Sacred Relics
Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant
The seat of God's presence. Carried before the people, it parted the Jordan and brought down the walls of Jericho.
VesselFirst recorded c. 600 BCE
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Photograph: A French walnut carving of Saint George and the Dragon from the early sixteenth century. A mounted knight drives down a lance while a dragon writhes beneath the horse's hooves.
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2,186 × 2,400 PX2186×2400
ArchiveSacred Relics · Weapon
Ascalon
Ascalon
The dragon-slaying sword that cuts through any armor.
- Owner
- Saint George
- Maker
- A one-eyed smith (in Richard Johnson's tale)
- First record
- Richard Johnson, The Seven Champions of Christendom1596
- Gallery
- Sacred Relics
Notes on the photograph 3
Story
Saint George was a Roman soldier martyred early in the fourth century, who came to be portrayed in the Middle Ages as a dragon-slaying knight. The thirteenth-century Golden Legend tells how he overcame with a lance a dragon demanding maidens as sacrifice in a city of Libya.
In 1596 Richard Johnson's Seven Champions of Christendom gave his sword the name Ascalon, after a city of the Holy Land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean.
Saint George, who became England's patron saint, was painted countless times spearing the dragon, with his flag of a red cross on white.
The object in the photo
The photograph shows Saint George and the Dragon(French, early 16th century), a real museum object that evokes the legendary artifact.
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