Cleveland Museum of Art

Pilgrim's Medallion with Saint Symeon the Younger

Date

c. 1100

Medium

lead

Culture

Byzantium, Syria, Byzantine period, early 12th Century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Saint Symeon the Younger was a stylite saint, an early Christian ascetic who fled the world for the desert and, perched on a column, spent his days fasting and praying. The site of Symeon’s column attracted many pilgrims during and after his lifetime. Medallions like this one, showing Symeon atop his column, were taken home by pilgrims in commemoration of their visit and were believed to serve their owners as protective talismans.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.