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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


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


Lid of a white marble reliquary with a Syriac inscription labelling relics of *Peter (the Apostle, S00036), *Thomas (the Apostle, S00199), *Symeon the Stylite (the Elder, S00343), and of other unnamed martyrs. Now in İstanbul Archaeological Museums. Probably 5th or 6th c.

Evidence ID

E04558

Type of Evidence

Archaeological and architectural - Extant reliquaries and related fixtures

Inscriptions - Inscribed objects

ܐܝܬ ܒܗܢܐ ܠܠܘܣܩܡܐ ܫܠܝܚ̈ܐ ܫܡܥܘܢ ܟܦܐ
ܘܬܘܡܐ ܫܠܝܚܐ ܘܫܡܥܘܢ ܕܣܛܘܢܗ ܘܣܗܕܐ ܛܘܒܢ̈ܐ

ܠܠܘܣܩܡܐ read ܓܠܘܣܘܡܐ
ܟܦܐ read ܟܐܦܐ

'In this reliquary (
glūsqmā) are the Apostles: Shimon Kephas, and Thomas the Apostle, and Symeon of the Pillar, and blessed martyrs.'


Text: Leroy 1966, 17.

Relics

Unspecified relic
Reliquary – institutionally owned

Source

Elaborately decorated lid of a white marble reliquary from the collection of the İstanbul Archaeological Museum. Provenance unknown (probably Syria). Current location unknown. The reliquary was apparently shaped as a sarcophagus. The lid has acroteria, and bears carvings of rosettes within circles, surrounded by geometric patterns, on just one of its sloping sides. The undecorated side is higher than the other one. It is possible that the reliquary was originally placed with the rough side against a wall. The inscription is on a band running along the lower rim of the decorated side, where the lid once conjoined the chest of the reliquary.

First published by André Grabar in 1964 (the inscription was read and translated into French by Georges Vajda). Further comments, a transcription, and a new French translation were offered by Jules Leroy in 1966. Recently discussed anew by Marie-Christine Comte in her corpus of eastern reliquaries (2012), based on the translation by Leroy.


Discussion

The reliquary is of an unusually high quality. Another curious feature is its Syriac inscription, while the majority of inscribed reliquaries have inscriptions in Greek.

The inscription labels the contents of the chest and terms the reliquary itself
glūsqmā, which is a calque of Greek γλωσσόκομον/'case', 'casket', regularly used to denote reliquaries in Syriac texts. Here it is, however, erroneously spelt llūsqmā (see the photograph). In contrast, in Greek inscriptions reliquaries are usually termed λάρναξ (also 'chest', 'casket').

The actual number of figures named in the inscription has been disputed. George Vajda suggested that the inscription labelled relics of four saints: 'Toi (tu as) dans ce coffert les apôtres Simon Pierre et Thomas l'apôtre et Simeon Stylite et le martyr Tobie (?)'/'You have in this casket the Apostles Shimon Peter, and Thomas the Apostle, and Symeon the Stylite, and the martyr Tobias (?)', and this interpretation was followed by Grabar.

Jules Leroy rightly noted that Vajda confused the plural adjective
ṭūbōne/'blessed' with the name Tobias, and corrected this mistake in his translation which reads as follows: 'Il y a dans ce reliquaire les apôtres Simon Pierre et Thomas l'apôtre et Syméon le Stylite et les bienheureux martyrs'/'In this reliquary are the Apostles Shimon Peter and Thomas the Apostle, and Symeon the Stylite, and the blessed martyrs'. Therefore, Leroy stressed, relics of only three saints were kept in the reliquary. As for the presumed provenance, he still supported Grabar’s idea, that the reliquary was made in the Antiochene. This is because the bishopric of Antioch was believed to have been founded by Peter, while Thomas could here have been named 'Apostle' to distinguish him from a homonymous saint venerated in Antioch. A church of Mar Thomas/Tūmā in Antioch is mentioned by a 10th c. author, Agapios of Hierapolis/Manbij, probably referring to Thomas, a 5th c. apokrisiarios of a monastery near Apamea, who died while visiting Antioch and was buried there. Antioch also had close links with both stylite Symeons. Based on the epithet 'of the pillar' Leroy identifies the Symeon of the reliquary as undoubtedly Symeon the Elder, and finds in it an important piece of evidence, as many contemporary small objects bear the image of Symeon the Younger. The closing formula, referring to unnamed martyrs resembles, however, Greek inscriptions from reliquaries from Apamea (see E01829; E01832).

In 2012 Marie-Christine Comte apparently misread Leroy’s commentary, as she put a coma between the names Shimon and Peter: 'il y a dans ce reliquaire, les apôtres Simon, Pierre et Thomas l'apôtre et Syméon le Stylite et les bienheureux martyrs.' However, Peter is here identified by his Aramaic nickname Kephas which often appears together with his proper name Shimon. The two names are not divided by the conjunction ܘ /
wāw as the names of Thomas, Symeon, and the martyrs are, which suggests that they refer to one person. Therefore, we go back to Leroy’s interpretation that the inscription mentions just two Apostles: Shimon Kephas (= Peter), and Thomas, with Symeon the Stylite as the third saint.

Bibliography

Edition:
Comte, M.-Ch., Les reliquaires du Proche-Orient et de Chypre à la période protobyzantine, IVe-VIIIe siècles: formes, emplacements, fonctions et cultes (Bibliothèque de l'Antiquité tardive 20, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2012), 101.

Leroy, J., "À propos de l'inscription syriaque du reliquaire d'Istanbul",
Cahiers archéologiques 16 (1966), 17-22.

Grabar, A., "Recherches sur les sources juives de l'art paléochrétien",
Cahiers archéologiques 14 (1964), 49-53.

Further reading:
Abousamra, G., "A reliquary with Syriac inscription", Parole de l'Orient 41 (2015), 23-57.

Rahmani, L. Y., "Chip-carving in Palestine",
Israel Exploration Journal 38 (1988), 64 note 26 and Plate 13E (mentioned, photograph).

Images



From: Grabar 1964, 49.


From: Grabar 1964, 50.


From: Grabar 1964, 50.




















Record Created By

Paweł Nowakowski

Date of Entry

04/01/2018

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00036Peter, the Apostleܫܡܥܘܢ ܟܦܐCertain
S00060Martyrs, unnamed or name lostܣܗܕܐ ܛܘܒܢ̈ܐCertain
S00199Thomas, the ApostleܬܘܡܐCertain
S00343Symeon the Elder, stylite of Qal‘at Sim‘ān, ob. 459ܫܡܥܘܢ ܕܣܛܘܢܗCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E04558 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04558