For the Iconography of Holy Riders – Warrior Saints in Byzantine Sigillography: St. George

Abstract

The article publishes a Byzantine lead seal from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum with the image of the holy rider – warrior saint. Images of holy riders – warrior saints are known in Byzantine sphragistics in several iconographic types: a horseman with a spear in his hands and a cloak fluttering behind his back; a triumphant sitting on a solemnly walking horse with a spear in his hands; an armed or unarmed rider on a horse galloping. The author suggests that the published seal depicts St. George. The image of St. George is known both in the variants of the iconographic types described, and in the rarest type of dragon warrior to date, apparently not too popular in Byzantium. Discussing the question of the appearance of this iconography saint warriors-riders, the author of the article notes that the published seal can be dated not to the X century, but to the XI century, or it should be recognized that our ideas about the linear and sequential development of iconography of the warrior saints are incorrect and all iconographic images types of warrior saints existed at the same time.

Keywords

• византийская сигиллография, иконография, святые воины-всадники, св. георгий