Amulet Featuring the Image a Holy Rider from the South-Western Crimea

Abstract

The bronze pendant in question in the form of a fine shield was discovered in the south-­western Crimea, in the vicinity of mediaeval Cherson. Its front side depicts a holy rider piercing a demon with a cross; the first words of Psalm 90 (according to the Orthodox Bible numeration) are engraved on the back. The image of a horse-­rider piercing with a spear a daemon laying below the legs of his horse is one of most popular apotropaic scenes. It appeared on amulets in the Late Roman Period and became widespread in the Early Byzantine Period. The rider possibly designated Solomon as the fighter against daemons, or “the only deity who overcomes evil”, or St Sisinios, the fighter against the she-devil Helle, who harmed women during childbirth and babies. On some amulets, the image of the rider is compared with Christ. In the Early Byzantine epigraphy, Psalm 90 with its reputation as a powerful remedy for misfortune was one of the most frequently quoted Biblical texts. Its lines appeared on the window and door jambs, walls of living rooms and graves. According to the shape, iconography of the holy rider, execution style of the image, and features of palaeography and spelling of the inscription, the pendant in question belongs to the group of Byzantine metal magical amulets protecting from every evil, which were produced in the sixth and seventh centuries in the Syrian-­Palestinian region. The Crimean find testifies to the distribution of this type of amulets far beyond the region where they were made. It is possible that the amulet pendant was brought from the holy places by a pilgrim as an eulogia.