Where was this flask produced?
The flask likely was produced in Abu Mina, located in an oasis to the south of the city of Alexandria, near the mouth of the Nile River. The site features several churches, of which the most important was the martyrion, a structure located over the saint’s tomb. Other buildings in the complex included a baptistery, basilica, a monastery, two baths, and a kind of hostel for visitors (likely with segregated quarters for men and women). There also were private houses and other buildings in the vicinity. Sick pilgrims were welcomed in an unusual building that held the incubation rooms, where they sought healing.
Abu Mina was nearly destroyed during Persian invasions of Egypt in 616-620, and only partially rebuilt afterward. The Arab conquest of 639-42 brought Eypt under the control of the Umayyad caliphate, and Abu Mina persisted as a Coptic Christian site until the tenth century, after which it was abandoned. According to legend, after the Arab conquest of Egypt and the decline of the monastic complex at Abu Mina, Menas’s coffin floated across the Mediterranean Sea to Constantinople, where his relics were rediscovered by the emperor Basil I. Thereafter, the site of the cult moved from Egypt to Byzantine shores.
