Gorgoneia from Suzdal and Przemyśl: The Prayer and the Spell

Abstract

The hematite Suzdal zmeevik (gorgoneion) belongs to the small group of Byzantine engraved gems (intaglios) with a Gorgon’s head (hystera) and a magic formula, which are usually found on metal medallions and pendants. The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus depicted on the obverse and two-line Slavonic inscriptions on both sides make the Suzdal gorgoneion quite unique even for that group. The Slavonic inscriptions carved on the gorgoneion are an abridged version of the “Prayer when a sick person does not sleep” addressed to the Sleepers. The Prayer is known from the Russian Euchologia of the 15th – 16th centuries. The article argues that, save for the names of the Sleepers, the inscription on the gorgoneion has the closest relationship to the earliest copy of the Prayer found in the fourteenth-century Slavonic Serbian Euchologion in the collection of the Russian National Library (Q. p. I. 24). The reverse of the hematite gorgoneion from Przemyśl bears the image of the Mother of God surrounded by an unusual Greek hystera formula, and the obverse contains a depiction of a Gorgon’s head (hystera) that is almost identical to the one found on the Suzdal gorgoneion. Going beyond V. Zalesskaya’s suggestion that both gorgoneia were made in one Greek workshop, this article argues that the inscriptions on the two objects were carved following the same principles and that both objects can be attributed to the same master, who was likely of South Russian origin. The unique poetics of the Przemyśl Gorgoneion spell was a result of the versatility of the hystera formula, while the Slavonic Euchologia developed a stable text of the “Prayer when a sick person does not sleep”. When the hystera formula was substituted with the Prayer on the Suzdal Gorgoneion, the magic amulet was transformed into a Christian icon.