Genuine Relics
| Halmyris | 45 01 28.93N 29 11 52.42E | The tel is clearly visible and you can make out the excavations. |
A few years ago we went to a museum in Shrewsbury which commemorated the fictional monk detective Cadfael. We wandered through rooms where the various characters in those novels were commemorated and out into the mediaeval herb garden where Cadfael spent his time devising simples and solving murders. The final room of the museum was equipped with a modern chair, desk and typewriter and a little sign saying that it was a recreation of Ellis Peter's study, with everything exactly as the author had left it on her death.
Relics - whether of a famous author or a beloved child - are very precious to many people. Thousands flock to view the mummy of Tutankhamun, the relics of the boy-king of ancient Egypt, little realising that among the treasures in his tomb was a lock of his grandmother's hair, his own relic of a beloved relative.
It was with this sort of feeling that early Christians collected the possessions and the remains of their comrades who had suffered for the faith. When Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, was beheaded for his refusal to sacrifice to idols, the bystanders rushed forward to dip handkerchiefs in his blood. The Roman authorities might prevent the martyr's corpse being buried, but they could not stop the public leaving the place of execution with bloodstains on their garments!
Of course, over time such relics were attributed with all sorts of magical powers: touching the mummified body of St Gerasimos was a guaranteed cure for all sorts of maladies, dust from the tomb of St Eleuthera restored sight to the blind, and so on. We may doubt the reality of these miraculous powers, but we cannot deny the intensely human feeling which led to the preservation of the relics in the first place.
Since 1999 the Earthwatch Institute of Boston, Massuchusetts, has been sponsoring excavations at a place called Halmyris, one of the most important Roman fortresses on the Black Sea. Located at the mouth of the Danube in the province of Moesia Inferior, Halmyris was incorporated into the empire during the reign of the emperor Vespasian, though a hoard or 100 Roman coins dated between 100 BC and 44 BC bear witness to Roman influence a century or more beforehand.
The site became the base of the Roman fleet in the Black Sea, the Classis Flavia Moesica, but its real importance came when Trajan undertook a vain-glorious war against the Dacians. In a hard-fought campaign, commemorated on his bronze column in Rome, Trajan needed a secure base for his operations and the timber fortifications that had been sufficient up till then were hastily replaced by a solid stone wall. An altar, erected to commemorate the completion of these defences, is dedicated by soldiers of the 1st Italica legion and the 11th Claudia legion.
Naturally, wherever soldiers were quartered, civilians gathered as well. Merchants and traders who supplied the goods the military wanted, prostitutes ministered to the wants of individual soldiers, and retired legionaries set up home in the shadow - and under the protection - of their former quarters. Eight altars dedicated by "the resident Roman citizens" and dated to 136-200 AD bear witness to the thriving character of this civilian settlement.
Halmyris was on the very borders of the Roman empire and was one of the first to suffer when the barbarians attacked. An invasion by the Goths in the 3rd century AD led the authorities to strengthen the walls of the fort, replacing the small rectangular fort with a larger fort that has an unusual triangular ground plan. The walls were ten fet thick and strengthened with thirteen half-round towers. Larger barracks - implying a larger garrison - were built, together with a bath house to provide for their convenience.
Unfortunately these defences were not enough to keep out the Huns when they invaded in 384 AD, but Halmyris was sufficiently important that it was rebuilt almost immediately and made even stronger. In fact, it became a fortified town rather than a legionary fortress. By this time, of course, Christianity was in the ascendant, and a large church was built. In fact the place was large enough to become the seat of a bishop, as recorded in the Notitia Episcopatum.
By this time it was the custom that no church could be consecrated which did not have relics of a martyr or two, and here Halmyris was amply provided, for back in the reign of Diocletian there were two prominent Christians in the town, a priest called Epictetus and his student Aristion - both coming originally from Bithynia on the south-east coast of the Black Sea.
The two men had lived in Halmyris for seventeen years before the persecution under Diocletian began. According to the Acta Sanctorum, the two had become famous in the town for the miracles they did in the town, but although they succeeded in persuading many to become Christians, their activities brought them to the notice of Latronianus, the governor of Scythia Minor. They were arrested, given a short trial and beheaded in July 8, 290 AD.
The excavators of Halmyris were, like all visitors to the site, impressed by the amazing degree to which the buildings of the town have been preserved. The walls still stand 20' high, with the towers standing proud of the rubble. They were amazed, when they found the account of the martyrdom of Epictetus and Aristion to read descriptions of many of the buildings they could see standing in ruins about them. In fact, the hagiography, written by a monk in the late 4th century but based on the actual court records, has helped them to identify some of the buildings, such as the shops which lined the forum.
Despite this, the tale of Epictetus and Aristion was far from their minds when they began to excavate the ruins of the Christian church, a large basilica near the northern apex of the fortress. There was nothing particularly unusual about the building - a nave flanked by two aisles and with a semi-circular apse at the eastern end.
As they cleared the apse, however, they discovered a short stairway of eight steps leading down to two small underground rooms. The first was 7' long and 3' wide and its importance was signalled by the fact that it was carefully plastered and the walls decorated with a frescoed forest or garden, possibly intended to represent Paradise. Clearly this was no mere storage room.
The second chamber, roughly the same size as the first, was decorated with frescoes depicting the Chi-Rho symbol, candelabra and a pattern of circles. At the end a wreath of red, blue and yellow flowers surrounds an inscription in Greek which states that two martyrs are buried in the crypt and gives the name of Aristion. (The name of Epictetus was doubtless also given, but that part of the fresco is damaged and the words are missing.)
The excavators proceeded carefully, clearing away the dirt that filled the chambers and taking care not to damage the plastered walls. As they neared the floor, however, they were astonished to begin to find bones scattered across the brick paving, presumably when robbers broke open the brick caskets in search of treasure.
The bones were carefully collected and sent away for analysis. The anthropologist's report stated that they belonged to two males, one aged between 61 and 67 and the other between 35 and 40. The excavators felt the hair on the back of their necks bristle as they read the report: according to the Acta Sanctorum, Epictetus was 64 when he was martyred, and Aristion was 35.
The archaeologists read on and again felt a chill run up their backs. Several of the bones, including the clavicles and a tibia, showed evidence of violence. Although the Acta Sanctorum doesn't mention it, the Greek inscription in the crypt features the word "hybrizo", which means "torture".
Finally the second vertebra of the younger man, the one just beneath the skull, had been cut in two by a sharp and heavy instrument - either an axe or a heavy sword.
As we travel around the various holy sites in Greece, Italy and the Middle East, we sometimes smile cynically when yet another head of John the Baptist is exhibited for our adoration. With good reason we suspect that many of these relics are as fake as the feather from the wing of the Archangel Gabriel that was treasured in the chapel of the Elector of Wittenburg. It would seem, however, that there can be no doubt about the relics of Epictetus and Aristion. It will be interesting to find out their final resting place: will it be a museum or a church?
(If you have access to Google Earth, you can find Halmyris at the coordinates given at the top of the article. Look for the large, roughly triangular mound on which you can clearly see the excavations.)
© Kendall K. Down 2009
