File(s) not publicly available

E01799: Greek lintel inscription with an invocation of *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033), asked to help an architect. Found at the larger church at Šeiḥ Sleimān/Shekh Slēmân between Beroia/Aleppo and Antioch-on-the-Orontes (north Syria). Probably late 5th-early 7th c.

online resource

posted on 2016-08-09, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

+ ἁγί̣α Μαρία Θεωτόκη, βοήθι Σεργίῳ τήκτονει· ̣ἀ̣μ̣ή̣ν

'+ Holy Mary, the God-Bearer (Theotokos), help the architect Sergios! Amen.'

Text: IGLS 2, no. 402.

History

Evidence ID

E01799

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.) Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

550

Evidence not after

650

Activity not before

550

Activity not after

650

Place of Evidence - Region

Syria with Phoenicia Syria with Phoenicia Syria with Phoenicia

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Antioch on the Orontes Šeiḥ Sleimān/Shekh Slēmân Beroia

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

Antioch on the Orontes Thabbora Thabbora Šeiḥ Sleimān/Shekh Slēmân Thabbora Thabbora Beroia 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

Merchants and artisans

Source

A stone lintel. Broken into three conjoining fragments. Fragment A: H. 0.595 m; W. 0.89 m. Fragment B: H. 0.595 m; W. 1.38 m. Fragment C: H. 0.595 m; W. 0.97 m. The inscription is on a carved band. Letter height c. 0.07 m. It is possible that the middle section of the lintel was decorated with a monogram, engraved on a disk in low-relief, but it was scarcely legible when recorded. Found at the north door of the larger church at Šeiḥ Sleimān/Shekh Slēmân, at a portico with two columns. The church is sited on a hill, to the southwest of the town. For a description of the site, see: Butler 1920, 340 and fig. 389.

Discussion

The inscription is a simple invocation of Mary as the God-Bearer, asked to help Sergios, probably the architect, who constructed or renovated the church. Based on this inscription the sanctuary was identified by the surveyors as dedicated to Mary. Dating: Prentice did not comment on the possible date of this inscription, but as the cult of Mary became popular only after the council of Ephesos 431, it is unlikely to predate the later 5th c. The smaller of the churches at Šeiḥ Sleimān was built or restored in AD 602, as attested by the lintel inscription of its south doorway (see: Prentice 1922, 208, no. 1211 = IGLS 2, no. 401). A date for our inscription between the later 5th and early 7th c is probable.

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. 402. Prentice, W.K. (ed.), Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904-1905 and 1909, Division III: Greek and Latin Inscriptions, Section B: Northern Syria (Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1922), 209, no. 1212. Further reading: For a description of the site, see: Butler, H.C. (ed.), Syria, Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904-1905 and 1909, division II: Ancient Architecture in Syria, part B: North Syria (Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1920), 340, fig. 389. For photographs from the site, see: Emma Loosley, “Sheikh Sulaiman C5th church,” Architecture and Asceticism, accessed August 12, 2016, http://architectureandasceticism.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/168 Emma Loosley, “Sheikh Sulaiman C6th church,” Architecture and Asceticism, accessed August 12, 2016, http://architectureandasceticism.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/167 Emma Loosley, “Sheikh Sulaiman church dated 602,” Architecture and Asceticism, accessed August 12, 2016, http://architectureandasceticism.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/166 Reference works: Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 1, 527.