E00956: Greek inscription with an invocation of *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033) as the Mother of God. Found near Chalkedon/Chalcedon (Bithynia, north-west Asia Minor). Probably 6th c. or later.

online resource

posted on 2015-12-09, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

μ(ῆτε)ρ θ(εοῦ), βοήθη τὴν δούλην σ(ου) Μαρία(ν)

'Mother of God, help your servant Maria!'

Text: I. Kalchedon, no. 106.

History

Evidence ID

E00956

Saint Name

Mary, Mother of Christ : S00033

Saint Name in Source

Μήτηρ Θεοῦ

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Mary_Mother_of_Christ/13729186

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elements Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

500

Evidence not after

1300

Activity not before

500

Activity not after

1300

Place of Evidence - Region

Asia Minor

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Chalcedon

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

Chalcedon Nicomedia Νικομήδεια Nikomēdeia Izmit Πραίνετος Prainetos Nicomedia

Cult activities - Places

Altar

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Women

Source

A column supporting an altar, found before 1884 by Ioannes Miliopoulos in the then church of St. George at Pendik (ancient Panteichium near Chalcedon, Bithynia, northern Asia Minor). The inscription runs around the upper part of the column.

Discussion

The inscription is an invocation of *Mary as the Mother of God, by a certain Maria. Perhaps she offered the column bearing the inscription to the church (cf. E00926) and requested protection from her personal patron (instead of St. George, the patron of the church), or the church was originally dedicated to Mary. Dating: This kind of invocation with the 'servant-of-saint' formula is usually dated to the 6th-8th c. or later, and is indeed common in the middle Byzantine period.

Bibliography

Edition: Die Inschriften von Kalchedon, no. 106. Miliopoulos, I., "Περὶ Παντειχίου", Byzantinische Zeitschrift 22 (1913), 455.