E01157: Greek inscription with a request for help for a village, addressed to an unnamed *Archangel. Found near Ikonion (Lycaonia, central Asia Minor). Probably late antique.

online resource

posted on 2016-02-27, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

+ ἀ ρ χ ά ν γ- ε λ ε, β ο η [θ ι]
τ ο ῦ χ ω ρ ί- ο υ Κα πο υμ αις

ἀργάνγελε (sic!) βοή[θι το]ῦ χωρίου Καπουμαῆς Ramsay

'+ O Archangel, help the village of Kapoumais!'

Text: Ramsay 1931, 21.

History

Evidence ID

E01157

Saint Name

Archangels (unspecified) : S00191

Saint Name in Source

ἀρχάνγελος

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Archangels_unnamed_or_name_lost/13729642

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)

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

Ikonion

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

Ikonion Nicomedia Νικομήδεια Nikomēdeia Izmit Πραίνετος Prainetos Nicomedia

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Peasants

Source

Lintel of a church door. Decorated with a carving of a cross pattée in a circle and of an arcade to the right and to the left of the cross. The inscription is carved in two lines, with each letter under an arch (except for the name of the village, which is written in denser script, to fit it on the stone). There is no published detailed description. Found at Sadettinhanı (to the north-east of Ikonion). First mentioned by William Ramsay in 1931; a record of the object is also included in the William Calder Archives (MS 3286), housed in the Special Collections of the University of Aberdeen.

Discussion

The inscription contains a request for help for a village, addressed to an archangel. Perhaps the villagers worked on the construction of the church, in which the inscription was originally displayed, or contributed to raising funds for the construction (as in the case of E01080: ἐπληρώθη τὸ ἔργον τῆς Θεοτόκου ἐπὶ Στεφάνου ἐργολάβου ὑπουργήσι τῆς κώμης Σιφῶν / 'The building of the God-Bearer was completed under contractor Stephanos with the assistance of the village of Siphoi'). For a similar request for help for a village, see E00844: ὁ θεὸς τõν ἀρχαγέλον σύνπ[ρ]αξον τοὺς τῆ[ς] κούμης μου πᾶσην / 'O God of the Archangels, help all the inhabitants of my village!' (trans. Al. Cameron), and for a request for help probably for workers building a church, see E00915: κύριος φυλάξι τοὺς ἐργαζομένους ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ ἀρχανγέλου Μιχαήλ/'May the Lord keep those who work (or: minister) at the house of Michael the Archangel!'

Bibliography

Edition: Ramsay, W., "Phrygian orthodox and heretics 400-800 AD", Byzantion 6 (1931), 21. Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae database, no. 489: http://www.epigraph.topoi.org/ica/icamainapp/inscription/show/489