Evidence ID
E00512Saint Name
Menas, soldier and martyr Abu Mena : S00073Saint Name in Source
MennasType of Evidence
Literary - Pilgrim accounts and itinerariesEvidence not before
551Evidence not after
614Activity not before
551Activity not after
614Place of Evidence - Region
Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia
Egypt and CyrenaicaPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
PiacenzaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Piacenza
Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardegna
Sardinia
Hermopolis
ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ
Ashmunein
HermopolisMajor author/Major anonymous work
Pilgrim of PiacenzaCult activities - Places
Burial site of a saint - tomb/graveCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
PilgrimageCult Activities - Miracles
Miracle at martyrdom and death
Unspecified miracleSource
This Itinerary was written by an anonymous pilgrim to Palestine who started and finished his journey in Placentia. He visited the East probably not long after the earthquake in 551, since he presents the destruction of Berytus (modern Beirut) in this year as a relatively recent event. He certainly visited Palestine before the Persian invasion in 614, since in his account Jerusalem is under Roman administration.
The Itinerary is extant in two recensions. The first one is shorter and generally closer to the original, but sometimes it is the second recension which preserves the original text. Moreover, the additions that can be found in the second recension, unfortunately difficult to date, bear an interesting witness to the development of the cult of saints.
The Itinerary can be compared with an earlier pilgrim's diary written in the 380s by another western pilgrim, Egeria. The Piacenza Pilgrim's itinerary is less detailed than her account, but shows the development of the cultic practices and infrastructure which had taken place in the course of two hundred years: there are more places to visit, more objects to see, and more saints to venerate.Discussion
The sanctuary and cult of Menas are well documented both archaeologically and textually (for these, see the many database entries entered under S00073).Bibliography
Edition:
Geyer, P. (ed.), Antonini Placentini Itinerarium, in Itineraria et alia geographica (Corpus Chistianorum, series Latina 175; Turnholti: Typographi Brepols editores pontificii, 1965), 129-174. [Essentially a reprinting of Geyer's edition for the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 39, Wien 1898.]
English translations:
Stewart, A., Of the Holy Places Visited by Antoninus Martyr (London: Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, 1887).
Wilkinson, J., Jerusalem Pilgrims Before the Crusades (2nd ed.; Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 2002).
Further reading:
Grossmann, P, "Late Antique Christian Incubation Centers in Egypt," in: H. Brandenburg, S. Heid, and C. Markschies (eds.), Salute e guarigione nella Tarda Antichità: Atti della giornata tematica dei seminari di Archeologia Cristiana (Roma — 20 maggio 2004) (Vatican City: Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana, 2007), 125-140.
Maraval, P., Lieux saints et Pèlerinages d'Orient: Histoire et géographie, des origines à la conquête arabe (Paris: Cerf, 1985), 319-322.
