Bronze pendant: Holy Rider (A) trishagion (B)

PP-ID:

PP-4789

Classification:

pendant

Collection ID:

Int-Shick_Gn16

Collection:

Shick Family Collection (Europe – Israel)

Collection Inventory:

Gn16

Reference Numbers:

Franek, SoMa, no. 112

Material:

bronze

Dimensions:

28.1 (including loop) × 19.8 × 18.1 mm (loop: 6.7 × 2 mm)

Date:

6th–7th c. AD? or post-antique? (J. Franek)

Iconography:

rider, holy; rider spearing the evil; nimbus; clothing, unspecified; spear, cross-ended; horse

Circular bronze amulet, engraved on both sides, with a suspension loop at the top. Intact, with a worn surface.

Side A: Holy Rider, nimbate, brandishing a spear with a cruciform termination. Notably, the rider moves from right to left – in nearly all other attestations of this iconographic motif, numbering in the hundreds, he moves in the opposite direction.
Side B: Greek text in three lines: αποσ|αποσ|π̣α̣ → ἅγιος, ἅγιος, <ἅγι>(ος). ‘Holy, holy, holy’, cf. Isaiah 6:3: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.’ It seems the γ and ι were misread as π by a semi-literate engraver.

J. Franek
w/ Phoinix-team, 2025

Selected bibliography
• Franek 2025 >>, no. 112.

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Last modified:

2025.08.16 12:56:52

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https://phoinixplatform.org/object/4789

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