E02084: Fragmentary Greek inscription on a lintel, mentioning *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, 00023). Found at Umm al-Quṭṭein, to the southeast of Bostra (Roman province of Arabia). Probably late 5th or 6th c.

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posted on 2016-12-07, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

[- - -] ἁγίου + Σεργίου + [- - -]

'[- - -] of Saint + Sergios + [- - -]'

Text: I. Jordanie 5/1, no. 698.

History

Evidence ID

E02084

Saint Name

Sergios, martyr in Syria, ob. 303-311 : S00023

Saint Name in Source

Σέργιος

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Sergios_soldier_and_martyr_of_Rusafa/13729165

Image Caption 1

Drawing by M. Sartre. From: I. Jordanie 5/1, 319.

Type of Evidence

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

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

450

Evidence not after

600

Activity not before

450

Activity not after

600

Place of Evidence - Region

Arabia Arabia

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Bosra Umm al-Quṭṭein

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

Bosra Sakkaia / Maximianopolis Σακκαια Sakkaia Saccaea Eaccaea Maximianopolis Shaqqa Schaqqa Shakka Umm al-Quṭṭein Sakkaia / Maximianopolis Σακκαια Sakkaia Saccaea Eaccaea Maximianopolis Shaqqa Schaqqa Shakka

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Source

Stone lintel over the doorway of a house in the north sector of the village. There is no published description. Seen and copied by Maurice Sartre. Now lost. A preliminary transcription was published by Annie Sartre-Fauriat in 2000. The proper first edition, by Nabil Bader, followed in 2009.

Discussion

When recorded, the inscription was very fragmentarily preserved, and the name of Saint Sergios was its only element left. Since the stone seems to have been a lintel, and the name of the saint is in the genitive case, we can suppose that the text referred to a church dedicated to the saint (i.e. 'Church of Saint Sergios'); or perhaps the God of Saint Sergios was invoked here (for similar invocations in the territory of Bostra, see E02078; E02079; E02083). There is no reliable way to date this inscription, but references to the cult of Saint Sergios appear in dated inscriptions in our region only in the late 5th and 6th c.

Bibliography

Edition: Bader, N. (ed.), Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 21: Inscriptions de la Jordanie, part 5: La Jordanie du Nord-Est, fasc. 1(Beirut: Institut français du Proche-Orient, 2009), no. 698. Further reading: 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), 304. Reference works: Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 50, 1518; 50, 1544.

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Keywords

S00023 History

Licence

CC0

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