Pilgrim ampulla of *Menas (soldier and martyr buried at Abu Mena, S00073) found at Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa); probably 5th/6th c.
Evidence ID
E08313
Type of Evidence
Images and objects - Lamps, ampullae and tokens
Ευλ
ογια το
υ αγιου
Μηνα
'Blessing of the holy Menas'
Text: Y. Duval 1982, no. 90.
Translation: Stanisław Adamiak
Relics
Unspecified relic
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesSoldiers
Cult Related ObjectsAmpullae, flasks, etc.
Source
The terracotta ampulla with this inscription was found at Hippo Regius. Now in a private collection. Duval in her description of the piece says that the other side of the ampulla bears the face in profile of a black African. She also tells us that a second, uninscribed Menas ampulla was found at Hippo - bearing the more familiar iconography of the saint between two camels.Ampullae of this type cannot be dated with precision but are probably of the fifth or sixth century.
Discussion
It is generally assumed, and surely rightly, that ampullae of this kind contained a holy liquid (probably oil) from Menas' shrine at Abu Mena, south of Alexandria. Menas ampullae survive in some number, but very few come from a reliable archaeological context. If this ampulla (or these two ampullae) were found in situ in Hippo, they are good evidence of visitors to Abu Mena from the province of Africa Proconsularis.For evidence of relics of Menas in the churches of Africa, see E07393, E07510 and E08311.
Bibliography
Edition and commentary:Duval, Y., Loca sanctorum Africae: Le culte des martyrs en Afrique du IVe au VIIe siècle (Rome: École Française de Rome, 1982), vol. 1, 183-84, no. 90.
Images
)
From Y. Duval 1982, no. 90
Record Created By
Date of Entry
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00073 | Menas, soldier and martyr buried at Abu Mena | Μηνᾶς | Certain |
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, Cult of Saints, E08313 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08313