E01894: Syriac inscription followed by the name 'Maria' in Greek letters, possibly referring to a monastery dedicated to *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033). Found at Ḥalbān near Apamea on the Orontes (central Syria). Probably 5th-7th c.

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posted on 2016-10-05, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

ܘܕܝܪܐ (or: ܗܕܝܪܐ) Μαρία +

'and the monastery' (or: 'the glorious one') (?). 'Mary. +'

Text: Littmann 1934, no. 1 (Syriac) + IGLS 4, no. 1899 (Greek). Translation: E. Littmann.

History

Evidence ID

E01894

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

Image Caption 1

Drawing. From: Littmann 1934, 1.

Image Caption 2

Drawing. From: Prentice 1922, 30.

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

400

Evidence not after

750

Activity not before

400

Activity not after

750

Place of Evidence - Region

Syria with Phoenicia Syria with Phoenicia

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Apamea on the Orontes Ḥalbān/Kome Olbanon

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

Apamea on the Orontes Thabbora Thabbora Ḥalbān/Kome Olbanon Thabbora Thabbora

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Places Named after Saint

Monastery

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Construction of cult buildings

Source

Fragment of an architrave, broken and lost at the right-hand end. H. 0.18 m; W. 1 m. Possibly conjoining with the inscribed architrave fragments bearing a Greek inscription (letter height 0.08 m), published in IGLS 4 under no. 1898. When recorded by the Princeton Archaeological Expedition to Syria, the stone was reused in an inner room of a modern house, over a blocked window or door. The Greek text was published in 1922 by William Prentice (with a drawing), the Syriac in 1934 by Enno Littman. The Greek passage was republished in 1955 by René Mouterde, based on the earlier edition.

Discussion

The inscription may have indicated the site of a monastery dedicated to Mary, as, according to Littmann, the Syriac text probably reads ܘܕܝܪܐ ('and the monastery, convent'). The other possibility is, however, that the Syriac word is an epithet of Mary, perhaps ܗܕܝܪܐ ('the glorious one'). According to Butler, the present fragment and several other reportedly conjoining inscribed slabs came from an architrave which presumably lay over the colonnade of a monastic court. The inscription on the possibly conjoining fragments is probably an independent text which reads approximately as: + ἰδία τῆς τ(οῦ) θ(εο)ῦ εἰς τ[ὴ]ν κώμιν ἠφιμί<α>ς δ<ήλω>σ<ι>ς/'+ A singular sign (?) of God's benevolence for the village.' Littmann was sceptical about Butler's idea, and he himself seems to have favoured the reading ܗܕܝܪܐ ('the glorious one'). He also rightly noted that the Syriac inscription is written upside down, which makes it less likely to be an element of the Greek inscription(s).

Bibliography

Edition: Greek text: Jalabert, L., Mouterde, R., Mondésert, Cl., Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 4: Laodicée, Apamène (BAH 61, Paris: Librairie orientalise Paul Geuthner, 1955), no. 1899. Prentice, W.K. (ed.), Publications of the Princeton University of archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904-1905 and 1909, Division III: Greek and Latin Inscriptions, Section B: Northern Syria (Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1922), 29, no. 880. Syriac text: Littmann, E., Publications of the Princeton University of archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904-1905 and 1909, Division IV: Syriac Inscriptions, Section B: Northern Syria (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1934), no. 1. Further reading: Peña, I., Lieux de pèlerinage en Syrie (Milan: Franciscan Printing Press, 2000), 13.