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Byzantine style soldiers in

Wall paintings, Church of Panagia Phorbiotissa, Asinou, Cyprus

Saint George

Photo by Xenophon



A larger detail of Saint George, Church of Panagia Phorbiotissa, Asinou, Cyprus.

Saint George's shield, displayed behind him, has a cross, crescent and stars.
Source: Blogul lui Vasile Calin Dragan


A cross, crescent and stars can also be seen on a coin of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. SB 1900 Alexius I, 1081-1118AD, Class J Anonymous Follis, 1081-1118 AD. Constantinople. Source

Dated to the 13th century, perhaps as early as 1200AD.
A mounted St George painted in the 13th century on the narthex's south arch as a votive wall painting of a certain Nikiphoros Kallia, is most interesting and is part of a 'portrait gallery' of the numerous donors.

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Referenced on p291, Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350, Western Europe and the Crusader States by David Nicolle
766 'St George', wall-painting, Crusader Kingdom of Cyprus, 14th century
(in situ Church of Panagia Phorbiotissa, Asinou, Cyprus)
Once again, a painting in Cyprus, though made under a Crusader ruler, is purely Byzantine in style. The rider's legs are covered by some kind of riding boots or greaves. The former seem more likely, but the two apparent rivets to hold a leather hinge tend to indicate that these leg coverings were made of a stiff material. Almost identical, and more clearly metallic greaves appear in a late 14th or 15th century Georgian psalter (Manuscript Institute, Georgian Academy of Sciences, Ms. No.A.1665, Tbilisi, Georgia).
Similar types also appear in later 14th century Iranian manuscripts. Perhaps their inclusion here indicates that the Byzantine originals that lay behind this wall-painting were already under very strong Islamic influence via the Ottomans and other Turks.