Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

BANGANARTI

In chapel 10, a fragmentary represen-
tation of a saint on horseback was
preserved on the north wall. In Chapel 13,
a depiction of two holy healers decorated
the west wall. One of the saints is painted
on the wall and the other inside a shallow
niche (Fig. 2). The painting layer is worn
through in places, hence the saint on the
wall has survived in worse condition. Both
figures are shown frontally, standing,
dressed in long, white, belted tunics with
wide sleeves, white mantles fastened at the
front and falling onto the shoulders. The
crowns on the heads of the saints are
bejeweled with three projecting semi-
circular elements. Both men hold the same
medical attributes in their hands: in their
right, a scalpel with the blade pointing
down and in their left a bag of trapezoidal
shape with slightly rounded bottom
(Fig. 3). The bag and the scalpel are both
characteristic attributes of anargyroi, healing
saints who performed cures without taking
payment.
The most frequently represented pair of
anargyroi is the saints Kosmas and
Damianos. They appear in the monastic
annex on Kom H in Old Dongola, in a
scene in which an angel offers them a bag
with medical instruments.2) 3 It is likely,
therefore, that the saints represented at
Banganarti were also Kosmas and
Damianos. The face of Kosmas (he would
have been the one shown on the right hand
side of the other saint) has not survived.
Damianos was depicted with a long face,
moustache and medium-length beard. The
silhouettes of the figures are slender and

proportionate. The fingers are long and
narrow, the gestures full of grace. The
mural is striking in its elegance and
simplicity. It is one of the best-preserved
wall paintings and from the artistic and
iconographic point of view definitely the
best of the murals uncovered this season.
On the west face of the northwest pillar
there is an image of the enthroned Virgin
Mary. The painting is very worn, but the
composition clear enough for the figure of
the Virgin Mary holding the Child to be
discerned.
On the west wall of Chapel 14, a
fragment of a winged being is to be seen.
The two wings raised horizontally are
inscribed within a rhomboid figure. An
eye motif is repeated on the wings. On this
basis, it is likely that the represented figure
belonged to the first triad of celestial
beings, presumably the cherubim.
In Chapel 16, fragments of a figure
with huge sandaled feet survived on the
south wall. This could have been an image
of Christ, similar to the representation
known from the Cathedral at FarasA
Fragments of much damaged paintings
can be observed in Chapel 17 and on the
west wall of the southwestern entrance to
the church. In Chapel 20, representations
of two warrior saints on horseback were
uncovered on the east and west walls.
These murals were preserved in highly
fragmentary state; for example, only a leg
in a stirrup is visible on the east wall. The
painting style evinces considerable feeling
for form and movement. The fetlocks of
the horse are slender and the parts of the

2) B. Zurawski, “Faith healing, philanthropy and commemoration in Late Christian Dongola”, in: Agypten und Nubien
in spatantiker und christlichen Zeit. Akten des 6. Internationalen Koptologenkongresses Munster, 20-25. Juli 1996, Band I,
Materielle Kultur, Kunst und religioses Leben (Wiesbaden 1999), 423-448, fig. 18; M. Martens-Czarnecka, “Wall paintings
discovered in Old Dongola”, in: Dongola-Studien, 35 Jahre der polnischen Forschungen in Zentrum des makuritischen
Reiches, eds. S. Jakobielski, P.O. Scholz, Bibliotheca nubica et athiopica VII (Warsaw 2001), 253-319, PI. XXXIII.
3) Cf. K. Michalowski, Faras. Wall Paintings in the Collection of the National Museum in Warsaw (Warsaw 1974), cat.
no. 35, 177-183, PL 35.

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