E01250: A marble plaque with a Greek graffito with the name of *John the Apostle and Evangelist (S00042). Found at Thasos/modern Limenas (island of Thasos; Aegean Islands). Probably late antique.

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posted on 2016-04-07, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

Ἰω(άννης) ὁ Ἀπ(όστολος) ΣΚΟ

1. ΣΚΟ = σκέ(πε) (?)

'John the Apostle (?) (- - -)'

Text: Dunant & Pouilloux 1958, no. 366.

History

Evidence ID

E01250

Saint Name

John the Evangelist : S00042

Saint Name in Source

Ἰω(άννης)

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/John_the_Apostle_and_Evangelist/13729210

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Graffiti

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

400

Evidence not after

700

Activity not before

400

Activity not after

700

Place of Evidence - Region

Aegean islands and Cyprus Aegean islands and Cyprus

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Thasos Limenas

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

Thasos Salamis Σαλαμίς Salamis Salamis Farmagusta Far Κωνσταντία Konstantia Constantia Limenas Salamis Σαλαμίς Salamis Salamis Farmagusta Far Κωνσταντία Konstantia Constantia

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Source

A marble plaque. H. 0.72 m; W. 0.44 m; Th. 0.075 m; letter height 0.03 m. First recorded by Alfred Laumonier in 1923, but subsequently lost, at the site of the agora of the ancient city of Thasos (on the northern coast of the island). Retrieved in 1946. Currently kept in the Archaeological Museum of Thasos in Limenas.

Discussion

The inscription is in the form of a graffito. It is almost certainly the name of John the Evangelist, followed by an unintelligible word: ΣΚΟ. Perhaps the word should be corrected to σκέ(πε)/'protect', a formula quite common in Greek invocations, for example, from the island of Tinos (see: E01228). Christiane Dunant and Jean Pouilloux edited the inscription among the late antique finds from Thasos, prior to the 7th c., but they give no arguments for this dating.

Bibliography

Edition: Dunant, Chr., Pouilloux, J., Recherches sur l'histoire et les cultes de Thasos, vol. 2: De 196 av. J.-C. jusq'à la fin de l'antiquité (Paris: Librairie E de Boccard, 1958), no. 366. Further reading: "Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques dans l'Orient hellénique", Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 47 (1923), 537.