ART.BYZ.C9-11AD

Byzantine Pendant Cross

This pendant is 3.4 inches (8.6 cm) tall.

On the front, a single full-length portrait of an elaborately robed man is depicted with arms outstretched in prayer. Two triangular motifs, perhaps palm branches, flank the figure. An inscription above identifies the figure as St. John the Theologian, also known as John the Evangelist and John the Divine.

On the reverse, a similar figure is shown surmounted by a different inscription.

The inscription on the obverse reads:
ΟΘΕΟΛΟΓ / OCT
ό θεολόγος τ(ου ??) or Ι(οάννης ??)
The Theologian (meaning St. John the Theologian)

The inscription on the reverse reads:
ΠΑΝΑ / ΓΗΑ
Παναγήα = Παναγία
Panaghia (meaning "All-Holy", the title of the Virgin Mary)

800-1000 A.D.

Byzantine Empire

9th-11th Cent. A.D.

Cross pendant

English Artifact See all items with this value

English History of Writing Collection See all items with this value

Greek

Bronze

Purchased from Fragments of Time. Formerly in the collection of Carroll Wales, the Boston scholar and conservator of Byzantine icons, frescoes, and murals. She collected it in 1952-1970.

Holy Cross See all items with this value