Bronze bracelet, 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 mentioning a ‘camel-driver of Saint Sergios of the Barbarikon.’ Recorded in the antiquities market of Beirut in 1960.
Evidence ID
E02972
Type of Evidence
Images and objects - Other portable objects (metalwork, ivory, etc.)
Images and objects - Rings and seals
Inscriptions - Inscribed objects
+ Καμηλαρ(ιος) τοῦ ἁγίου Σεργίου Βαρβαρικοῦ
Camel driver of the Saint Sergios of Barbarikon
Text: Mondésert C. (1960).
Translation: E. Rizos
Use of ImagesSaint as patron - of a community
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Private ownership of an image
Non Liturgical ActivitySaint as patron - of a community
Cultic confraternities
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesMerchants and artisans
Discussion
Originating from the antiquities market rather than from dated archaeological contexts, this object, alongside a bronze attachment now in the University of Missouri-Columbia Museum of Art and Archaeology (E02971), 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. This particular piece may indeed be directly associated with the shrine of Rusafa, since it mentions explicitly its region, the Barbarikon.Bibliography
Mondésert C. (1960) « Inscriptions et objets Chrétiens de Syrie et de Palestine, » Syria 37, 123-125.Fowden, 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, E02972 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02972