Evidence ID
E01083Saint Name
Kosmas and Damianos, brothers, physician martyrs in Syria, ob. 285/287 : S00385Saint Name in Source
Κοσμᾶς καὶ ΔαμιανόςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Evidence not before
500Evidence not after
600Activity not before
500Activity not after
600Place of Evidence - Region
Asia MinorPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
AdanaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Adana
Nicomedia
Νικομήδεια
Nikomēdeia
Izmit
Πραίνετος
Prainetos
NicomediaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
VowCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Other lay individuals/ peopleSource
A sandstone plaque of unknown provenance. Now in the Museum of Adana (ancient Antiochia ad Sarum). H. 0.19 m; W. 0.46 m; Th. 0.045 m; letter height 0.02 m. The plaque was presumably once mounted on a wall. The inscription is framed by a tabula ansata and accompanied by a carving of a cross pattée in a wreath.Discussion
The inscription commemorates a vow made to Saints Kosmas and Damianos, the holy physicians, by a certain Ploutianos.
Gilbert Dagron and Denis Feissel supposed that the inscription continued in another, now lost, tabula ansata, where the object of the vow was specified. They proposed a wholly hypothetical reconstruction of the lost passage: τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον ἐποίησεν ('constructed this church') or τὴν εἰκόνα ἀνέθηκεν / ἀνέστησεν ('offered a painting/mosaic/statue'). However, the formula εὐξάμενος is often followed by the phrase τὴν εὐχὴ ἀπέδωκε (see the comments in record E01082), so we should also consider a possible completion: + Πλουτ|ιανὸς εὐ|ξάμενος τῶ|ν ἁγίων Κοσ|μᾶ κὲ Δ|αμιανοῦ [τὴν εὐχὴν ἀπέδωκε] ('+ Ploutianos, having made a vow to Saints Cosmas and Damian, [fulfilled it]').
Dating: 6th c. (based on the contents and style of lettering).Bibliography
Edition:
I. Cilicia - Dagron, G., Feissel, D. (eds.), Inscriptions de Cilicie (Paris: De Boccard, 1987), no. 53.
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.
Perraymond, M., "Linee di diffusione del culto dei Santi Anargiri attraverso le testimonianze monumentali ed epigrafiche del VI secolo", in: N. Cambi, E. Marin (eds.), Radovi XIII međunarodnog kongresa za starokršćansku arheoligiju, Split-Poreč, 25.9.-1.10.1994 [= Acta XIII Congressus internationalis archaeologiae christianae, Studi di antichità cristiana 54], Split - Rome 1998, 680.
Reference works:
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 37, 1356.
