7th century
Yψ. 8,5 εκ., 10 εκ., 9,5 εκ.
Collection Number 955, 954, 958
“Eulogies” or ampullae are small flasks of clay, or even metal, with which pilgrims brought back water from the River Jordan or oil from the lamp burning next to a martyr’s tomb or sacred relics. The three presented here are all of the same type. The front and back of the flask were pressed separately in a mold and then luted together, while the two handles (one is missing on no. A 954) and the cylindrical mouth were made separately by hand and then attached.
Both faces of each ampulla bear the same decoration. Represented within a circular frame of relief dots is Saint Menas, standing, frontal and orans, between two camels kneeling at his feet. He wears a short military tunic and a cape that falls behind him. The composition is completed by two crosses, one on each side of the saint’s head.
Read moreThe saint is identified by the two camels flanking him, which according to his Synaxarion or Vita, carried his relic after he was beheaded (circa AD 295) southwest of Alexandria. When the animals reached a well, on the spot where his shrine was later built (pres. Abu Mina), they refused to go any further and the faithful buried him there. The shrine soon became famous and its importance as a place of pilgrimage throughout the Early Christian period is attested by the countless “eulogies” of Saint Menas that have been found all over the Mediterranean basin. These contained either oil from the hanging lamps that burnt above the martyr’s tomb or water from the adjacent sacred source (hagiasma), which was believed to have curative properties.
On the basis of stratigraphic observations made in relatively recent excavations in Alexandria (Kiss 1973, 144), this type of ampulla with identical representations on front and back, dotted frame, no inscriptions and no halo, dates from the reign of Emperor Herakleios (610 -641).
CONSTANTINE SCAMPAVIAS
