Bronze attachment, of the 6th/7th c., with intaglio figure of a horseman with nimbus, probably *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, S00023) and a surrounding Greek inscription ‘camel-driver of Saint Sergios.’ From Palestine, now in the University of Missouri-Columbia Museum of Art and Archaeology.
Evidence ID
E02971
Type of Evidence
Images and objects - Other portable objects (metalwork, ivory, etc.)
Images and objects - Rings and seals
Inscriptions - Inscribed objects
+ Καμηλάρις τοῦ ἁγίου Σεργίου
‘Camel Driver of Saint Sergios’
Height: 2.9 cm.
Text: Muse 7 (1973), 11.
Translation: E. Rizos.
Use of Images
Private ownership of an image
Non Liturgical ActivityCultic confraternities
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesMerchants and artisans
Discussion
The piece was acquired by the museum in 1972 (Byzantine Art Nr 73). Originating from the antiquities market rather than from dated archaeological contexts, this object, alongside a bronze bracelet (E02972), attest to the existence of a body of camel-drivers, perhaps a company or guild, operating under the patronage of Sergios or possibly employed by one of his shrines.Bibliography
Muse 7 (1973), 11Fowden, Elizabeth Key. The Barbarian Plain: Saint Sergius between Rome and Iran. The Transformation of Classical Heritage 28. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999, 35-39.
cf. SEG 45, 1885
Record Created By
Efthymios Rizos
Date of Entry
21/06/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00023 | Sergios, soldier and martyr of Rusafa | Σέργιος | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Efthymios Rizos, Cult of Saints, E02971 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02971