Abstract

The protective character of the army and of defensive war undoubtedly influenced the development of the image of the warrior saints as an apotropaic representation. The idea of representing the protection extended over the faithful by the warrior saints by formulas other than the calcatio and spearing with a lance, by illustrating appropriate, usually posthumous miracles, such as the freeing of the African bishop of Thenai, Cyprianus, from Slavic captivity by St Demetrios, or the rescuing of the youth George 'of Paphlagonia' from Arab imprisonment, appeared only in the eleventh century. Among the early images of warrior saints the method of representation differs on the pilgrim ampullae from Abu Mina. Ampullae were manufactured at a local workshop from the fifth century, when pilgrimages to Abu Mina began, and their production ceased after the Arab conquest of Egypt.Keywords: Abu Mina; ampullae; calcatio; Egypt; warrior saint

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