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E00939: Greek inscription commemorating the restoration of a property (perhaps a tomb) by a municipal official with a reference to the intercession of unnamed saints (S00518) and the blessed ones. Found in Nikomedia (Bithynia, north-west Asia Minor). Probably 4th-5th c.

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posted on 2015-12-07, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

+ Φλ(άβιος) Θεόδουλος γραμ-
ματεὺς φυλῆς Δίας +
ἀνενεωσάμην τὸ κτῆμα
τοῦτο ὃ καὶ προωνησάμην.
+ Ἐμμανουὴλ·
εὐχε͂ς τõν ἁγί[ον]
καὶ ὁσίον

'+ Flavios Theodoulos, secretary (grammateus) of the city-ward (phyle) Dia + I renovated this property (or: tomb), which I also had bought beforehand. + Emmanouel: By the intercession of saints and the blessed ones.'

Text: TAM IV/1, no. 366.

History

Evidence ID

E00939

Saint Name

Unnamed saints (or name lost) : S00518

Saint Name in Source

ἅγιοι

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Saints_unnamed/13738717

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

324

Evidence not after

450

Activity not before

324

Activity not after

450

Place of Evidence - Region

Asia Minor

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Nicomedia

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Nicomedia Nicomedia Νικομήδεια Nikomēdeia Izmit Πραίνετος Prainetos Nicomedia

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Cult Activities - Miracles

Saint aiding or preventing the construction of a cult building

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Officials

Source

A red stone plaque, broken on all sides. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.45 m; W. 0.245 m; letter height 0.02 m. Found at Nikomedia. Once kept at the former Russian Archaeological Institute of Constantinople. Now lost. First published by P. Pogodin and O. Wulff in 1897.

Discussion

The inscription commemorates the restoration of an unspecified property (κτῆμα) by Flavios Theodoulos, a municipal official. Karl Dörner supposed that the word κτῆμα was used here to designate a tomb (μνῆμα). The inscription ends with a closing prayer: Ἐμμανουὴλ· | εὐχε͂ς τõν ἁγί[ον] | καὶ ὁσίον, that can be translated in two ways. If the first part of the phrase is simply an acclamation of Christ, the second part may be understood separately and refer to, for example, the restoration completed 'by the intercession of saints and the blessed ones'. However, it is also possible that the name Ἐμμανουὴλ is to be taken literally and the phrase should be translated: 'God is with us by the intercession of saints and the blessed ones'. For a similar formula, referring to the 'prayers of saints', see: E01355. Dating: 4th or 5th c. (based on the use of the term phyle and grammateus, a classic municipal office, both rarely attested after the 5th c.).

Bibliography

Edition: Dörner, K. F. (ed.), Tituli Asiae Minoris, IV. Tituli Bithyniae linguis Graeca et Latina conscripti, 1. Paeninsula Bithynica praeter Chalcedonem. Nicomedia et ager Nicomedensis cum septentrionali meridianoque litore sinus Astaceni et cum lacu Sumonensi(Vienna: Apud Academiam Scientiarum Austriacam, 1978), no. 366. Pogodin, P., Wulff. O., "Nikomidiya", Izvestiya russkago arkheologicheskago institutα v Konstantinopole 2 (1897), 85.

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Keywords

S00518 History

Licence

CC0

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