The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 4, 2023

Pilgrim's Medallion with St. Symeon the Younger

c. 1100

Part of a set. See all set records

Byzantium, Syria, early 12th Century

Lead

Diameter: 5.7 x 0.4 cm (2 1/4 x 3/16 in.)

Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 1972.52.b

Location

105 Byzantine

Description

Saint Symeon the Younger was a stylite saint, an early Christian ascetic who fled the world for the desert and, perched on a column, spent his days fasting and praying. The site of Symeon’s column attracted many pilgrims during and after his lifetime. Medallions like this one, showing Symeon atop his column on one side and a cross on the other, were taken home by pilgrims in commemoration of their visit and were believed to serve their owners as protective talismans.

Citations
Verdier, Philippe. "A Medallion of Saint Symeon the Younger." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 1 (1980): 17-26. Reproduced: p. 17; Mentioned: p. 17-26 www.jstor.org
Evans, Helen C., and William D. Wixom. The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. Mentioned: p. 385-386
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 60-61, no. 13
Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1972.52.b