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E02972: Bronze bracelet, 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 mentioning a ‘camel-driver of Saint Sergios of the Barbarikon.’ Recorded in the antiquities market of Beirut in 1960.

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posted on 2017-06-12, 00:00 authored by erizos
+ Καμηλαρ(ιος) τοῦ ἁγίου Σεργίου Βαρβαρικοῦ

Camel driver of the Saint Sergios of Barbarikon


Text: Mondésert C. (1960).
Translation: E. Rizos

History

Evidence ID

E02972

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

600

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

Saint as patron - of a community

Cult activities - Use of Images

  • Private ownership of an image

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Merchants and artisans

Discussion

Originating from the antiquities market rather than from dated archaeological contexts, this object, alongside a bronze attachment now in the University of Missouri-Columbia Museum of Art and Archaeology (E02971), 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. This particular piece may indeed be directly associated with the shrine of Rusafa, since it mentions explicitly its region, the Barbarikon.

Bibliography

Mondésert C. (1960) « Inscriptions et objets Chrétiens de Syrie et de Palestine, » Syria 37, 123-125. 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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