Cross, carved horn, Fayum, Egypt, Late Antique, 5th to 7th Century

Cross, horn; incised with lines, it has a loop for suspension.

Given by Henry Wallis

Found at a cemetary near Illahun, in the Fayum.

Items 595-1890 to 602-1890 inclusive donated directly from W.M.F. Petrie. Items 603-1890 to 610-1890 inclusive purchased from Mr Fraser, per Petrie.

Many small crosses have been found in early Christian burial sites in Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Asia minor. Some are made of precious materials, the majority however are made of less costly materials, such as bronze, wood and bone. Horn, from which the present example has been carved, would have been abundantly available in Coptic Egypt; the forest and bush of which, was inhabited by a diversity of horned mammalia.

Crosses such as the present example, continued a well established tradition of amulet wearing popular within the preceeding Roman and Egyptian empires. Crosses served both as personal jewellery and as pendants with an apotropaic function. In their burial context they signify the faith of the wearer and their hopes for a Christian afterlife.

Several surviving examples are decorated with incised lines. On the present example as on (605-1890) the lines help to emphasise the shape of the cross and eliven an otherwise plain surface.

Christianity arrived in Egypt from Judea. It probably first came into Alexandria, which was both an intellectual centre and the home of a large Jewish community. Christianity was heavily persecuted in the third century AD, but was widely accepted by the end of the fourth century. The Christian church within Egypt was known as the Coptic church, from a corruption of the Greek word for Egyptians, Aiguptioi. The term 'Coptic period' is a very approximate one; it may be thought of as running from the third century AD until around the time of the visible decline of Christianity in the ninth century AD. It is roughly equivalent to the Byzantine period elsewhere in the Mediterranean world.

Crosses such this, continued a well established tradition of amulet wearing popular within the preceding Roman and Egyptian empires. Crosses served both as personal jewellery and as pendants with an apotropaic function. In their burial context they signify the faith of the wearer and their hopes for a Christian afterlife.

Many small crosses have been found in early Christian burial sites in Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Asia minor. Some are made of precious materials, the majority however are made of less costly materials, such as bronze, wood and bone. Horn, from which the present example has been carved, would have been abundantly available in Coptic Egypt; the forest and bush of which, was inhabited by a diversity of horned mammalia.

604-1890