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E01039: Greek epitaph for the master-builder or founder of a church dedicated to *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, S00023). Found at Diokaisareia/Diocaesarea (Isauria, southern Asia Minor). Probably late antique.

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posted on 2015-12-31, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

+ Αδ[- - - ἀρχι-] [ - - - ]
τέ̣κτονος (cross in a circle) [βοήθ]̣ε̣ι [-]
[το]ῦ ἁγίου Σερ- μου
γ̣ί[ο]υ +

col. I, 1. possibly just τέκτονος Feissel (in a letter dated 17.09.2016) || 4-5. Σερ|γ[ίο]υ Hagel & Tomaschitz || col. II, 2-3. [- - -] | μου ΜΑΜΑ

'+ Ad[- - - of the master(?)]-builder (of the church) of Saint Sergios + [- - - help (?)] me!'

Text: MAMA III, no. 99.

History

Evidence ID

E01039

Saint Name

Sergios, martyr in Syria, ob. 303-311 : S00023

Saint Name in Source

Σέργι[ο]ς

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Sergios_soldier_and_martyr_of_Rusafa/13729165

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

400

Evidence not after

600

Activity not before

400

Activity not after

600

Place of Evidence - Region

Asia Minor

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Diokaisareia in Isauria

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

Diokaisareia in Isauria Nicomedia Νικομήδεια Nikomēdeia Izmit Πραίνετος Prainetos Nicomedia

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Construction of cult buildings

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Merchants and artisans Other lay individuals/ people

Source

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.