Cephalophores

Early Christian martyrs are referred to as cephalophores ( Greek κέφαλοφόρος "head- bearers ") , who are generally represented with their severed head in their hands as an iconographic attribute of saints . According to legend, after they were beheaded , they should have lifted their heads and covered a certain distance with it. The term was coined in 1914 by the French Marcel Hébert († 1916).

origin

The origin of such legends lies in the popular beliefs of numerous peoples. Movements after chopping off the head or limbs occur in various animal species (chickens, lizards, frogs); they were observed by humans, associated with supernatural forces and powers and mentally transferred to humans.

At the beginning of the Christian legend about the cephalophores, St. Dionysius of Paris († around 250). Thereafter, numerous legends of a similar kind emerged in different parts of Europe, but above all in France .

meaning

The more or less identical legends of the cephalophores were understood as evidence or even as evidence of survival after death .

List of cephalophores (selection)

gallery

Aphrodisius of Béziers
Eliphius statue in Domrémy-la-Pucelle (1709)
Peter Paul Rubens - Martyrdom of St. Justus
Ferreolus and Ferrutius
St. Quiteria
St. Alban of Mainz

literature

Marcel Hébert: Les martyrs céphalophores Euchaire, Elophe et Libaire. In: Revue de l'Université de Bruxelles , 19, 1914.
Philippe Gabet: La céphalophorie . In: Bulletin de la Société de Mythologie Française n ° 140 .
Barbara Baert, Traninger Anita, Catrien Santing (Eds.): Disembodied Heads in Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Brill, Leiden 2013, ISBN 978-90-04-25355-1 .