E01424: Floor-mosaic with a fragmentary Greek inscription, probably referring to *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, S00023). Found in İkizkuyu, near ancient Doliche and Zeugma (Commagene). Probably 6th-7th c.

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posted on 2016-05-31, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

[Κ]ύρι-
ε, βοήθε-
σον
<Κ>οσμᾶ καὶ Βαρ- Σέρ-
αψάβα. γις

'Lord, help Kosmas and Barapsabas! Sergios!'

The name Sergios is enclosed within a square border.

Text: Candemir 1978, 226-227.

History

Evidence ID

E01424

Saint Name

Sergios, martyr in Syria, ob. 303-311 : S00023

Saint Name in Source

Σέργις

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Sergios_soldier_and_martyr_of_Rusafa/13729165

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.) Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

500

Evidence not after

700

Activity not before

500

Activity not after

700

Place of Evidence - Region

Mesopotamia Syria with Phoenicia Syria with Phoenicia

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Zeugma Doliche İkizkuyu

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

Zeugma Edessa Edessa Ἔδεσσα Edessa Doliche Thabbora Thabbora İkizkuyu Thabbora Thabbora

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

A fragmentary mosaic floor, one of the mosaics found at the village of İkizkuyu (Mosaic 1). Made of white, grey, yellow, red, and black tesserae. H. 5.30 m; W. 7.40 m; letter height 0.05-0.08 m. Framed by octagons and lozenges. The text is sited within two octagons of the frame. The mosaics were accidentally discovered by local inhabitants in 1965, at the western end of the village. Some sections of the mosaics were then sold or destroyed. The site was later surveyed and excavated by Hasan Candemir, and the rescued remains were taken to the Gaziantep Museum of Archaeology.

Discussion

Candemir identified the mosaic as the floor of a chapel or a church, and the reference to Sergios as the mention of its patron saint ("Sergios-Patrozinium"). This is plausible, though Sergios is not invoked here directly and the two people mentioned in the first part of the inscription also seek God's help. The mosaic was stylistically dated to the 6th-7th c.

Bibliography

Edition: Candemir, H., Wagner, J., “Christliche Mosaiken in der nördlichen Euphratesia” [in:] Şahin, S., Schwertheim, E., Wagner, J. (eds.), Studien zur Religion und Kultur Kleinasiens: Festschrift für Friedrich Karl Dörner zum 65. Geburtstag am 28. Februar 1976, vol. 1 (Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'Empire romain 66, Leiden: Brill, 1978), 226-227. Reference works: Bulletin épigraphique (1979), 603. Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 28, 1321.

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Keywords

S00023 History

Licence

CC0

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