Evidence ID
E02044Saint Name
Menas, soldier and martyr Abu Mena : S00073Saint Name in Source
ΜηνᾶςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)Language
GreekEvidence not before
635Evidence not after
635Activity not before
635Activity not after
635Place of Evidence - Region
Arabia
Arabia
ArabiaPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Gerasa/Jerash
Riḥāb
BosraPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Gerasa/Jerash
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
Shakka
Riḥāb
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
Shakka
Bosra
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
ShakkaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocationCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Other lay individuals/ people
Women
ChildrenSource
Framed mosaic panel. H. 0.71-0.725 m; W. 2.56 m. The frame consists of three bands: the inner one is white and red, and the upper and lower ones are simply red. Red letters on white background. Letter height 0.075-0.09 m.
The church with its mosaics was discovered in 1958 on the north outskirts of the town and published by Ute Lux and Siegfried Mittmann in 1967. It is a small three-aisled basilica (15.20 x 5.75 m) with an apse flanked by two 'sacristies'. Our inscription was situated on the border between the nave and the north aisle, next to the choir, between two columns. The mosaic was republished in 1981 by Michele Piccirillo, and in 2000 by Marie Sartre-Fauriat, based on the original edition.Discussion
The inscription commemorates three phases of the construction of the church where it was found: its foundation, paving, and completion (probably followed by its dedication). It also records that the church was funded as a vow by a local aristocratic family.
Line 2 says that the church (naos) was dedicated to Saint Menas, presumably the martyr widely venerated in Egypt (especially in his major sanctuary in Abu Mena near Alexandria) and in Jerusalem. The first editor, Siegfried Mittmann supposed that another shrine (a martyrion) was mentioned in line 4, being probably a memorial of a local notable, Prokopios. However, Mittmann misunderstood the expression Προκοπίου Μαρτυρίου. The word Μαρτυρίου is not a designation of a church, but the name of Prokopios' father: Martyrios (as rightly pointed out by Michele Piccirillo).
The date, given at the end of the inscription, is computed according to the era of the province of Arabia. Its year 529, together with the eighth indiction year and the month of March, correspond to 1-21 March 635. The inscription is thus important for the chronology of the metropolitan bishops of nearby Bostra, as one of them, Theodoros, is mentioned in line 3. It is supposed that the same person occurs in a number of dedicatory inscriptions from nearby towns, and their approximate date is usually established based on our text. Piccirillo notes that the date falls in the period when the region had recently been recovered from the Persian occupation.Bibliography
Edition:
Piccirillo, M., Chiese e mosaici della Giordania settentrionale (Jerusalem: Franciscan Print. Press, 1981), 76-77.
Mittmann, S., "Die Mosaikinschrift der Menas-Kirche in Rihab", Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 83 (1967), 42-45.
Lux, U., "Der Mosaikfussboden der Menas-Kirche in Rihab", Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 83 (1967), 34-41.
Further reading:
Michel, A., Les églises d'époque byzantine et umayyade de Jordanie (provinces d'Arabie et de Palestine), Ve-VIIIe siècle: typologie architecturale et aménagements liturgiques (avec catalogue des monuments; préface de Noël Duval; premessa di Michele Piccirillo) (Bibliothèque de l'Antiquité tardive 2, Turnhout: Brepols, 2001), 217, no. 77.
Piccirillo, M., "Les antiquités de Riḥāb des Benê Ḥasan", Revue Biblique 88 (1981), 64-65.
Piccirillo, M., "Aggiornamento delle liste episcopali delle diocesi in territoria transgiordanico", Liber Annuus 55 (2005), 387.
Sartre-Fauriat, A., "Georges, Serge, Élie et quelques autres saints connus et inédits de la province d'Arabie", in: Fr. Prévot (ed.), Romanité et cité chrétienne. Permances et mutations. Intégration et exclusion du Ier au VIe siècle. Mélanges en l'honneur d'Yvette Duval (Paris: De Boccard, 2000), 311.
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (1982), 465.
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 30, 1711-1716; 50, 1518.