Evidence ID
E01039Saint Name
Sergios, martyr in Syria, ob. 303-311 : S00023Saint Name in Source
Σέργι[ο]ςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptionsLanguage
GreekEvidence not before
400Evidence not after
600Activity not before
400Activity not after
600Place of Evidence - Region
Asia MinorPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Diokaisareia in IsauriaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Diokaisareia in Isauria
Nicomedia
Νικομήδεια
Nikomēdeia
Izmit
Πραίνετος
Prainetos
NicomediaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Construction of cult buildingsCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Merchants and artisans
Other lay individuals/ peopleSource
Fragment of the lid of a sarcophagus. Broken and lost at top and on the right-hand side. Found on the eastern slope of the so-called Tomb Valley near Uzuncaburç (ancient Diokaisareia). Letter height 0.04-0.05 m. The text was apparently written in two columns. Between the columns there is a carving of a cross in a circle. Recorded in 1925; now lost (see: Wannagat & Trampedach 2013, 136, 238).Discussion
The inscription is apparently the epitaph for an ἀρχιτέκτων of a church of Sergios. The term (ἀρχι)τέκτων can mean master-builder, i.e. the chief of the artisans building the church, or patron of works, i.e. the founder of the sanctuary. But as the first part of the term is restored, it is also possible that simply a τέκτων / builder was recorded in the inscription.Bibliography
Edition:
Hagel, St., Tomaschitz, K., (eds.), Repertorium der westkilikischen Inschriften (Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Denkschriften der philosophisch-historischen Klasse 265, Ergänzungsbände zu den Tituli Asiae Minoris 22, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1998), no. OlD 75.
Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua III, no. 99.
Further reading:
Destephen, S., "Martyrs locaux et cultes civiques en Asie Mineure", in: J.P. Caillet, S. Destephen, B. Dumézil, H. Inglebert, Des dieux civiques aux saints patrons (IVe-VIIe siècle) (Paris: éditions A. & J. Picard, 2015), 108.
Halkin, F., "Inscriptions grecques relatives à l'hagiographie, IX, Asie Mineure", Analecta Bollandiana 71 (1953), 88.
Mietke, G., "Monumentalisierung christilcher Heiliger in Kilikien in frühbyzantinischer Zeit", Olba 17 (2009), 121.
Linnemann, J.C., Die Nekropolen von Diokaisareia (Diokaisareia in Kilikien 3, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2013), 136, 238.