medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
There's a great example of the belief that this was common in the narrative portion (BHL 5284) of the Translation of St. Mark to Venice. In this text (generally thought to be of the tenth century), the ship bringing M.'s relics has joined the Venetian trading fleet on the latter's return voyage to the upper Adriatic. The heroes of this story attract the attention of others by being especially careful about their precious cargo. When they explain why this is, someone on another vessel suggests that perhaps they are only carrying an ordinary mummy (that's not the word used) such as Egyptians are wont to palm off on the unsuspecting.
See Nelson McCleary, "Note storiche ed archeologiche sul testo della 'Translatio sancti Marci,'" _Memorie storiche forogiuliesi_ 27 (1931), 223-64, with an edition of the Translation at pp. 235-64. McCleary's dating of the text to the eleventh century is exceptional.
Best,
John Dillon
On Thursday, April 5, 2007, at 10:00 am, Frans van Liere wrote:
> This story raised some interesting questions: Mummies seem the ideal
> "old
> bones" to be passed off as ancient relics. How common was it for ancient
> mummies to be sold as relics in Western Europe? Was there a lively trade
> between Egypt and the West in mummy bones, to satisfy the market
> demand for
> relics? Did anyone ever discover a similar thing for other relics?
>
> >>> John Dillon <[log in to unmask]> 4/4/2007 3:05 PM >>>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> This time, it's Joan of Arc.
> See:
> http://tinyurl.com/2jh9v6
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