Maddy Pelling, the University of York Art History Scholar, has been investigating evidence of early Christian pilgrimages in the Yorkshire Museum collections.

Of the tens of thousands of ancient pots in the Yorkshire Museum collections, there are actually not very many that can be tied to a specific story, place or person.

However, these intriguing little flasks with repeating designs all connect to one fascinating episode during the early years of Christianity.

The Pope, the martyr and the camels

In 309 AD Pope Athanasius of Alexandria was visited by an angel. This angel ordered him to take the body of a young man, recently martyred for his Christian faith, out into the desert for burial. The body was that of Menas, a young Roman soldier-turned hermit who had left the army to devote his life to God. Soldiers had tried to burn his body but it remained unharmed, protected through divine intervention.

The Pope ordered Menas’ body to be loaded onto a pair of camels and taken to its final resting place. The camels went west, through the desert and were said to have stopped mysteriously and refused to move. It was here that Menas was interred. By the 6^th century, the cult of St Menas has developed and pilgrims from all over the Roman Empire traveled to the site in what is now north-west Egypt (Abu Mena) in order to worship at his grave.

Holy oil in standard flasks

Visitors to his shrine would return with a token of the Saint, in the form of a ceramic flask filled with holy oil. This oil had reputed healing powers, yet the flasks were mass-produced for the worshipful tourists. On these flasks, standard stamps produced images of St Menas on both sides. The more detailed example shows St. Menas standing with arms outstretched; above his arms are crosses and underneath are two crouching camels. This style of cross – with equal arms like an X – was commonly used in the 4^th century. The standard shape of the flasks with a narrow neck flanked by handles, and a flat, drum-like round body allowed for easy carrying and the stamped designs.

The legacy of a saint

We can get a better look at St Menas in other artworks from the time. This small cup – now in the British Museum – is known as a pyxis and dates from the 6^th century. Carved on the side we see Menas framed in an archway with his hands extended outwards and his palms exposed in greeting or prayer. As on the pilgrim flasks, he is flanked by the two camels from his story and is dressed in his characteristic cloak, pleated skirt and knee-length boots. Behind his head, and just visible below the curve of the arch, is his halo which marks him as a saint. Either side of him, men and women, perhaps pilgrims come to worship at his shrine, holding out their hands in supplication.

We know very little about the origins of the St Menas flasks in the Yorkshire Museum collection. One is recorded as having been found at York – this is very possible as they are found all over the ancient world. This was the opposite of what happened at some sites, where it was more common for pilgrims to leave tokens rather than take them. For example, at Athens, Greece and Philae, Egypt where marble plaques of feet demonstrate the importance of making spiritual journeys. So, despite knowing more about these objects than we do about others in the collection, we are left wondering who brought this flask to York, how they got here and did they travel all the way from Egypt themselves?

You can find out more about St Menas through the links in the post and these two articles:

• Troels Myrup Kristensen: Textiles, Tattoos and the Representation of Pilgrimage in the Roman and Early Christian Periods
• William Anderson: Menas flasks in the West: pilgrimage and trade at the end of antiquity