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Saints and Other Sacred Byzantine Figures

• 
  Enkolpion: Cameo of an Archangel (Michael?), probably 14th century
  Byzantine (Constantinople?)
  Sardonyx; Overall: 1 1/8 x 3/4 x 3/8 in. (2.8 x 2.1 x .4 cm)
  The Milton Weil Collection, 1940 (40.20.58)
  
• 

  Intaglio Gemstone with Saint Theodore Teron Slaying a Multiheaded Dragon, 1300 or later
  Byzantine
  Black agate chalcedony with red-brown striations; 1 5/16 x 1 in. (3.4 x 2.6 cm)
  Gift of Nanette B. Kelekian, in memory of Charles Dikran and Beatrice Kelekian, 1999 (1999.325.227)

• 
  Capital with Bust of the Archangel Michael, ca. 1250–1300
  Byzantine; Made in Constantinople, possibly from the Monastery of the Virgin Peribleptos ("All-Seeing"), now the Sulumanastir, a mosque
  Marble; 9 3/4 x 6 7/8 x 4 1/8 in. (24.8 x 17.5 x 10.5 cm)
  Purchase, Gifts of J. Pierpont Morgan, George Blumenthal and Messrs. Duveen Brothers, by exchange; Bequests of George Blumenthal and Anne D. Thompson, The Collection of Michael Dreicer, Bequest of Michael Dreicer, and Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, by exchange; Rogers Fund and Mr. and Mrs. Maxime L. Hermanos Gift, 1983 (1983.167)
  

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The main focus of Byzantine devotion was the Virgin Mary, but certain other sacred figures were prominent in Byzantine spiritual life as well. A very popular religious figure, for example, was Theodore Teron, the warrior saint traditionally represented with a dark pointed beard and either riding a horse or slaying a beast. On the intaglio gemstone illustrated here (1999.325.227), he is shown slaying a multiheaded dragon with a long lance. The composition of this scene is reminiscent of classical renditions of Herakles slaying the Hydra.

The main focus of Byzantine devotion was the Virgin Mary, but certain other sacred figures were prominent in Byzantine spiritual life as well.

Related

Timelines (16)

• Anatolia and the Caucasus, 1000–1400 a.d.
• Arabian Peninsula, 1000–1400 a.d.
• Balkan Peninsula, 1000–1400 a.d.
• Central Europe (including Germany), 1000–1400 a.d.
• Eastern and Southern Africa, 1000–1400 a.d.
• Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, 1000–1400 a.d.
• Egypt, 1000–1400 a.d.
• Egypt, 500–1000 a.d.
• France, 1000–1400 a.d.
• France, 1400–1600 a.d.
• Iberian Peninsula, 1000–1400 a.d.
• Iran, 1000–1400 a.d.
• Iraq, 1000–1400 a.d.
• Italian Peninsula, 1000–1400 a.d.
• The Eastern Mediterranean, 1000–1400 a.d.
• Western North Africa (The Maghrib), 1000–1400 a.d.

Primary Thematic Essays (7)

• Art for the Christian Liturgy in the Middle Ages
• Byzantine Art under Islam
• Byzantium (ca. 330–1453)
• Frescoes and Wall Painting in Late Byzantine Art
• Icons and Iconoclasm in Byzantium
• The Cult of the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages
• The Religious Relationship between Byzantium and the West

Other Thematic Essays (22)

• Art and Death in Medieval Byzantium
• Byzantine Ivories
• Cameo Appearances
• Classical Antiquity in the Middle Ages
• Constantinople after 1261
• Drawing in the Middle Ages
• Jewish Art in Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium
• Johannes Vermeer (1632
• List of Rulers of Byzantium
• Medicine in the Middle Ages
• Monasticism in Western Medieval Europe
• Nudity and Classical Themes in Byzantine Art
• Ottonian Art
• Painting in Italian Choir Books, 1300–1500
• Patronage of Jean de Berry (1340
• Pilgrimage in Medieval Europe
• Popular Religion: Magical Uses of Imagery in Byzantine Art
• Private Devotion in Medieval Christianity
• The Art of the Book in the Middle Ages
• The Byzantine City of Amorium
• The Byzantine State under Justinian I (Justinian the Great)
• The Labors of Herakles

Maps (3)

• Europe, 1000-1400 A.D.
• West Asia, 1000-1400 A.D.
• World, 1000-1400 A.D.

Index Terms (26)

Art Movement/Style

• Early Byzantine Period
• Byzantine Art from Europe
• Byzantine Art from West Asia

Artist

• Capital
• Limbourg, Herman (Franco–Netherlandish, active in France, by 1399–1416)
• Limbourg, Jean (Franco–Netherlandish, active in France, by 1399–1416)
• Limbourg, Paul (Franco–Netherlandish, active in France, by 1399–1416)

Geography/Place

• Byzantium
• European Medieval Art
• Byzantium

Object

• Church Architecture
• Church Architecture from West Asia
• Book Manuscript
• Christian Manuscript
• Personal Ornament
• Cameo

Subject Matter/Theme

• Biblical Figure
• New Testament
• The Annunciation
• Other New Testament Figures
• Saint
• Figure, Saint, organized by geography
• Saint from West Asia
• Figure, Saint, organized by name
• Saint Catherine
• Warrior

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The archangel Michael, who appears in Revelation 12:7–9 fighting a dragon, is another popular saint in Byzantine art. Like Theodore, Michael is depicted with warrior attributes and venerated as a military saint. On a capital depicting a bust of Michael (1983.167), he wears the traditional dress of the archangels and carries a trilobed scepter in his right hand and, in his left, an orb with a cross symbolizing the divine cosmos. Whereas this bust is most likely from the interior of a Late Byzantine church, Michael also appears in smaller and secular works of art. For example, an oval cameo of an archangel (40.20.58) is most likely a portrait of Michael. Here he wears full military costume and holds a sword sheath in his left hand and a sword in his right.




Saint Catherine also appears in many works of art from the period. Catherine was beheaded in Rome and then carried to the top of Mount Sinai by angels. Though this scene is depicted in the French Manuscript, The The Belles Heures (54.1.1 on Folio 20), Byzantine art typically does not feature this bodily transportation. Unlike Western depictions of Catherine, in which she is most often seen with a spiked wheel, Byzantine artists chose to show her in imperial vestments and holding a martyr's cross.



Annie Labatt Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Citation Labatt, Annie. "Saints and Other Sacred Byzantine Figures". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/snts/hd_snts.htm (October 2004) Further Reading Brown, Peter Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982. Farmer, David Hugh The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. 5th ed. . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Hackel, Sergei, ed. The Byzantine Saint: University of Birmingham Fourteenth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies. London: Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius, 1981. Kazhdan, Alexander, and Nancy Patterson Sevcenko "Catherine of Alexandria." In The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, edited by Alexander P. Kazhdan.. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Kazhdan, Alexander, and Nancy Patterson Sevcenko "Michael." In The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, edited by Alexander P. Kazhdan. . New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Kazhdan, Alexander, and Nancy Patterson Sevcenko "Theodore Teron." In The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, edited by Alexander P. Kazhdan.. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Seiber, Julia The Urban Saint in Early Byzantine Social History. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1977. Vassilaki, Maria, ed. The Mother of God: Representations of the Virgin in Byzantine Art. Milan: Skira Editore, 2000. Related exhibitions and online features Special Exhibitions (including upcoming, current, and past exhibitions)

These related Museum Bulletin or Journal articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship. Draper, James David "Cameo Appearances." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 65, no. 4 (Spring, 2008). JSTOR | PDF Evans, Helen C., Melanie Holcomb, and Robert Hallman "The Arts of Byzantium." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 58, no. 4 (Spring, 2001). JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs "Director’s Note" PDF Nickel, Helmut "Of Dragons, Basilisks, and the Arms of the Seven Kings of Rome." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 24 (1989). JSTOR | PDF Frazer, Margaret English "The Djumati Enamels: a Twelfth-Century Litany of Saints." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 28, no. 6 (February, 1970). JSTOR | PDF