ABSTRACT
Philotheus of Antioch1 has attracted interest because he is represented on a pencase dating from before 650, which is now in the Louvre, Paris (plate 22).2 On this unique object, which came from Antinoöpolis (Antinoë) in Upper Egypt, he is portrayed standing in armour, holding with his left hand a shield marked with a cross and piercing a serpent with a human head in the mouth with a spear held in his right hand. In the inscription above his portrait, he is invoked: A°IE ºI§√£E B√H£I Tø ï√Y§ø ™√Y ¶AMIø (sic). The inscription below is an incantatory formula.
