Przyczynek do badań nad wczesnośredniowiecznymi zawieszkami z wizerunkami przypisywanymi św. Jerzemu. Znaleziska z obszaru Polski

Abstract

The subjects of the study are pendants with warrior saints found within Poland’s present borders. The following 10 disc pendants with the representation of warrior saints from the early Medieval period have been found in Poland: four pendants from Dołubowo, two from Gdańsk, and the remaining ones are from Święck – Strumiany, Wrocław, Drohiczyn and Jegliniec. Iconographic differences become the main criterion for distinguishing the three main groups of pendants. Group 1 represents a right facing warrior on a horseback fighting a dragon (probably Saint George); group 2 shows a left facing warrior on a horseback without a dragon; group 3 are bust representations of a warrior saint. In Polish literature, all of these pendants have been identified as depicting Saint George. On the basis of the iconography it can be expected that some of these representations in pendants can be also identified as Saint Theodore or Demetrius but at the current stage of research, we can only determine that it is a representation of a warrior saint.