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E01403: Greek dedicatory inscriptions on four capitals, commemorating the offering of columns to a church of *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033). Found in the 17th c. church in the village of Aphantos/Afandou, near the city of Rhodes (island of Rhodes; Aegean Islands). Probably late antique.

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posted on 2016-05-27, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

Inscription A: + ὑπὲρ εὐχῆς κ(αὶ) σωτηρίας

Inscription B: Ἰσιδόρου Βολίονος

Inscription C: ἀνέθη]κεν τῇ Θεοτόκου το[ὺς κίονας

Inscription D: τῇ Θεοτόκου τοὺς κίονας

Inscription A: '+ As a vow and for the salvation'

Inscription B: 'of Isidoros, son of Bolion'

Inscription C: 'dedicated [the columns] to the (church) of the God-Bearer'

Inscription D: 'the columns to the (church) of the God-Bearer'

Text: Orlandos 1948, 25-26.

History

Evidence ID

E01403

Saint Name

Mary, Mother of Christ : S00033

Saint Name in Source

Θεοτόκος

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Mary_Mother_of_Christ/13729186

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.) Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elements

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

400

Evidence not after

600

Activity not before

400

Activity not after

600

Place of Evidence - Region

Aegean islands and Cyprus Aegean islands and Cyprus

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Rhodes (island) Afandou

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

Rhodes (island) Salamis Σαλαμίς Salamis Salamis Farmagusta Far Κωνσταντία Konstantia Constantia Afandou Salamis Σαλαμίς Salamis Salamis Farmagusta Far Κωνσταντία Konstantia Constantia

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Other lay individuals/ people

Source

Τhe 17th c. church, dedicated to Παναγία ἡ Καθολική in the village of Afandou was examined by Anastasios Bandy before 1948. The scholar found there 5 column shafts (diameter 0.45 m), reused in the northern and southern walls of the church, which he rightly attributed to a late antique basilica. Next to the fencing of the church he found also inscribed Ionic column capitals of greyish marble, measuring on top c. W. 0.65-0.68 m; L. 0.89-0.995 m; H. 0.28 m. The capitals were decorated with carvings of crosses, and a christogram within a circle, flanked by the letters Α and Ω. Orlandos examined four of them. The inscriptions run on a band, on top of the capitals, on the side that was almost certainly facing the nave of the church. It is probable that the text was repeated on both southern and northern sides of the name, as capitals C and D bear very similar passages.

Discussion

The inscriptions certainly belonged to the same dedicatory text, commemorating the offering of columns by a certain Isidoros, son of Bolion, to a church of Mary, venerated as the God-Bearer. Interestingly, on capitals C and D the word 'God-Bearer'/Θεοτόκος is in the genitive form, but is preceded by the article in the dative form. Orlandos explained this confusing fact by the inconsistent grammar of late antique popular Greek and corrected the expression to either τῇ Θεοτόκῳ or τῆς Θεοτόκου. It is, however, much more probable that the article refers to the understood noun ἐκκλησία/'church'.

Bibliography

Edition: Orlandos, A.K., "Παλαιοχριστιανικά λείψανα τῆς Ῥόδου", Ἀρχεῖον τῶν βυζαντινῶν μνημείων τῆς Ἑλλάδος 6 (1948), 25-26. 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. Reference works: Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 40, 777-780.

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Keywords

S00033 History

Licence

CC0

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