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E01090: Terracotta disc of unknown Egyptian provenance, with a Greek inscription to *Shenoute (abbot of the White Monastery, d. 465, S00688), depicting a person with a nimbus praying; datable to the 6th/7th c.

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posted on 2016-01-22, 00:00 authored by dlambert
SB 1.2072:

ὁ ἅγιος Σινοῦθι[ς]

'Saint Shenoute'

History

Evidence ID

E01090

Saint Name

Shenoute, abbot of the White Monastery near Akhmim/Panopolis (Upper Egypt), ob. c. 465. : S00688

Saint Name in Source

Σινοῦθις

Type of Evidence

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

Language

  • Greek

Evidence not before

500

Evidence not after

699

Activity not before

500

Activity not after

699

Place of Evidence - Region

Egypt and Cyrenaica

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

Hermopolis ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ Ashmunein Hermopolis

Cult Activities - Cult Related Objects

Ampullae, flasks, etc. Other

Source

The disc belongs to the Musée du Louvre in Paris and was acquired in 1905. Nothing is said of its size or possible function. All that is quoted in the Jahrbuch des kaiserlich deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 21 (1906), 243, is the following: 'Terre cuite. 18. Disque portant sur sa face antérieure l’image en relief de saint Chenouti, debout, de face, nimbé, les bras étendus dans l’attitude de la prière. A doite et à gauche, l’inscription Ο ΑΓΙΟC | CΙΝΥΘΙ ////, dispose verticalement. Don de M. l’abbé Henry Thédenat, member de l’Institut. Égypt.'

Discussion

Not knowing the actual size of the object, nor in what context it was found, makes it difficult to evaluate it. It might just be a circular fragment of a vessel or the bottom of a cup, but whether this makes it a private or a liturgical object remains just as open.

Bibliography

Héron de Villefosse, A., and Michon, E., "Verzeichnis der Erwerbungen des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines für 1905," Archäologischer Anzeiger 21 (1906), 244; reprint in: Jahrbuch des kaiserlich deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 21 (1906), 241–244. Papaconstantinou, A., Le Culte des Saints en Égypte des Byzantins aux Abbassides (Paris: CNRS, 2001), 185–186.

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    Evidence -  The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

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