Epigrams on Works of Art 155oblique reference to the Gospel text stating that the Apostle Peter, when he
arrived at the tomb, bent over (prosk7vaß) to look inside. However, whereas
the apostle did not find the body of Christ there, Peter can actually see it, right
in front of him, in the form of consecrated bread. Though he was born too late
to be a disciple himself and witness the godly presence of Christ, he outdoes his
namesake in a certain sense, for he is able to see what the apostle could not: the
body of Christ in the holy sepulchre. By paying much money for what was
undoubtedly an expensive object^16 , and by having it engraved with his own
dedicatory inscription, the paten and also the Eucharist itself become his – at
least in a symbolic sense. He is there to witness the Resurrection of Christ, he
takes part in it every time the Eucharist is celebrated. His personal involve-
ment in the enacting of this divine mystery also explains why the text of this
epigram, in contrast to most verse inscriptions, makes use of the first person.
It also accounts for the somewhat tautological statement: “I, another Peter,
(...) engraved this paten” – tautological, of course, because the text he had
engraved is the epigram itself. What Peter is actually saying is that the
donation of the paten establishes a sort of personal pact between himself and
Christ. By his pious oblation Peter somehow turns into one of the disciples who
witnessed the earthly presence of the Lord. His reward for donating this paten
is being there, at the holy sepulchre which he never visited in person, to peer
inside and look at the body of Christ.
The second epigram to be discussed is AP IX, 815. As the number already
indicates, it can be found immediately before the epigrams Peter had inscribed
on the liturgical objects that he donated to a church. The text reads as follows:
Xe¦ne, t5 n ̄n spe7deiß Örözn äkeswdynon Œdzr;
eJóros7nhß tñ loetrönº äporr7ptei meledwnaß,
möcqon ™laór5feiº töde g2r po5hse Mica8l,
Ðß krater‰ß basilh5doß aJl‰ß 9gemone7ei.“Stranger, what is the rush now when you have the water that cures pain
nearby? This is the bath of joy; it washes away sorrows, it lightens labour. It
was built by Michael, who is in command of the mighty imperial court”. The
epigram is written in elegant hexameters and since the versification is almost
Nonnian (see also the tell-tale compound adjective äkeswdynoß), it is usually
dated to the fifth or the sixth century^17. As the use of hexameters kat2 st5con,
instead of elegiacs, is fairly normal in late antique inscriptions^18 , nothing would
(^16) For a comparable object bearing an inscription, see, for instance, the diskopoterion
commissioned by Basil the Nothos and now to be found in the treasury of St. Mark’s in
Venice: GUILLOU 1996: nos. 74–75 and plates 71–73.
(^17) See, for instance, KEYDELL 1962: 561.
(^18) See WIFSTRAND 1933: 155–177.