ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts covered in the preceding chapter of this book. Pilgrimage, of course, had elements in common with tourism, most obviously the evident desire of pilgrims to return home with a memento of the visit. Although not in the Holy Land, it serves as a reminder that other locations also attracted pilgrims, and indeed this shrine is the source of the greatest number of surviving ampullae. Pilgrims to the Holy Land often brought back treasured mementos of their visit little clay containers of oil were particularly popular. Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus, naturally included him in his collection of stories about Syrian ascetics, and here describes the way he attracted large numbers of pilgrims. From various episodes in the Life of the Younger St Symeon the Stylite, it is apparent that these tokens, or eulogiai, were made from clay at the foot of the saint's pillar and were given to pilgrims as medicinal amulets.
