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E01793: Greek inscription invoking the help of *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033). Found at Mektebeh, to the southeast of Chalkis and Beroia/Aleppo (north Syria). Probably 6th c.

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posted on 2016-08-08, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

ἁγία Μαρ[ία βο(ήθι) Β]-
άσσου (?) (καὶ) Δαμια-
νοῦ (καὶ) Ἰωάννου (καὶ)
Μηκιμα (καὶ) Ἁσσουβου.

1. βο(ήθι) Mouterde, μν(ήσθητι) Prentice

'Holy Mary, [help] Bassos (?), and Damianos, and Ioannes, and Mekimas, and Hassoubos!'

Text: IGLS 2, no. 340. Translation: W. Prentice, lightly adapted.

History

Evidence ID

E01793

Saint Name

Mary, Mother of Christ : S00033

Saint Name in Source

Μαρία

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

500

Evidence not after

600

Activity not before

500

Activity not after

600

Place of Evidence - Region

Syria with Phoenicia Syria with Phoenicia Syria with Phoenicia

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Beroia Chalkis Mektebeh

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

Beroia Thabbora Thabbora Chalkis Thabbora Thabbora Mektebeh 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 stone panel from a balustrade (a chancel screen?) or a parapet. Dimensions of the panel: H. 0.80 m; W. 1.05 m. The inscription is in low-relief, on carved bands. H. 0.60 m; W. 0.86 m. H. of the first band: 0.11 m. Found, standing upright, in the ruins of Mektebeh by the American Archaeological Expedition to Syria 1899-1900. Copied by William Prentice. First published by Prentice in 1908. Republished by René Mouterde and Louis Jalabert in 1939.

Discussion

The inscription invokes the help of Mary for four men, probably donors of the chancel screen on which the inscription was displayed (if the purpose of the plaque was correctly identified). For another invocation of Mary from Mektebeh, see: E01792. The character of these inscriptions (fine architectural elements) suggests that a church dedicated to Mary was constructed here. Prentice commented that the name Μηκιμας/Mekimas was probably a Greek rendering of the Palmyrene-Nabataean name מקימה, which is also spellt מקם in Safaïtic. The last name, Ἁσσουβος, is the Greek transcription of the Arabic name Ḥassūb. Prentice believed that this inscription should be interpreted together with bi- and trilingual texts, found in this area of Syria (in Greek, Syriac, and Arabic), and noted that the presence of Arabic-speaking people was epigraphically attested in the region already in AD 512. We must remember, however, that no justified conclusions concerning the ethnic identity of the mentioned people can be drawn, based only on the names they bore. Dating: based on the forms of the letters, Prentice dated the inscription to the 6th c.

Bibliography

Edition: Mouterde, R., Jalabert, L., Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 2: Chalcidique et Antiochène: nos 257-698 (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1939), no. 340. Prentice, W.K. (ed.), Greek and Latin inscriptions (Publications of an American archaeological expedition to Syria in 1899-1900 3, New York: Century 1908), 249, no. 314.