Evidence ID
E01070Saint Name
Mamas, martyr in Kaisareia/Caesarea of Cappadocia : S00436
Makedonios (unpsecified) : S00669Saint Name in Source
Μαμᾶς
ΜακεδόνιοςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptionsEvidence not before
450Evidence not after
600Activity not before
450Activity not after
600Place of Evidence - Region
Asia MinorPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
KorykosPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Korykos
Nicomedia
Νικομήδεια
Nikomēdeia
Izmit
Πραίνετος
Prainetos
NicomediaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Source
The lid of a sarcophagus, found at Korykos. Letter height 0.085 m. Recorded in 1925.Discussion
The inscription labels a tomb as the property of a certain 'holy Mamas and Makedonios'. This is presumably a reference to a church dedicated to a pair of saints: probably Mamas, martyr of Caesarea in Cappadocia, and Makedonios, presumably another Anatolian or Syrian saint, or to two churches that shared the tomb. Another, less plausible, possibility is that the term ἅγιος / 'holy' was used in the meaning 'of blessed memory' and referred to ordinary deceased Christians (see Laminger-Pascher 1973).
Dating: probably late 5th or 6th c. (based on the style of the lettering and sarcophagus).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. Kry 468.
Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua III, no. 786.
Further reading:
Destephen, S., "Martyrs locaux et cultes civiques en Asie Mineure", in: J.C. Caillet, S. Destephen, B. Dumézil, H. Inglebert, Des dieux civiques aux saints patrons (IVe-VIIe siècle) (Paris: éditions A. & J. Picard, 2015), 106.
Halkin, F., "Inscriptions grecques relatives à l'hagiographie, IX, Asie Mineure", Analecta Bollandiana 71 (1953), 89.
Mietke, G., "Monumentalisierung christilcher Heiliger in Kilikien in frühbyzantinischer Zeit", Olba 17 (2009), 121.
Samellas, A., Death in the Eastern Mediterranean (50-600 A.D.). The Christianization of the East: An Interpretation (Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 12, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002), 257, note 2.
