We had the most awesome tour guide. She spent two hours with just the four of us, filling us with her knowledge. She has a PhD in history. She told us the most fascinating stories.
This was one of Eddie's favorite relics.
St. Helen's Sarcophagus
According to tradition the remains of St. Helena were brought to Constantinople two years after her death in 328; the porphyry sarcophagus which was found (with others) in the mausoleum was moved to the Lateran in the XIth century and eventually became part of the Vatican collection of antiquities; it does not have inscriptions and it is decorated with horsemen, prisoners and fallen soldiers; in order to explain this iconography which is unrelated to St. Helena, Christian writers have assumed that the sarcophagus was initially meant for Emperor Constantine himself.
Helena played a significant role in re-establishing Christianity in the Holy Land after a period of decline. She allegedly rediscovered several Christian sites in the Holy Land, which had been converted to pagan temples, and she had these sites rededicated to Christianity. In particular, she is renowned for discovering the site of Calvary where she claimed to find the relics of the True Cross.
First of all, paganism and the cities of the first religion is where the Roman cities and religious places are built over. How in the world does anyone get the idea Christian sites were 'taken back' from any group of humans? This is common knowledge for anyone who does the slightest bit of research.
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