Evidence ID
E00792Saint Name
Theodore Tiro, martyr of Amaseia (Helenopontus, north-eastern Asia Minor), ob. 306 : S00480Saint Name in Source
ΘεόδωροςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Evidence not before
372Evidence not after
700Activity not before
372Activity not after
700Place of Evidence - Region
Asia MinorPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
HypaipaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Hypaipa
Nicomedia
Νικομήδεια
Nikomēdeia
Izmit
Πραίνετος
Prainetos
NicomediaCult activities - Places
Cult building - unspecifiedCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Bequests, donations, gifts and offeringsCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
OfficialsSource
Plaque found in modern Ödemiş, reused in the floor of a school kitchen. Most probably brought there from the area of ancient Hypaipa (western Asia Minor).Discussion
This is the dedicatory inscription for a mosaic or an unnamed structure, offered by a certain Martyrios (scholastikos and former legatos) in gratitude to a sanctuary of Theodore, almost certainly the soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita in Pontus, who had widespread cult in this period.
The title σχολαστικός was bestowed upon people who completed studies in law. The other title of Martyrios: 'the former envoy' (ὁ ἀπὸ ληγάτων) is puzzling. Henri Grégoire (see: IGC, no. 1244) points out that officially there was no such honorific title during the Later Roman Empire. One can only guess that Martyrios was an envoy of his city, possibly sent to an emperor as two other municipal inscriptions mention similar posts (see: IGR III, no. 828, where a ληγᾶτος τῆς πόλεως is mentioned and CIL V, no. 5894 with a reference to a causidicus chosen as a legatus), but Bengt Malcus points out that a man of λαμπρότατος / clarissimus rank was a too important person to act as a common municipal envoy. He plausibly suggests that our Martyrios was probably an envoy (legatus) of a governor of the province of Asia, acting on his behalf regarding less important issues (see: Malcus 1967, 112, n. 6). The inscription was apparently carved sometime after he had resigned from this position, but still styled himself as a former envoy of the proconsul (usually governors designated more than one envoy, hence ὁ ἀπὸ ληγάτων). Furthermore, Malcus noted that a certain Martyrios, a man of Pisidian origin and reportedly 'a harmless and peaceful person', was known to Libanius (Oratio I 159) who said that he was accused of abusive management by Festos, consularis Syriae under the emperor Valens. The point is that the accusation itself was meant to indirectly discredit Eutropios, governor of the province of Asia. Malcus considers this link as a plausible argument for the identification of our Martyrios with that of Libanius. This would imply that our Martyrios served under the proconsul Eutropios (369 – spring 372) and erected our inscription thereafter.Bibliography
Edition:
Die Inschriften von Ephesos, no. 3823.
Grégoire, H. (ed.), Recueil des inscriptions grecques chrétiennes d'Asie Mineure, vol. 1 (Paris: Leroux, 1922), no. 124(4).
Schultze, V., Altchristliche Städte und Landschaften, vol. 2, part 2 (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1926), 84, n. 4.
Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, no. 8872.
Further Reading:
Destephen, S., "Martyrs locaux et cultes civiques en Asie Mineure", in: J.C. Caillet, S. Destephen, B. Dumézil, H. Inglebert, Des dieux civiques aux saints patrons (IVe-VIIe siècle) (Paris: éditions A. & J. Picard, 2015), 87.
Halkin, F., "Inscriptions grecques relatives à l'hagiographie, IX, Asie Mineure", Analecta Bollandiana 71 (1953), 80.
Malcus, B., "Die Prokonsuln von Asien von Diokletian bis Theodosius II", Opuscula Atheniensia 7 (1967), 112, 140.
Die Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit, no. 4863 (http://telota.bbaw.de/exist/servlet/db/pmbz/scripts/browse.xql?id=4863&qString=4863\b).
