Evidence ID
E01825Saint Name
Unnamed martyrs (or name lost) : S00060Saint Name in Source
μάρτυρεςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Graffiti
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptionsEvidence not before
450Evidence not after
1300Activity not before
450Activity not after
1300Place of Evidence - Region
Syria with Phoenicia
Syria with PhoeniciaPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Antioch on the Orontes
Seleukeia PieriaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Antioch on the Orontes
Thabbora
Thabbora
Seleukeia Pieria
Thabbora
ThabboraCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocationSource
Graffiti scratched on the wall of a burial grotto, at Seleukeia/Seleucia Pieria, on a layer of red, yellow, and white stucco.
Found during surveys of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and its Vicinity in 1938 and 1939. First published by Glanville Downey in 1941. Republished by René Mouterde in 1953.Discussion
The inscription is probably an invocation of martyrs on behalf of people buried in the grotto. Perhaps the lost part of the inscription should be completed with the popular formula βοηθεῖτε or βοηθήσατε/'help!'. It is possible that the names of the martyrs were mentioned in the lacuna, but the saints could be invoked also anonymously. For a similar text, see: E00735.Bibliography
Edition:
Jalabert, L., Mouterde, R. (eds.), Les inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 3/2: Antioche (suite). Antiochène: nos. 989-1242 (BAH 51, Paris: P. Geuthner, 1953), no. 1242/10.
Downey, G., “Greek and Latin inscriptions”, in: R. Stillwell and others (eds.), Antioch-on-the-Orontes, vol. 3: The excavations 1937-1939 (Princeton: Princeton Univeristy Press, 1941), 97, no. 176.
