Ostrakon with a Troparion (Early Hymn)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ostraca are texts written on broken pottery, which were employed when parchment was unavailable or too expensive. At Epiphanius a large number of ostraca were discovered in the monastery, including in its rubbish heaps; they record biblical verses, legal documents, sermons, financial accounts, school texts, and letters requesting assistance and prayers. Some reveal that, even at the southernmost border of the Empire, people were still aware of events in the capital, Constantinople. Ostracon with a Troparion (Early Hymn) +Mary the Mother of God, the ever virgin, has borne for us today Emmanuel, both God and Man. “Lo the virgin shall conceive and bear us a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, God with us.” Him did an archangel suddenly announce; Him did a virgin’s womb conceive without intercourse. A virgin conceived, a virgin was with child, a virgin was in travail, a virgin brought forth, and remained a virgin; before bearing, virgin, and in bearing, virgin, and after bearing, virgin+

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art