DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47598#0191
parts preserved from the figure of the mounted saint also support the direct affinity with the
archangel Michael fresco of Faras; and that not only with regard to the style but also considering
the level of execution. It can also be presumed that the master (or the workshop) of the Faras
Michael was acting in Abdallah Nirqi about the year 930 not only in painting the citadel church.
His mark can be distinguished also on the fresco fragments of the “western church”, brought to
light by a Hungarian excavation in 196411.
The meaning of the figure enclosed in a vessel can be approached through the motive of being
enclosed in a vessel; its relation to the mounted saint, as well as through the sentence put into his
mouth. The pose and expression of the naked man also show that he was put by force into the
vessel, from where he wishes to come out by all means. His look, cast at the mounted saint,
together with the supplication beginning with „kyrie eleison” show that he expects his deliverance
from him12 (fig. 3).
The completion of the inscription is not possible unambigously on the basis of the photograph
available to me. That much, however, can be discerned on the photograph itself that after the
letters Ά& the letters YIÀ follow. Thus it is obvious to think about the rogation κύριε έλέησον ήμας
υιός Δαυίδ which appears here according to Matthew 20,30 (and which is, from the 4th
century, an organic part of the eastern liturgy13). In the lacuna between the „eleison” and „David”
there seems to be place for three further letters, of which the last one can be seen comparatively
well on the photograph, viz. an N. From this letter N, which, at this place, can most likely be
a Coptic formative syllable of the genitive N —it can be perhaps concluded that the inscription is
a grammatically very defective Graeco-Coptic mixture. According to this, the two letters standing
before the N could eventually be YC as the abbreviation of the Greek υιός. Thus the inscription
can tentatively be completed as follows : Κγρΐ(Ε FjÄElCOH [Y(IO)C] ΝΆ^γίΆ14.
The supplication of the man enclosed in a vessel renders it obvious that we have to do with
a Christian and not with a heathen or a wicked man, as from the colour of his skin, the slightly
wild features of his face and his nakedness it could be concluded—by which the scene could be
a variant of the St. George representations15.
Who can be closed into a vessel and why?
On this possibility we find the nearest examples in Greek mythology. Verses 385-391 of the Iliad,
book V., describe how Ares got into a copper vessel and how he was delivered from there16 (fig. 5).
On the other hand, on the basis of a series of vase paintings, Eurystheus receives Heracles hidden
in a pythos, when the latter brings before him the wildboar of Erymanthos and later the Cerberos17
(fig. 6). The explanation of enclosing Ares—with the further developing of the witty remarks of
Mrs. Riemschneider18—was given by Professor Harmatta19, when he showed how the Hittite
Telipinu myth and the Carian version of the Ullicummis myth came into Greek mythology. Ares,
11 L. Castiglione, Abdallah Nirqi 1964. A MTA nubiai expediciôjânak âsatâsa (Excavation of the Nubian Expedition
of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Magyar Tudomàny, VII-VIII (1965), pp. 467-88, 485 ff. ; L. Török, Frescoes,
in: L. Barkoczi—L. Castiglione—-Gy. Hajnoczi—A. Salamon—L. Török, Abdallah Nirqi, a Christian Townsite in the
Egyptian Nubia (in MS).
12 Similarly van Moorsei, KuGN, p. 104.
13 F. J. Dölger, Sol salutis. Gebet und Gesang im christlichen Altertum, Münster/Westf., 1925, 62 ff.; 70 ff.; 83;
115 ff. —The inscription cannot be completed according to the form of the other occurences of “kyrie eleison” in the
New Testament (Marc. 10, 47; Marc. 9, 27; Marc. 15, 22; Luc. 18,39).
14 For the ligature yC in a Nubian manuscript in the Greek language see C. Detlef G. Müller, Deutsche Textfunde
in Nubien, in: KuGN, pp. 245-56, p. 253 fgm. n5 7, fig. 212.
15 Iconography of the Egyptian equestrian saints see L. Török, Zur Ikonographie der koptischen Kunst im 6. bis 7.
Jahrhundert, Wiss. Zs.f. Humboldt-Univ. Berlin, Ges.-Sprachwiss. R. 20 (1971), pp. 295-305, and the literature cited
therein.
16 Μ. Riemschneider, Der Gott, Fass. Acta Ant. Hung. VIII (1960), pp. 7-34, p. 7; its representation see S. Reinach,
Répertoire des vases peints grecques et etrousques, II, Paris 1900, p. 43, n° 7.
17 Reinach, op. cit„ I, p. 153, pl. XXXVI; II, p. 54, n° 1; pp. 72-3, n°s 4-5; Naples, Museo Nazionale: Hercules-
Omphalerelief—its photograph see A. Grabar, Christian Iconography, a Study of its Origins, London 1969, fig. 218;—
on furniture mounting in the Mus. Delphi Inv. n° 6792, see Mon. Graec. et Rom., V, fase. 1 (1967), fig. 188.
18 Riemschneider, op. cit.
19 J. Harmatta, Egy hettita tôrvény magyarâzatâhoz (To the Interpretation of a Hittite Law), Antik Tanulmânyok, XV
(1968), pp. 1-14.
122
archangel Michael fresco of Faras; and that not only with regard to the style but also considering
the level of execution. It can also be presumed that the master (or the workshop) of the Faras
Michael was acting in Abdallah Nirqi about the year 930 not only in painting the citadel church.
His mark can be distinguished also on the fresco fragments of the “western church”, brought to
light by a Hungarian excavation in 196411.
The meaning of the figure enclosed in a vessel can be approached through the motive of being
enclosed in a vessel; its relation to the mounted saint, as well as through the sentence put into his
mouth. The pose and expression of the naked man also show that he was put by force into the
vessel, from where he wishes to come out by all means. His look, cast at the mounted saint,
together with the supplication beginning with „kyrie eleison” show that he expects his deliverance
from him12 (fig. 3).
The completion of the inscription is not possible unambigously on the basis of the photograph
available to me. That much, however, can be discerned on the photograph itself that after the
letters Ά& the letters YIÀ follow. Thus it is obvious to think about the rogation κύριε έλέησον ήμας
υιός Δαυίδ which appears here according to Matthew 20,30 (and which is, from the 4th
century, an organic part of the eastern liturgy13). In the lacuna between the „eleison” and „David”
there seems to be place for three further letters, of which the last one can be seen comparatively
well on the photograph, viz. an N. From this letter N, which, at this place, can most likely be
a Coptic formative syllable of the genitive N —it can be perhaps concluded that the inscription is
a grammatically very defective Graeco-Coptic mixture. According to this, the two letters standing
before the N could eventually be YC as the abbreviation of the Greek υιός. Thus the inscription
can tentatively be completed as follows : Κγρΐ(Ε FjÄElCOH [Y(IO)C] ΝΆ^γίΆ14.
The supplication of the man enclosed in a vessel renders it obvious that we have to do with
a Christian and not with a heathen or a wicked man, as from the colour of his skin, the slightly
wild features of his face and his nakedness it could be concluded—by which the scene could be
a variant of the St. George representations15.
Who can be closed into a vessel and why?
On this possibility we find the nearest examples in Greek mythology. Verses 385-391 of the Iliad,
book V., describe how Ares got into a copper vessel and how he was delivered from there16 (fig. 5).
On the other hand, on the basis of a series of vase paintings, Eurystheus receives Heracles hidden
in a pythos, when the latter brings before him the wildboar of Erymanthos and later the Cerberos17
(fig. 6). The explanation of enclosing Ares—with the further developing of the witty remarks of
Mrs. Riemschneider18—was given by Professor Harmatta19, when he showed how the Hittite
Telipinu myth and the Carian version of the Ullicummis myth came into Greek mythology. Ares,
11 L. Castiglione, Abdallah Nirqi 1964. A MTA nubiai expediciôjânak âsatâsa (Excavation of the Nubian Expedition
of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Magyar Tudomàny, VII-VIII (1965), pp. 467-88, 485 ff. ; L. Török, Frescoes,
in: L. Barkoczi—L. Castiglione—-Gy. Hajnoczi—A. Salamon—L. Török, Abdallah Nirqi, a Christian Townsite in the
Egyptian Nubia (in MS).
12 Similarly van Moorsei, KuGN, p. 104.
13 F. J. Dölger, Sol salutis. Gebet und Gesang im christlichen Altertum, Münster/Westf., 1925, 62 ff.; 70 ff.; 83;
115 ff. —The inscription cannot be completed according to the form of the other occurences of “kyrie eleison” in the
New Testament (Marc. 10, 47; Marc. 9, 27; Marc. 15, 22; Luc. 18,39).
14 For the ligature yC in a Nubian manuscript in the Greek language see C. Detlef G. Müller, Deutsche Textfunde
in Nubien, in: KuGN, pp. 245-56, p. 253 fgm. n5 7, fig. 212.
15 Iconography of the Egyptian equestrian saints see L. Török, Zur Ikonographie der koptischen Kunst im 6. bis 7.
Jahrhundert, Wiss. Zs.f. Humboldt-Univ. Berlin, Ges.-Sprachwiss. R. 20 (1971), pp. 295-305, and the literature cited
therein.
16 Μ. Riemschneider, Der Gott, Fass. Acta Ant. Hung. VIII (1960), pp. 7-34, p. 7; its representation see S. Reinach,
Répertoire des vases peints grecques et etrousques, II, Paris 1900, p. 43, n° 7.
17 Reinach, op. cit„ I, p. 153, pl. XXXVI; II, p. 54, n° 1; pp. 72-3, n°s 4-5; Naples, Museo Nazionale: Hercules-
Omphalerelief—its photograph see A. Grabar, Christian Iconography, a Study of its Origins, London 1969, fig. 218;—
on furniture mounting in the Mus. Delphi Inv. n° 6792, see Mon. Graec. et Rom., V, fase. 1 (1967), fig. 188.
18 Riemschneider, op. cit.
19 J. Harmatta, Egy hettita tôrvény magyarâzatâhoz (To the Interpretation of a Hittite Law), Antik Tanulmânyok, XV
(1968), pp. 1-14.
122