ABSTRACT
Menas of Egypt was the most outstanding of the three.4 The earliest source for him, not often quoted, is the hymn by Romanus the Melode (died after 555).5 Romanus refers to his Egyptian origins and his membership of the army in Phrygia.6 He calls Menas ÛÙÚ·ÙÈÒÙ˘.7 However, more detailed information is provided by the earliest surviving Passion.8
Both Romanus’ hymn and the earliest Passion depend on a yet earlier lost
