The artefact is a Menas flask or ampulla. It about the size of the palm of my hand about ____ inched tall and wide. It has a cylinder like shape, with a small width of about 2 inches. It looks like any old flask, but it is made out of Egyptian clay instead. The shape of the body is circular with a muzzle at the top where the owner would drink the water or pour the oil out of. On the face of the flask, there is an inscription on the martyr himself, St. Menas who is standing in praying position, standing in between what seems to be two creatures. Upon further research, it was revealed that the animals were camels. This would make sense considering that these clay flasks were made in Egypt, and the story of Saint Menas. On this particular flaks there seems to be the two handles missing. I was able to come to this conclusion by looking at the two other flaks beside it ( figure 2). These flasks seems to have been made out of Taracotta clay, which was not only common amongst the flaks, but common among Egyptian pottery and ceramics to bring with. The flasks were made in Abu Mina , a few miles away from Alexandria.…show more content… It took up about one third of a small room, and was very underwhelming. The artefacts, including the flask, were all encased in a large glass case. The case was at eye level, but the artefacts were put on a lower platform inside the cases, this meant that viewers had to kneel or stoop to see the artefacts clearly. The case consists of two sides, both sides are filled with Byzantium objects. The side shown in the pictures, is where the flasks were placed. The cases also had place cards, that served two purposes. The first purpose was to give historical context context to what the objects were about, while the second purpose was to mark mark the territory of each object. There was also a second set of place cards that were much smaller, that contained information about the artefacts
