Images: not available online; image here from Rahmani 1993: 113, fig. 10.
Clavis number: ECMA 117
Other descriptors: none
Location: Israel Antiquities Authority
Accession number: 89 E: L 54420/54177; 93-721
Category: pilgrimage tokens
Related literature: Six-Books Dormition of the Virgin
Featured characters and locations: Mary (Virgin), apostles
1. DESCRIPTION
Material: terracotta
Size: 27 mm. diameter
Image: Mary lying on a bed with three figures looking on at her head and another figure, partially damaged, at her feet. Rahmani (1993) describes the three figures as “bearded” but Kateusz (2015) argues that the scene originally featured six, female figures.
Inscription: none
Date: ca. 6th–7th cent.
Provenance: discovered among ten tokens in excavations of a Byzantine mansion in Bet She’an. Eight were found in 1951 and 1952, the other two, including this one, in continued excavations from 1989 to 1993. The token may come from the Church of the Sepulchre of St. Mary in the Kidron Valley.
2. RELATION TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE
The death of Mary is depicted in a variety of Dormition of the Virgin texts. One of the earliest of these is the Six-Books Dormition of the Virgin:
Then our Lord commanded Peter, and he drew near to Him, and He said to him: “Now is the time; raise a psalm, and let all created beings sing with the voice of Halleluia.” And when the created beings had sung with the voice of Halleluia, our Lord Jesus the Messiah prayed, and the holy angels gave glory. And straightway the soul of the blessed one departed from her, and He sent it to the mansions of the Father’s house. And my Lady Mary said to her Son, as she was dying: “Fare Thee well, Rabbuli! for lo, I am looking to Thy coming which is at hand.” And Simon Cephas ran, and John the young, and Paul and Thomas; and straightway John laid his hands upon her eyes and closed them. And our Lord commanded them to place the blessed one in a chariot of light; and the twelve apostles bore it as it went to the Paradise of Eden. (trans. William Wright, “The Departure of my Lady Mary from this World,” Journal of Sacred Literature and Biblical Record 7 [1865]: 108–60)
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Foerster, Gideon, and Yoam Tsafrir. “The Bet Shean Project: City Centre (North): Excavation of the Hebrew University.” Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel 11 (1993): 3–32.
Kateusz, Ally. “Ascension of Christ or Ascension of Mary?: Reconsidering a Popular Early Iconography.” JECS 23.2 (2015): 273–303, esp. 295–97.
Nosan, Gregory. Cradle of Christianity, Treasures from the Holy Land. Beachwood, OH: Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, 2006 (p. 49)
Rahmani, Levi Y. “Eulogia Tokens from Byzantine Bet She’an.” ‘Atiqot 22 (1993): 109–19 (esp. 113–15 and fig. 10).
4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Mazor, Gabi. “The Remains at Tel Bet Shean.” Israel Antiquities Authority. Online: http://www.antiquities.org.il/Article_eng.aspx?sec_id=17&subj_id=321&id=658.
“Beit She’an.” Wikipedia.
Entry created by Tony Burke, York University, 26 April 2021.