Evidence ID
E00695Saint Name
Kyrikos/Cyricus, child martyr of Tarsus, with his mother Ioulitta/Julitta : S00007Saint Name in Source
ἸουλίτταType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Inscribed objects
Images and objects - Lamps, ampullae and tokensEvidence not before
500Evidence not after
699Activity not before
500Activity not after
699Place of Evidence - Region
Egypt and CyrenaicaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Hermopolis
ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ
Ashmunein
HermopolisCult Activities - Cult Related Objects
Oil lamps/candlesSource
Lampes MB 12022 located at the Benaki Museum in Athens.Discussion
Although the inscription does not mention Kyrikos, with whom the Ioulitta of Tarsos is almost invariably linked, this lamp probably refers to her cult, which had much the widest diffusion of the cults of saints of the same name. It is however just possible that the inscription refers to *Ioulitta of Kaisareia/Caesarea in Cappadocia, a martyr known through a homily by Basil of Caesarea given in the 360s or 370s on her feast day (E00670).
Many lamps with inscriptions to saints were produced in Elephantine; see, for instance, the moulds for such lamps with an inscription to Onnophrios (E00112).Bibliography
E. M. Husselman, "The Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta in Coptic," Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 4 (1965), 79–86.
K. Loverdou-Tsigarida, “Ἐνεπίγραφοι κοπτικοὶ λύχνοι τοῦ Μουσείου Μπενάκη”, Δελτίον τῆς χριστιανικῆς ἀρχαιολογικῆς ἑταιρείας (1970–1972), 130–145.
De L. O’Leary, The Saints of Egypt (London, 1937), 174.
T. Orlandi, "Cyriacus and Julitta, saints," in: A. S. Atiya (eds.), The Coptic Encyclopedia, vol. 3 (New York and Toronto, 1991), 671.
A. Papaconstantinou, Le culte des saints en Égypte des Byzantins aux Abbassides (Paris, 2001), 107.
H.-M. Schenke, "Mittelägyptische "Nachlese" III. Neue Fragmente zum Martyrium des Cyri(a)cus und seiner Mutter Julitta im mittelägyptischen Dialekt des Koptischen,"Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde (ZÄS) 126 (1999), 149–172, pl. 14–22.
