This manuscript contains the biographies of saints whom the church commemorates in the month of January. It was originally part of a set containing volumes for each month of the year. A companion volume, with texts for March, now survives in Moscow (State Historical Museum MS gr. 183).
Each chapter in both manuscripts opens with a miniature depicting the death of the respective saint, or less often, another significant event from his or her life. Each text also ends with a seven-line prayer for the well-being of an emperor whose name is spelled by the lines' initial letters as "MIC[H]AEL P." This is almost certainly the Byzantine emperor Michael IV, who reigned from 1034 to 1041. The meaning of the letter "P" is not quite clear.
When first used, the books were read out in the emperor's presence, probably in one of the numerous chapels of the great imperial palace in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. A single leaf from the Walters' volume is now kept in Berlin (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Ms. Graec. Fol. 31). By the sixteenth century, several folios were missing and paper leaves copied from a Metaphrastian Menologion were added at this time.For the latest information about this object, illuminated manuscripts, visit art.thewalters.org.Dynasty: Inscriptions: Reign: Style:
This manuscript is one of the relatively few illustrated Byzantine copies of the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles. It consists of three parts produced at different dates. The New Testament text with its accompanying prefatory material (known as Euthalian apparatus, after the name of its supposed compiler Euthalius) was copied in the early twelfth century. Then, lists of readings were added at two stages in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to facilitate their use in church. Some of the Epistles have lost the miniature that once marked their beginning. A couple of lost leaves were replaced in the sixteenth century.For the latest information about this object, illuminated manuscripts, visit art.thewalters.org.Dynasty: Inscriptions: Reign: Style:
Originally made up of seven inscribed medallions, this armband demonstrates the intermixing of Christian, Jewish, and pagan imagery on an object of magical, medicinal purpose. Judging by the inscriptions, most armbands (made in Byzantine Syria and Egypt) were used to treat abdominal disorders.For the latest information about this object, armbands, visit art.thewalters.org.Dynasty: Inscriptions: [Transcription] + Ὁ κατοικῶν ἐν βοηθία τοῦ [Ὑψίστου]; [Translation] + He who dwells in the shelter of [the Most High] (cf. Psalm 91:1)Reign: Style:
On this side of the pendant is an eye, attacked by a lion, snake, scorpion, stork, and spears. According to the Testament of Solomon, a magical text dating to before the 3rd century AD. The image of the "much suffering eye" protected the wearer from the Evil Eye, which could do harm by its very glance. On the other side, Solomon, the Holy Rider, spears Lillith, the embodiment of evil.For the latest information about this object, pendants, visit art.thewalters.org.Dynasty: Inscriptions: [Transcription] Εἰς Θεός / Εἰς Θεός ὁ νικῶν τὰ κακά. ΙΑΩΘ;[Translation] One God / [The] one God overcomes the evil. JHVH;
[Transcription] eis theos nikoon ta kakaReign: Style:
Obverse: Bust of Licinius II, draped with cloak, frontal. Reverse: Jupiter, enthroned, frontal, holding scepter in left hand and Victory in right hand; Victory, right, offers a wreath; eagle of Jupiter to left below, holding wreath in beak; in exergue, Γ (officina mark).For the latest information about this object, coins, visit art.thewalters.org.Dynasty: Inscriptions: [Inscription, Latin; obverse] LICINIVS AVG(ustus) OB D(iem) V (quinquennalium) FILII SVI [Translation] Licinius Augustus on the occasion of his son’s fifth birthday [Inscription, Latin; reverse] IOVI CONS(ervatori) LICINI(us) AVG(ustus); platform inscribed, SIC X SIC XX; in exergue, S(acra) M(oneta) N(icomediae) [Translation] Licinius Augustus (makes a vow) to Jupiter the Protector: just as (he has ruled for) ten (years,) so (let him rule for) twenty; sacred mint of Nicomedia, third mint officeReign: Style:
This woodcarving contains images of Christ's Baptism and Ascension accompanied by versified inscriptions and framed with busts of the prophets Elisha, Micah, Haggai, and Joel, Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Theodore Stratelates. The panel once formed one of the four walls of a rectangular box or cross base. Another fragment from the same object, with images of the Raising of Lazarus and Dormition (Death) of the Virgin, is now in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg (inv. Omega 265).For the latest information about this object, panels, visit art.thewalters.org.Dynasty: Palaeologan DynastyInscriptions: [Transcription] Τὸν δεσπότην βάπτισον, / ὦ Ζαχαρίου, καὶ μὴ παραίτ/ου παγγένους πλήσει(ν) ῥύπου. Λ[όχο]ς vel Χ[όρο]ς μαθητῶν ἀετι/δ[έως] νόθος τὸν ἥλιο/ν βλέπουσι Χ(ριστὸ)ν ὀξέως.
[Translation] Baptize Our Lord, O son of Zachariah,
But do not entreat [Him] to wash the filth from mankind.
Like an eagle seeing the sun in all its brightness,
The apostles watch the rising of Our Savior.Reign: Style:
On this bronze buckle, one of many made for less wealthy patrons, the portrait of a beardless Christ was thought to protect the wearer from harm. Belt buckles were in use in the Byzantine Empire by the 5th century, when the Roman toga began to be replaced by trousers as part of the cultural influence of the northern migratory peoples.For the latest information about this object, buckles (strap accessories), visit art.thewalters.org.Dynasty: Inscriptions: Reign: Style:
Gold belt buckles were usually personallized with the owner's name, like the small monogram of Theodore seen on this luxurious example. Belt buckles were in use in the Byzantine Empire by the 5th century, when the Roman toga began to be replaced by trousers as part of the cultural influence of the northern migratory peoples.For the latest information about this object, buckles (strap accessories), visit art.thewalters.org.Dynasty: Inscriptions: Reign: Style:
