Einige Reliquiare in Nord-Mesopotamia

Abstract

In the Archaeological Museum of Diyarbakιr three reliquaries are kept, produced in the 5^th/6^th century, which come from Silvan – Martyropolis. Two consist of a dark red stone with numerous white veins, a serpentinite, ›Elaziğ vişne‹ (›Elaziğ sour cherry‹). Fourteen pieces of reliquaries immured in the walls of the Syrian Orthodox Church of St. Mary in Diyarbakιr seem to have been made from the same material. So far, no other sculptures made of this stone are known, neither from the Roman imperial period nor from late antiquity. The third reliquary consists of a light red limestone and is carefully worked too. Other limestone reliquaries are much simpler in terms of craftsmanship. The specimens in Mardin and in Şanlιurfa have antithetic animals as decoration as a special feature. A lid from Silvan with fine carving made of limestone is unusual.