Reliquary

A rare example of Byzantine church silver, this reliquary, or container for holy objects, has a fluted body and a large rosette decorating the lid. Lathe-cut grooves define the flutes, or parallel channels, on the body and concentric grooves frame the rosette on top, creating a wide rim band. Within the band is a punched Greek inscription that could be translated, "Offering of TIBERINE, the deaconess, to St. Stephen." The bottom has a graffito, or an inscription scratched into the silver, that repeats the first word of the lid inscription: "Offering: two pounds, two ounces, four grams." That the box actually weighs less than indicated by the inscription poses some interesting questions about whether that was the weight for a reliquary set, of which this is just one piece, or whether that was the weight before some of the box's contents were removed. A more intriguing translation of the inscription might be "Offering of the Tiberine Dioconate to St. Stephen," suggesting that the monastery of St. Symeon Stylites the Younger in Syria offered relics of that saint to a church or monastery bearing St. Stephen's name.