E01326: Amulets with depictions of holy riders. Probably Christian. Found at Amathous and Salamis/Constantia (Cyprus). Probably prior to the 7th c.

Amulet 1: Flourentzos 2002.<br><br>A bronze amulet, designed to be hung around the neck, with a depiction of a holy rider on the obverse and the first lines of Psalm 91: + ὁ κατο|ικõν ἐν βοε|θείᾳ τοῦ ὑ|ψίστου ἐν | σκέ{ι}πῃ | τοῦ <θεοῦ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ αὐλισθήσεται>/'+ He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High under the shelter of the ', engraved on the reverse. Diameter: 0.045 m. The holy rider is shown under a star, with a spear, resembling a cross. He is killing a lying female demon, depicted next to the evil eye, surrounded by daggers. The identity of the rider is unclear, but the saints usually depicted on such amulets were: George (<a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13729822">S00259</a>), Sisinnios (<a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13730734">S00608</a>), Theodore (<a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13730413">S00480</a>), and Sergios (<a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13729165">S00023</a>). Flourentzos, however, places the object in the context of 'Solomon' pendants, mentioning the Biblical king of Israel, Solomon, and his exorcisms (see also: Michaelides 1994). Though our object shares some iconographic motifs with those charms, we doubt that the depicted rider is Solomon himself.<br><br>Found in the autumn of 1995 near an ancient road in the lower city of Amathous (southern Cyprus), in a layer of charcoal mixed with burnt soil. First published by Pavlos Flourentzos in 2002. He dated the object to the 7th c., based on the stratigraphy of the find-spot, but did not attempt to identify the rider.<br><br>The deposition of the object in soil is stratigraphically dated to the 7th c. <br><br>Amulet 2: Palma di Cesnola 1884, 151, no. 41, and plate XV, fig. 63, after page 148.<br><br>An oval amulet (jasper stone) with an unlabelled depiction, possibly of a holy rider. Diameter: 0.016 m. Designed to be set in a ring. The figure is facing left and holding a lance, with a cross at its end, high above his head. There are no demons and evil entities represented. Originally identified as a common horseman, and 'a very early work' by Alessandro Palma di Cesnola, but the presence of the cross-like lance may mean that the rider is a Christian holy figure.<br><br>The amulet was first published (without a detailed description) in 1882 by Alessandro Palma di Cesnola, together with a number of similar objects, that could not be associated with the Christian religion. All of them were found in Cyprus, near or at Salamis/Constantia, during the excavations supervised by the Palma di Cesnola brothers. For their activity, see the comments in <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13806536">E01322</a>.<br>