Evidence ID
E01206Saint Name
Paul, the Apostle : S00008Saint Name in Source
ΠαῦλοςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elements
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Evidence not before
550Evidence not after
600Activity not before
550Activity not after
600Place of Evidence - Region
Aegean islands and Cyprus
Aegean islands and CyprusPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Samos
PythagorioPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Samos
Salamis
Σαλαμίς
Salamis
Salamis
Farmagusta
Far
Κωνσταντία
Konstantia
Constantia
Pythagorio
Salamis
Σαλαμίς
Salamis
Salamis
Farmagusta
Far
Κωνσταντία
Konstantia
ConstantiaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Source
Fragment of a plaque (probably right-hand lower corner of a horseshoe-shaped altar), found in obscure circumstances on/near a church built on the site of the Roman baths in Pythagorio. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.38 m; W. 0.305 m; Th. 0.064 m. First edited by Cornelius Steckner. When recorded and copied by Klaus Hallof, it was kept in the Museum of Pythagorio. The inscription is written on the lower margin, in cursive script.Discussion
The fragment contains only the name of Paul the Apostle, in the genitive form. Based on the inscription, Steckner supposes that the basilica, constructed in c. 570-580 over the ruins of the Hellenistic gymnasium (extended with thermae (baths) in the Roman period), where the fragment had been found, was probably dedicated to Paul. The basilica was a three-aisled structure with an atrium, c. 45 m long and c. 15 m wide. It is supposed that this was the episcopal church and some elements of the old thermae were refurbished as a baptisterium.
The founders of the church, might have chosen Paul as the patron for the sanctuary, because of an episode in his life. Acts say that in AD 58, Paul briefly stayed on Samos, during the third of his missionary journeys (see: Acts 20:15: κἀκεῖθεν ἀποπλεύσαντες τῇ ἐπιούσῃ κατηντήσαμεν ἄντικρυς Χίου, τῇ δὲ ἑτέρᾳ παρεβάλομεν εἰς Σάμον, τῇ δὲ ἐχομένῃ ἤλθομεν εἰς Μίλητον / 'And we sailed thence, and came the next day over against Chios; and the next day we arrived at Samos, and tarried at Trogyllium; and the next day we came to Miletus').
Beside the discussed basilica, the site contained several other ecclesiastical structures, including, for example, a holy tomb, where relics of some local Samian martyrs could have been deposited. Cornelius Steckner hypothesises that the complex could have been a lively pilgrimage centre, possibly visited by Sophronios, patriarch of Jerusalem, c. 560-638, author of a treatise on the journeys of the Apostles (see: De laboribus, certaminibus et peregrinatibus St. Petri et Pauli, PG 87, coll. 4011-4014).Bibliography
Edition:
Inscriptiones Graecae XII 6,2, no. 941.
Steckner, C., "Apostel Paulus, eine samische Altarinschrift und die Lokaltraditionen zu den Apostelreisen", in: Akten des XII. Internationalen Kongresses für Christliche Archäologie, Bonn, 22.-28. September 1991, ed. E. Dassmann, J. Engemann (Münster: Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1995), 1213-1218.
Further reading:
Kiourtzian, G., "Pietas insulariorum", [in:] Eupsychia: mélanges offerts à Hélène Ahrweiler, vol. 2 (Série Byzantina Sorbonensia 16, Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1998), 377.
Martini, W., Steckner, C., Samos XVII: Das Gymnasium von Samos. Das frühbyzantinische Klostergut (Bonn: In Kommission bei R. Habelt, 1993), 100.
Reference works:
Chroniques d'épigraphie byzantine, 238.
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 46, 1177.
