Evidence ID
E01250Saint Name
John the Evangelist : S00042Saint Name in Source
Ἰω(άννης)Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - GraffitiLanguage
GreekEvidence not before
400Evidence not after
700Activity not before
400Activity not after
700Place of Evidence - Region
Aegean islands and Cyprus
Aegean islands and CyprusPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Thasos
LimenasPlace 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
ConstantiaCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocationSource
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.