Anonymous pilgrim of Piacenza

The anonymous pilgrim of Piacenza, sometimes simply called the Piacenza Pilgrim,^[1] was a sixth-century Christian pilgrim from Piacenza in northern Italy who travelled to the Holy Land at the height of Byzantine rule in the 570s and wrote a narrative - an itinerarium - of his pilgrimage.^[2]

Misidentification as Antoninus of Piacenza

This anonymous pilgrim was erroneously identified as Antoninus of Piacenza^[2] or Antoninus Martyr out of confusion with Saint Antoninus of Piacenza, who died in 303 and is venerated as a martyr.^[3]

Pilgrimage

The pilgrim travelled from Piacenza via Constantinople and Cyprus to Tripolis. From there, he travelled south via Beirut and Tyrus before turning towards Galilea where he visited Nazareth and Capernaum before going through Samaria towards the Jordan where he visited at Epiphany the alleged site where Jesus was baptised. He then proceeded towards Jerusalem where his descriptions of the chalice of onyx that was venerated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and of the Holy Lance in the Basilica of Mount Zion are early attestations of the cultus of these two relics. He then travelled towards the coast and passed through Gaza where he mentioned the tomb of saint Hilarion and took then the road towards the Mount Sinai.^[4]^[5]

The pilgrim also brought back many objects that he had collected from the holy places, a feature typical of visiting pilgrims though the pilgrim seems to have been very enthusiastic about them. These objects included medicinal herbs, earth and oil from the Holy Sepulchre and stones.^[6]

The pilgrim's itinerary documents the extent of the sixth-century trade catering to the pious pilgrims in the Holy Land: "We went to Cana, where our Lord was present at the marriage feast," the Piacenza Pilgrim reports, "and we reclined on the very couch." Inspired by such a vivid figuration of Biblical truth, Antoninus indulged the classic tourists' act: "and there, unworthy as I was, I wrote the names of my parents".^[7]

Although he covered in his travels nearly the same extensive territory as the Spanish nun, his work contains but few details not found in other writers; it is, moreover, marred by gross errors and by fabulous tales which betray the most naive credulity."

Importance

The Piacenza pilgrim's description of sites and traditions are sometimes inaccurate, as he tends to confuse places from the same area, or such which are in Egypt.^[8] Though his travel covered mostly the same territory as of other pilgrims (such as of Egeria),^[3] the travel descriptions of the Piacenza pilgrim are still valued by researchers because they sometimes contain information about local customs and traditions not mentioned in any other text^[8] and he was the last writer to visit the Holy Land before the Muslim conquest.^[3]

Notes

^ "Pilgrims who visited the Holy Land between the IV and VII century". Archived from the original on 2013-03-25. Retrieved 2013-01-21.
^ ^a ^b Avni, Gideon (2014). "A Tale of Two Cities". The Byzantine-Islamic Transition in Palestine: An Archaeological Approach. Oxford Studies in Byzantium. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9780199684335. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bechtel, F. "Itineraria". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
^ Avni, Gideon (January 2014). The Byzantine-Islamic Transition in Palestine An Archaeological Approach. OUP Oxford. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9780191507342. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
^ Jacobs, Andrew S. "The Piacenza Pilgrim". Andrew S. Jacobs. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
^ Kuhnel, Bianca; Bodner, Neta; Bartal, Renana (April 2017). Natural Materials of the Holy Land and the Visual Translation of Place, 500-1500. Taylor & Francis. pp. 6–13. ISBN 9781351809283. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
^ A block of marble found at Elateia, inscribed in Byzantine Greek "This stone is from Cana in Galilee, where Our Lord Jesus Christ turned the water into wine" and the further inscription "Antoninus", was identified with Antoninus of Piacenza when the block was moved to the Chapel of Saint Eleutherios near the Cathedral, Athens. ("Archaeological News", The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts 1885:230.)
^ ^a ^b Avner, Rina (2016). Leslie Brubaker; Mary B. Cunningham (eds.). The Initial Tradition of the Theotokos at the Kathisma: Earliest Celebrations and the Calendar. Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Studies. Routledge. ISBN 9781351891974. Retrieved 2019-01-08. The Piacenza pilgrim is known to have a tendency to confuse sites and traditions, especially when the sites are geographically close to each other or if they are located in Egypt. These weaknesses have been pointed out by [John] Wilkinson and [Herbert] Donner, and have been elaborated by [Ora] Limor. In spite of this, the Piacenza pilgrim does have other virtues, for sometimes his report constitutes the only and ultimate source, especially with regard to local traditions and customs unknown from any other text. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

Editions

P. Geyer (ed.), in Itineraria et alia geographica, Corpus Christianorum series Latina, Volume 175 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1965), pp. 129–53.
Aubrey Stewart (trans.), Of the Holy Places Visited by Antoninus Martyr, Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, 1887.