Podea (cloth hung below an icon) with enkolpia of the Virgin Bēmatarissa at the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos, autochrome photograph by Fernand Cuville, 1918 (photo: from Giōta Oikonomakē-Papadopoulou, Brigitte Pitarakis, and Katia Loverdou-Tsigarida, Hiera Megistē Monē Vatopaidiou: Enkolpia, 26 used by permission). Similarly, the term enkolpion, a compound derived from the preposition en (in) and the noun kolpos (bosom), describes the object’s placement on the body. By contrast, the terms periapton and periamma, from periaptō, “to hang about or upon,” signal the object’s relation to the body. 4 The terms phylaktērion and phylakton, for instance, from phylassō, “to guard,” point to the object’s protective role. In Byzantine literary and documentary sources, several terms were used in reference to pectoral pendants, some indicating their function, others the manner in which they were worn. 3 The distinction between these two varieties of objects-or, for that matter, between the practices and beliefs surrounding them-was by no means hard and fast, and indeed, quite a few surviving specimens combine Christian and magical elements. In addition to pendants with an overtly Christian character, the Byzantines wore an array of magical amulets. Featuring multiple materials and techniques of manufacture, these pectoral pendants could take the form of crosses, medallions adorned with Christian imagery, engraved gems mounted in precious metal, and miniature reliquaries, among others ( Fig. The icons that Akropolites was so desperate to retrieve, apparently risking his life, belonged to a vast and immensely diverse class of objects that fulfilled devotional, prophylactic, and/or apotropaic roles, which the Byzantines wore on a chain or cord suspended around the neck and hanging down over the chest. As he put it, he was protected by the krataia cheir-the mighty hand of God. I passed by the chamber where I am accustomed to read my books, ran across the dining hall, reached the corridor in front of it, proceeded to the portico, which, as you remember, opens onto the courtyard, and the shaking of the earth did not cease! 2Fortunately, nothing in Akropolites’s household suffered damage or destruction. I opened them with the keys, went inside, and retrieved what I desired. So I went back to the chapel, where were, but I found the doors closed. I hastened to leave, I realized that I was not wearing my pectoral icons, which I always use as guardians on the road. It has two objectives: first, to recover the significance of enkolpia as a distinct category of objects and second, to shed new light on the material culture of personal piety as a critical setting for the formation of subjectivity in Byzantium. This article explores how the Byzantines used and related to devotional pectorals. They could serve as gifts, collaterals, and safe-conducts and, most important, operate as physical extensions of their owners. Enkolpia actively participated in various forms of social interaction. Yet the agency of these diminutive objects was not limited to their basic religious function. They were embraced at confession and appealed to in circumstances of danger and anxiety, intensely scrutinized, caressed, and kissed. Protecting the wearer and providing a constant focus for prayer, enkolpia were arguably the most personal and intimate of all devotional artifacts in Byzantium. The term enkolpion encompasses a broad category of objects-crosses, medallions adorned with Christian imagery, and miniature reliquaries, among others-worn around the neck.
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