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E02971: Bronze attachment, of the 6th/7th c., with intaglio figure of a horseman with nimbus, probably *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, S00023) and a surrounding Greek inscription ‘camel-driver of Saint Sergios.’ From Palestine, now in the University of Missouri-Columbia Museum of Art and Archaeology.

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posted on 2017-06-12, 00:00 authored by erizos
+ Καμηλάρις τοῦ ἁγίου Σεργίου

‘Camel Driver of Saint Sergios’

Height: 2.9 cm.

Text: Muse 7 (1973), 11.
Translation: E. Rizos.

History

Evidence ID

E02971

Saint Name

Sergios, martyr in Syria, ob. 303-311 : S00023

Saint Name in Source

Σέργιος

Type of Evidence

Images and objects - Other portable objects (metalwork, ivory, etc.) Images and objects - Rings and seals Inscriptions - Inscribed objects

Language

  • Greek

Evidence not before

500

Evidence not after

700

Activity not before

500

Activity not after

700

Place of Evidence - Region

Syria with Phoenicia

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Thabbora Thabbora

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Cultic confraternities

Cult activities - Use of Images

  • Private ownership of an image

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Merchants and artisans

Discussion

The piece was acquired by the museum in 1972 (Byzantine Art Nr 73). Originating from the antiquities market rather than from dated archaeological contexts, this object, alongside a bronze bracelet (E02972), attest to the existence of a body of camel-drivers, perhaps a company or guild, operating under the patronage of Sergios or possibly employed by one of his shrines.

Bibliography

Muse 7 (1973), 11 Fowden, Elizabeth Key. The Barbarian Plain: Saint Sergius between Rome and Iran. The Transformation of Classical Heritage 28. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999, 35-39. cf. SEG 45, 1885

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    Evidence -  The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

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