Byzantine Head Reliquaries and their Perception in the West after 1204
A Case Study of the Reliquary of St. Anastasios the Persian in Aachen and Related Objects
by Mabi Angar
This study centers around Byzantine head relics and their receptacles. Together with appendices on the anatomical nomenclature of the human skull, skull-chalices, and selected sacred objects made of precious metal related to relic veneration and the Eucharist, this study aims to reconstruct head reliquary types.
This study centers around Byzantine head relics and their receptacles. The first part discusses the so-called Reliquary of St. Anastasios the Persian, a silverwork in the shape of a centralized, domed church that was probably made in Antioch, but was later housed in Aachen Cathedral. The object is commonly considered a Byzantine vessel for the Eucharist that was later reworked to become a reliquary for the head of St. Anastasios in its new Western context. This study closely examines the life and cult of this particular saint in Byzantium and Aachen by considering the object’s typology and contextualizing relations between Antioch and Constantinople in the late 10th century that have been largely overlooked, shedding light on the handling of sacred objects and confiscation measures under Basil II. The second part of the study concerns the veneration of Byzantine head relics in Constantinople and, more specifically, head relics that were transferred to the West in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. A discussion of Latin, post-1204 sources which affected medieval and modern perceptions of Byzantine relic veneration counters a bias against Byzantine sacred goldsmith work discernable in scholarship of the mid-20th century. Together with appendices on the anatomical nomenclature of the human skull, skull-chalices, and selected sacred objects made of precious metal related to relic veneration and the Eucharist, this study aims to reconstruct head reliquary types. It also seeks to refute the claim in art history that simple caskets that can easily be opened were commonly used as reliquaries of Byzantine body relics.
- By (author) Mabi Angar
Other Titles in this Series
Katalog der Reformationshandschriften
Aus den Sammlungen der Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha'schen Stiftung fur Kunst und Wissenschaft Beschrieben von Daniel Gehrt
Volume 2
Katalog der deutschsprachigen mittelalterlichen Handschriften
Aus den Sammlungen der Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha'schen Stiftung fur Kunst und Wissenschaft
Volume 6
Katalog der hebraischen Einbandfragmente der Forschungsbibliothek Gotha. Aus den Sammlungen der Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha’schen Stiftung fur Kunst und Wissenschaft
Beschrieben von Andreas Lehnardt
Volume 4
Katalog der Handschriften aus den Nachlassen der Theologen Johann Gerhard (1582-1637) und Johann Ernst Gerhard (1621-1668)
Aus den Sammlungen der Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg und Gothaschen Stiftung fur Kunst und Wissenschaft
Volume 3
Similar Books
‘For You I Study, For You I Work, For You I Live, For You I Am Ready To Even Give My Life’
Essays in Honour of Francis (Frank) J Moloney, SDB
A Late Antique Harrowing of Hell and Its Medieval Reception
Eusebius of Alexandria's Sermons 15 and 17 (CPG 5524; 5526) and their Latin Rewritings
Volume 99
Behind the Scenes of Medieval Roofs
An Overview of the Roofing Systems of Italian Churches
Volume 90
Drunk the Potion, No Whit Charmed
The Doctrine of Pure and Perfect Souls from Iamblichus to Damascius
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Fear, Fear of God, God-Fearers
Philological and Historical Perspectives on the World of Ancient Judaism and Christianity
Innovation and Medieval Communities
The Circulation of Ideas and Practices in and out of the Town (1200-1500)
Volume 63
Legal Visuality
Exegesis, Ambiguity, and Dissimulation of the Donation of Constantine in the Early Modern Period
Linguistic and Cultural Dynamics in a Frontier Society
New Perspectives on Northeastern Bavaria and Western Bohemia in the Early Middle Ages
Volume 9
Liturgia semper reformanda
Adaptations and accommodations in the liturgy in light of canon 838 of the Code of Canon Law
Medieval Debates on Foreknowledge: Future Contingents, Prophecy, and Divination
Acts of the XXVII Annual Colloquium of the SIEPM, Trento 12-15 September 2023
Volume 31
Medieval Yeghegis, Armenia
History, Archaeology, Society. Local Multiplicities and Global Connections of a Rural Centre on the Silk Road(s)
Power and Women in Southeast and Central Europe in Late Medieval and Early Modern Period (1300-1600)
Volume 10
Pre-Christian Religions, Rituals, and Beliefs in Central and Northern Europe
Interdisciplinary Investigations
Volume 5
