Evidence ID
E00863Saint Name
Mary, Mother of Christ : S00033Saint Name in Source
ΘεοτόκοςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Inscribed objectsEvidence not before
500Evidence not after
600Activity not before
500Activity not after
600Place of Evidence - Region
Asia Minor
Asia MinorPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Kumluca
KorydallaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Kumluca
Nicomedia
Νικομήδεια
Nikomēdeia
Izmit
Πραίνετος
Prainetos
Nicomedia
Korydalla
Nicomedia
Νικομήδεια
Nikomēdeia
Izmit
Πραίνετος
Prainetos
NicomediaCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Bequests, donations, gifts and offeringsCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - bishopsCult Activities - Cult Related Objects
Chalices, censers and other liturgical vessels
Precious material objectsSource
A silver lamp and censer (both inscribed with the same dedicatory inscription) belonging to the so-called treasure of Kumluca, which includes more than forty precious objects. It is said to have been found in a mound known as Büyük Asar at the present-day Kumluca, near Antalya (southern Asia Minor). Believed to have been originally owned by the Holy Sion monastery in Korydalla or a church of Holy Sion in Kumluca. Currently kept in Dumbarton Oaks, in Washington, DC. This is one of the most significant hoards of Byzantine silver artefacts that have come to light in Anatolia.Discussion
The inscriptions adorning silver vessels, belonging to the treasure of Kumluca, were published by Ihor Ševčenko. They comprise 26 formulae, repeatedly engraved on various objects. Among them only one refers explicitly to a saint. This is put on a silver censer and a lamp dedicated to *Mary as the God-Bearer (Θεοτόκος) by a certain bishop Eutychianos. Other invocations and dedicatory and votive formulas mention God, the Holy Sion monastery or have no specified addressee.
Bishop Eutychianos is an otherwise unattested person, but he had to be a man of significance with strong ties to the Holy Sion Monastery. He offered 29 objects, eight of which are dedicated to the Holy Sion. Their quality is far better than that of artefacts offered by other donors. Ševčenko hypothesised that Eutychianos could be a descendant (perhaps a grandson) of a homonymous Pretorian Prefect of the East, but we lack evidence to support this claim.
The treasure is stylistically dated to the 6th c.Bibliography
Edition:
Ševčenko, I., "The Sion Treasure: the evidence of the inscriptions", in: S.A. Boyd & M. Mundell Mango (eds.), Ecclesiastical Silver Plate in Sixth-Century Byzantium. Papers of the Symposium Held May 16-18, 1986, at the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, and Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., organized by Susan A. Boyd, Maria Mundell Mango, and Gary Vikan, (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1993), no. 15.
Further Reading:
Destephen, S., Prosopographie du Diocese d'Asie (325-641) (Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire 3, Paris: Association des amis du centre d'histoire et civilisation de Byzance, 2008), Eutychianos 3.
Ševčenko, I., "The Sion Treasure: the evidence of the inscriptions", in: S.A. Boyd & M. Mundell Mango (eds.), Ecclesiastical Silver Plate in Sixth-Century Byzantium. Papers of the Symposium Held May 16-18, 1986, at the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, and Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., organized by Susan A. Boyd, Maria Mundell Mango, and Gary Vikan, (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1993), 39-56.
Tabula Imperii Byzantini 8/2, 655-657.
Reference works:
Chroniques d'épigraphie byzantine, 346.
