The Altar Casket with a Representation of St Thecla ad bestias from the Vicinity of the St Menas Church in Selib (Northern Sudan)

The excavations in Selib have brought to light a few objects used in the liturgical practices performed in the local churches. Among a dozen or so fragmentarily preserved chalices, juglets and patens, there is a terracotta roundel provided with a circular aperture in the upper side. Made of pinkish red clay, it is decorated with a repeated stamped motif of a haloed orant figure shown en face with arms held parallel to the upper body. It is accompanied by figures of animals set in profile. The masterly execution of the animal figures enables the recognition of the images of lionesses. Consequently the orant figure in between two metopes with a lioness each could only be St Thecla. The author suggests that the Selib roundel plausibly served as an altar casket placed on an altar to house a Eucharistic chalice. An alternative use would have been as a stand for a peculiar Nubian paten(?) with a depression in the bottom. Regardless of the real purpose, in the case of the Selib roundel the label of ‘altar casket’ is valid.