdp/p.oxy;16;1925

Use of Images

Descriptions of images of saints

Cult Related Objects

Precious material objects

Source

The document was found at Oxyrhynchos and is now located in the Sackler Library in Oxford. It has been dated on palaeographical grounds.

Discussion

The date provided by this text itself is 11 (12) September of the 12th Indiction. Possible absolute dates discussed are AD 578, 593, or 608, which take into account an ongoing refurbishment of the proastion, as well as various aspects concerning the Apions: see Jördens 2016.

Bibliography

Edition:
Grenfell, B.P., Hunt, A.S., and Bell, H.I., The Oxyrhynchus Papyri XVI, published by the Egypt Exploration Society in Graeco-Roman Memoirs (London, 1924), 203–205.

Discussion and dating issues:
Jördens, A., "Ein oxyrhynchitisches proastion," Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 200 (2016), 470–480.

Record Created By

Gesa Schenke

Date of Entry

4/2/2017

Related Saint Records

ID	Name	Name in Source	Identity
S00033	Mary, Mother of Christ		Certain
S00641	Kollouthos, physician and martyr of Antinoopolis	Κολλοῦθος	Uncertain

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Gesa Schenke , Cult of Saints, E02306 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02306

The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world

Greek list of furniture from Oxyrhynchos (Middle Egypt), mentioning two gilded icons, one of Kollouthos (physician and martyr of Antinoopolis, S00641), the other of Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033), located in the triclinium of a suburban villa; datable to the late 6th/early 7th century.

E02306

Documentary texts - List

Late antique original manuscripts - Papyrus sheet

Descriptions of images of saints

Precious material objects

Source

Discussion

Bibliography

Gesa Schenke

4/2/2017

Greek list of furniture from Oxyrhynchos (Middle Egypt), mentioning two gilded icons, one of *Kollouthos (physician and martyr of Antinoopolis, S00641), the other of *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033), located in the triclinium of a suburban villa; datable to the late 6th/early 7th century.

E02306

Documentary texts - List

Late antique original manuscripts - Papyrus sheet

Descriptions of images of saints

Precious material objects

Source

Discussion

Bibliography

Gesa Schenke

4/2/2017

Greek list of furniture from Oxyrhynchos (Middle Egypt), mentioning two gilded icons, one of Kollouthos (physician and martyr of Antinoopolis, S00641), the other of Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033), located in the triclinium of a suburban villa; datable to the late 6th/early 7th century.