Evidence ID
E00970Saint Name
Constantine the Great, emperor, ob. 337 : S00186
Konstantinos (unspecified) : S01746Saint Name in Source
Κωσσταντῖνος
ΚωσσταντῖνοςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elementsEvidence not before
600Evidence not after
900Activity not before
600Activity not after
900Place of Evidence - Region
Asia MinorPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
AmaseaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Amasea
Nicomedia
Νικομήδεια
Nikomēdeia
Izmit
Πραίνετος
Prainetos
NicomediaCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocationCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Monarchs and their familyCult Activities - Cult Related Objects
Water basinsSource
A white marble rectangular water basin, reused in a private garden at Amasya (ancient Amaseia, Helenopontus, north-eastern Asia Minor). Found by Franz Cumont in 1900, revisited by Henri Grégoire in 1907. Dimensions: W. 1.02 m x 0.9 m; diameter of the cavity 0.6 m; depth 0.5 m. Cumont was able to examine only one side of the basin. The other was fixed to a wall, perhaps it was also inscribed.Discussion
The inscription is an invocation of the 'holy lord Constantine', possibly the emperor Constantine, as a saint. Unfortunately, there is no way to securely date this inscription. Late antique dating would make it an important attestation to the cult of Constantine, just as in the case of E00867 and E01150. However, such an early date is dubious as comparable evidence for the cult of Constantine from this period is scarce. It is more reasonable to suppose that the invocation was engraved somewhat later, for example in the late 7th-9th c.Bibliography
Edition:
Anderson, J.G.C., Cumont, F., Grégoire, H., Studia Pontica, vol. 3, part 1: Recueil des inscriptions grecques et latines du Ponte et de l'Arménie (Brussels: Lamertin, 1910), no. 133
Further reading:
Halkin, F., "Inscriptions grecques relatives à l'hagiographie, IX, Asie Mineure", Analecta Bollandiana 71 (1953), 95 note 10.