Evidence ID
E02170Saint Name
Tarachos, Probus, and Andronikos (martyrs of Anazarbos, Cilicia, southeastern Asia Minor, ob. c. 304) : S00710Saint Name in Source
ἈνδρονικόςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Evidence not before
450Evidence not after
800Activity not before
450Activity not after
800Place of Evidence - Region
Arabia
ArabiaPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Aere
JasemPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Aere
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
Shakka
Jasem
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
ShakkaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Bequests, donations, gifts and offeringsCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Other lay individuals/ peopleSource
Stone lintel. Broken and lost at the right-hand end and possibly at the left-hand end. Dimensions, as given by Ewing: H. 11" (= 0.2794 m), W. 4' 8" (= 1.4224 m). The inscription is written in two columns. Decorated with a carving of an Χ-shaped cross to the left of the first column and a regular Greek cross between the columns.
When recorded, the stone was reused over a doorway at the north end of a mosque. First copied by William Ewing and published by Wright and Souter with his drawing in 1895. A preliminary new edition was offered by Annie Sartre-Fauriat in 2000. The inscription is to be republished in the fourteenth volume of Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie.Discussion
This lintel stone bears a building inscription for a structure built by a certain Elias, son of Eutropios. The use of the term προσφορά/'offering' suggests that the building was a Christian sanctuary. The inscription was originally understood by the first editor, William Ewing as: 'By the offering of Elias, son of Eutropios . . . . by the care of Andronikos (?) the chapel of the martyr.' But Annie Sartre-Fauriat suggests that the name Andronikos, well visible in the drawing in line 3 of column I, is not of a supervisor of the building, but of the martyr to whom the shrine was dedicated. She suggests that this Andronikos could possibly be a member of the group of martyrs venerated in Anazarbos and Mopsuestia in Cilicia, southeast Asia Minor (E01128, cf. E01127). Although entirely hypothetical, this interpretation is very tempting, as Cilicia belonged to the Diocese of the East and had important ties with Syria and Arabia. Thus the spread of the cults of Cilician martyrs to our region would not be surprising.
Even though a martyr shrine is probably mentioned in column II, the inscription was omitted by Robert Devressee in his paper on the cult of martyrs in Arabia, probably because of the poor state of preservation of the stone.Bibliography
Edition:
Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 14 (forthcoming).
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), 312.
Wright, A.G., Souter, A. (from copies by W. Ewing), "Greek and other inscriptions collected in the Hauran", Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement 27 (1895), 45, no. 8.
Reference works:
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 50, 1518.
