St. Menas Ampulla

5th-7th century
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

This is one of the souvenir ampullae that pilgrims would fill with water from the holy well at Abu Mena, Egypt. Most such ampullae follow this pattern, with St. Menas standing in the middle flanked by two camels and two crosses. The pattern of dots around the image is also traditional. A few of the ampullae have the inscription eulogia tou agiou mena, "blessing of Saint Menas," either surrounding or in place of the central picture.

View this image in full resolution.
Read more about St. Menas.

• Home Page
• Iconography of St. Menas
• This Page

Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.