Un eulogion di San Phoibammon da Antinoupolis

This paper examines an unpublished pilgrim flask that was uncovered at Antinoupolis, in the northern necropolis, in 2013. The incomplete ampulla belongs to the typical Aswan production, and preserves a portion of decoration on one side, where the figure of Saint Phoibammon on horseback is represented. The retrograde inscription running along the decorated panel can be integrated as [Εὐλόγιον τοῦ Ἁγίου Φ]οιβάμωνος, whereas the other side is too fragmentary to propose any interpretation. Saint Phoibammon was a very important martyr in Early Christian Egypt, even if we know at least four martyrs bearing this name. The most important ones are Saint Phoibammon of Preht, a soldier that was beheaded under Diocletian, and a nobleman, grandson of the prefect of Egypt, born at Awsim: these two figures, even if very different from one another, were at a certain point superimposed and someway confused, as the very few known representations of Saint Phoibammon demonstrate (essentially the painting from Bawit, dated to the 6th century, and the 10th century Nubian painting from Abdallah-n Irqi). We can infer that the martyr from Preht, whose life, miracles and death took place mainly in Middle Egypt, became preeminent as soon as the 8th centrury. Apart from the famous monasteries located at Deir el-Bahari, whose remains are scanty, written documents inform us on the widespread veneration of Phoibammon, mainly as healing Saint of children, in other areas of Middle Egypt, such as Hermoupolis Magna and maybe also the region of Antinoupolis. The importance of the ampulla presented here is grounded on the fact that, at the present state of the research, it is a unicum, as no other examples of Saint Phoibammon pilgrim flasks are known.