medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
A lot of clay lamps survive from antiquity. Has anyone run into
examples with evidently Christian symbols?
Tom Izbicki
Robert Kraft wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> A rather complex question that might need more focus. Without doing
> any specific "homework" on it, the following topics occur to me:
> Early Christian use of the IXQUS (fish, ichthus) symbol for
> identification;
> Early Christian use of the sign of the cross ("seal"), probably on the
> forehead;
> Written amulets, perhaps following on Jewish use of phylacteries or
> tefillin;
> Gems and the like (incidentally, I'd be pleased to know where Clement
> -- not to my knowledge "bishop" of Alexandria -- mentioned such things);
> Graffiti and wall images of crosses and other characteristic items;
> Independent portable items such as icons, pendants, etc.
>
> I'm sure that many (but not all) of these are attested by the 3nd
> century, and a few even earlier. Whether the burial of "sacred" books
> with a deceased person also counts (e.g. "Gospel of Judas," "Gospel of
> Peter" -- and many others) is discussable. Some byzantine coins from
> the 10th century onward (perhaps earlier) also bore images of Jesus.
> And isn't the "Veronica" shroud-type image mentioned already in the
> 4th century? Plenty to keep one busy here!
>
> Bob Kraft, UPenn
>
> Dr Jim Bugslag wrote:
>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>> culture
>>
>> Meg,
>> Although I have no historical data to base this on, my feeling is
>> that they did indeed. It's more a question of human nature, really.
>> Why give up something that works for something else, if you don't see
>> any fundamental problem with using both? This is the sort of
>> question that, I'm sure, maddened theologians, and reassured the
>> masses of Christians through most of the "middle ages".
>> Cheers,
>> Jim
>>
>> Cormack, Margaret Jean wrote:
>>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>>> culture
>>>
>>> Your rephrasing is much better! Though it brings up another
>>> question, namely whether early Christians who used crosses as
>>> amulets also had other kinds of amulets. . . Meg
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>>
>>> From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval
>>> religious culture on behalf of Dr Jim Bugslag
>>> Sent: Sun 10.1.2010 20:57
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: [M-R] Resurrection Bodies/Cross
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>>> culture
>>>
>>> I suspect that this question should be rephrased: do we know when
>>> Christians began to assimilate the practice of using amulets? In the
>>> late 2nd century, Clement, the Bishop of Alexandria, recommends devices
>>> that Christians should carve on their rings, including doves, ships and
>>> anchors - that's pretty amuletic. Crosses scratched in cemeteries also
>>> begin to appear in the 2nd century, I believe. On a later phase of
>>> this
>>> usage, see Henry Maguire, The Icons of their Bodies: Saints and their
>>> Images in Byzantium (1996).
>>> Cheers,
>>> Jim
>>>
>>> Marjorie Greene wrote:
>>>
>>>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>>>> culture
>>>> "Do we know when amulets (crosses or otherwise) are first used?"
>>>>
>>>> An interesting question and one I cannot answer. It would be
>>>> interesting to find the earliest example of a cleric wearing a
>>>> pectoral cross. I suspect, but have no evidence, that they started the
>>>> practice, which then trickled down to the laity.
>>>> I hope you get an authoritative response.
>>>> MG
>>>>
>>>> Marjorie Greene
>>>> http://medrelart.shutterfly.com/
>>>>
>>>> --- On *Mon, 1/11/10, Cormack, Margaret Jean /<[log in to unmask]>/*
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
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