Figure 1: SS. Theodore and Sisinnius at the nave of the Church of St. Anthony – the only two saints represented as serpent (dragon)-slayers (From Bolman’s, Monastic Visions)
Figure 2: St. Theodore the Egyptian (Stratelates) mural at the nave of the Church of St. Anthony (From Boleman’s Monastic Visions
Probably the most beautiful and artistically executed mural of Theodore the Egyptian is the one in the Church of St. Anthony at the Monastery of St. Anthony at the Red Sea. This is a painting by the great Coptic painter known by the name Theodore who executed in 1232/1233 an extensive artistic programme at the monastery which had always been known to be impressive even though it was covered by the soot of centuries and careless overpainting but its brilliance and beauty was made clear to everyone after the conservation work that was undertaken by the American Research Center in Egypt. In 2002, Elizabeth S. Bolman authored her great book Monastic Visions: Wall Paintings in the Monastery of St. Antony at the Red Sea that talks in much detail about Theodore’s extensive art. I rely heavily on the painting of St. Theodore the Egyptian (she uses the title ‘Stratelates’ for him) on Bolman’s work.[1] Fig. 1 and 2 I took from Boleman’s work; Fig. 3-7 are from other sources.
In the nave of the old Church of St. Anthony, Theodore the Painter painted a band of equestrian martyrs who died before the age of Constantine the Great in different parts of the Roman Empire, some of them were Egyptian but others were non-Egyptian. The conservation effort gave a number to each figure. Moving in a clockwise direction around the western half of the nave, one sees them in the following order: Theodore the Anatolian (N18), Claudius (N19), Victor (N20), Menas (N21), Theodore the Egyptian (N22) [he was the last figure in the western wall], Sisinnius (N23), John of Heraclea (N24), George (N25), and Phoebammon of Ausim (N26). Nine of them.
Figure N22, that is Theodore the Egyptian, draws a special attention from Bolman: “The painting to the right of Menas is particularly interesting for the history of art and also for its story.”[2] The mural shows the story of the slaying of the dragon by Theodore the Egyptian at Euchaites in Asia Minor.
The general is shown at a famous moment of his life before his martyrdom. A widow finds him passing by the town of Euchaites. She begs him to deliver her fatherless sons from the hideous fate of being sacrificed to a dragon that the townfolk worship. In the painting we see the two children bound and threatened. Pearson[3] identified traces of inscriptions around their heads as names, which is fortunate, because the textual sources don’t include this information. One name is legible, Peter. With the help of the Archangel Michael, Theodore kills the dragon and saves the boys.[4]
Below the 1232/3 layer of painting, an older layer was found: early paintings are visible to the right side of N22 and directly below the bare feet of the petitioning mother. It shows a horse’s hindquarters and tail, suggesting that the earlier programme of painting at the Church of St. Anthony also included equestrian martyrs. It may be that there was an older painting of St. Theodore the Egyptian in this same spot, which the painter Theodore repeated.
It is unlikely that the Tebtunis painting from the 10th century or later that shows the saint in a similar pose, spearing a giant snake,[5] was the prototype of N22, since in it the snakelike dragon rises up to face Theodore unlike in N22. Boleman identifies the 9th or 10th century drawing (the earliest extant drawing of the saint) in Vat.Copt 66 [6]as a likely prototype, particularly as the MS Vat.Copt 66 is thought to have belonged to the Monastery of St. Anthony. Here, as in N22:
The saint faces us from horseback, loosely holding the cross-headed spear that pierces the head of the dragon. The widow appeals to him with her right arm upraised, standing just in front of the horse. The children look at the dragon from their location below the rear of the horse.[7]
Bolman adds:
Although the later painting includes elements missing in the earlier drawing – for example, the hand extending a second crown from heaven, the shield, and the wonderful knot formed by the coils of the beast – the similarities are close enough.[8]
Figure 3: Miniature painting from the Psalter of Emperor Basil II at Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice, showing Basil II in his triumphal attire
The costume of St. Theodore the Egyptian is Byzantine, and Bolman points to the similarity with that of Byzantine emperor, Basil II (976 – 1025), in the painting celebrating his victory over the Bulgars that is kept at the Bilioteca Marciana, Venice.
Both the saint and the emperor wear knee-length tunics, high boots, and military cloaks. Each is armed with a lance and a sword. Over the tunic, each one wears a lamellar cuirass comprising small, rectangular plates laced together by leather thongs. This form of armour was called a kalibanion in Byzantium, a name derived from the Latin clibanarius (a heavily equipped cavalryman).[9]
Figure 4: The Berberini Ivory (dated 6th century) is kept at the Louvre in Paris and shows a Byzantine emperor in triumph (may either be Justinian [527 – 565] or Anastasius [491 – 518])
Figure 5: Justinian Gold Medallion, British Museum
The horse equipment used by St. Theodore in N22 is also Byzantine:
Similar trappings are shown on equestrian portraits of the Emperor Justinian (d. 565), such as the Berberini Ivory in the Louvre and the gold medallion in the British Museum. The saint’s embroidered saddlecloth is small; a tethering rope is wrapped three times around the neck of the horse; and rows of medallions are suspended from the harness. This last feature is one of a number of ways in which the martyr adopts imperial attributes.
Another example is the sash worn by Theodore. It is tied with the knot used by Hercules to secure the paws of a lion’s skin around his chest. The Heraclean knot was thought capable of providing protection from danger in battle, and so Roman emperors and generals wore it as a talisman and an indicator of rank.[10]
Although the saint wears Byzantine costume like a Byzantine emperor, certain elements, particularly in his weaponry, belong to a Turkish tradition prevalent during the Ayyubid Dynasty in Egypt (1171 – 1250) during which time Theodore the Painter executed his artistic programme: the saints bow is composite (a composite bow is considered the Turkish weapon par excellence),[11] his shield is inscribed in Arabic, and his horse’s tail is knotted as the Turks used to do.[12]
The “dragon”. Of all the nine equestrian martyrs painted in the nave of St. Anthony’s Church, only two are shown spearing serpents: SS. Theodore the Egyptian (N22) and Sisinnius (N23)[13]. It is interesting to note that St. George is not depicted as serpent (or dragon) -slayer as Theodore and Sisinnius are.[14] Bolman believes that the imagery of a horseman killing a serpentine advisory was probably first employed as imperial iconography by Emperor Constantine (d. 337) to symbolise his victory over Licinius.
Figure 6: Gold medal of Emperor Constantius II (337 – 361), dated c. 350, on a horseback triumphing over a serpent (kept at Musée de Cabinet des Médailles de la Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris)
This Conastantinian composition was known throughout the late Empire by a coin type depicting an equestrian emperor rearing in triumph over a serpent. The dragon-slaying saints in the Church of St. Antony illustrate the tenacity of this image in Coptic art.[15]
However, in both N22 and N23, one sees an innovation – the serpents are knotted. This Bolman thinks may be the effect of an Islamic influence:
In Islamic astrology of the same time, the knotted dragon represented invisible planets associated with the nodes of the moon’s orbit. It was a symbol of eclipse and evil fortune. Muslim rulers often employed the motif in the thirteenth century as a talisman protecting entrances. The knotted dragons above the main gate of the Ayyubid Citadel of Aleppo (1209) are the most celebrated examples. Theodore [the painter] may have adapted this contemporary symbol of eclipse to the traditional image of the dragon slayer in order to emphasize the powers of the equestrians, painted to frame the entrance to the nave.[16]
Figure 7: Main Gate of Ayyubid Citadel of Aleppo (1209): above it is shown a decoration of two entwined snake (Photo by Michel Benoist [1980])
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[1] Monastic Visions: Wall Paintings in the Monastery of St. Antony at the Red Sea, pp. 41-44, 95, 111, 115-117, 125, 225.
[2] 42
[3] Birger A. Pearson, professor emeritus of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and one of the contributors in the conservation project.
[4] Monastic Visions, pp. 42-43.
[5] See: Dioscorus Boles, Notes on Saint Theodore the Egyptian 4: Saint Theodore the Egyptian Painting from the Monastery of the Martyrs at Esna (July 2, 2020).
[6] See: Dioscorus Boles, Notes on Saint Theodore the Egyptian 3: The Oldest Extant Depiction of the Saint in Coptic Art (July 2, 2020).
[7] Monastic Visions, p. 44.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid, p. 111.
[10] Ibid, pp. 111, 113.
[11] Bolman says, “Nine pieces of wood, reinforced by horn, formed the body. The alternating stiff and flexible elements used in the bow’s construction added considerably to its power. The composite bow was the most effective weapon developed before the invention of firearms. It had a range of five hundred meters and could penetrate body armor at short distances.” Ibid, pp. 113, 115,
[12] Ibid, p. 116.
[13] Unfortunately, more than half of the painting of Sisinnius was destroyed later as the low door below the painting was enlarged.
[14] The iconography of St. George slaying a dragon, and this time it is real dragon, is not known in earlier Coptic art, and I think it is borrowing from later influences from outside.
[15] Monastic Visions, p. 117.
[16] Ibid, p. 117.
