Evidence ID
E00925Saint Name
Archangels (unspecified) : S00191Saint Name in Source
ἀρχάνγελοςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Evidence not before
535Evidence not after
649Activity not before
535Activity not after
649Place of Evidence - Region
Asia MinorPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Apolllōnia (Pisidia)Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Apolllōnia (Pisidia)
Nicomedia
Νικομήδεια
Nikomēdeia
Izmit
Πραίνετος
Prainetos
NicomediaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildingsSource
A limestone slab, reused as a doorstep in the porch of a mosque at Uluborlu, ancient Apollonia (Pisidia, central Asia Minor). Broken and lost on top. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.40 m; W. 0.70 m. Letter height 0.025–0.04 m. There is a carving of a cross in the centre of the inscribed face (H. 0.22 m). Revisited by Michael Ballance in 1956. Now in the Museum of Uluborlu. Re-examined and photographed by Guy Labarre, Mehmet Özsait, Nesrin Özsait, and İlhan Güceren before 2012.Discussion
The inscription commemorates a restoration of a 'palace' (παλάτιον) of an unnamed archangel. The editors of the eleventh volume of Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua suppose, probably rightly, that this is just a sophisticated designation of a church (cf. Tabula Imperii Byzantini 7, 387-388).
Dating: probably 593/594. The date is given in a local era year in lines 4-6. Clive Foss (1977) argues that the date of this and other dated inscriptions found in Apollonia, should be computed according to the Sullan era (starting in 86/85 BC). Other possibilities, rejected by Foss, are: the Galatian era (starting in 25 BC, which would result in dating the inscription to AD 645) and the Actian era (starting in 31 BC, which would result in dating the inscription to AD 649). The editors of the Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum were, however, not convinced by Foss' arguments. In addition, though Foss computed the date according to the Sullan era, he did not know that the era year should be read ἑξακοσιοστὸς ἑβδομικοστὸς η΄, i.e. 678, and not ἑξακοσιοστὸς ἑβδομικοστός, i.e. 670. Therefore, he dated the inscription to AD 535, while the editors of the eleventh volume of the Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua, who offer the complete reading of the dating formula, date it to AD 593/594.Bibliography
Edition:
Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua XI, no. 8.
Labarre, G., Özsai̇t, M., Özsai̇t, N., Güceren, I., "La collection du Musée d'Uluborlu: nouvelles inscriptions d'Apollonia Mordiaon", Anatolia Antiqua 20 (2012), no. 28.
Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua IV, no. 225.
Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae database, no. 1139: http://www.epigraph.topoi.org/ica/icamainapp/inscription/show/1139
Further reading:
Foss, C., "Two inscriptions attributed to the seventh century A.D.", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 25 (1977), 285-288.
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (2014), 573.
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 27, 899; 62, 1128.
