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Silver Treasure

An early seventh-century silver treasure of twenty-three altar vessels is now in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. Formerly known as the “Hama Treasure,” this silver treasure is now believed to have been made for the village church of Saint Sergios in Kaper Koraon (the present Syrian village of Kurin), as the Greek name Kaper Koraon is inscribed on one of the chalices (57.636). The treasure was probably hidden in the eighth century, when, as a consequence of Arab conquests, parts of Syria were gradually abandoned by Byzantine Christians. The treasure was excavated in Syria sometime between 1908 and 1910 (when it was photographed in Hama), and was in the possession of Tawfic Abucasem of Hama and Port Said by 1913. The antiquities dealer Joseph Brummer acquired the treasure by 1928, when he sold it to Henry Walters (1848–1931). The Walters Art Museum acquired the treasure by bequest in 1931.

 

Charles Diehl, “Un nouveau trésor d’argenterie syrienne,” Syria 7, no. 2 (1926): 105–22.