Evidence ID
E02236Saint Name
Unnamed martyrs (or name lost) : S00060Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Evidence not before
500Evidence not after
600Activity not before
500Activity not after
600Place of Evidence - Region
ArabiaPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
BosraPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Bosra
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
ShakkaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Other lay individuals/ peopleSource
A complete basalt block, with ornaments in the upper corners. H. 0.43 m; W. 0.705 m; Th. 0.24 m. Letter height 0.03-0.04 m. The inscription is scarcely legible.
The stone was first recorded by Maurice Sartre in the 1970s, during his surveys of Bostra, in a storage room of the citadel. The original find-spot is unknown. First published by Sartre in 1982, with a photograph.Discussion
As the inscription is poorly preserved, its precise nature is not clear. The restorations of lines 1-3, suggested by Maurice Sartre, are hypothetical, but the text might indeed refer to a dedication to some 'holy martyrs', for example, from a certain Prokopios, or to the construction of a martyr shrine under a bishop named Prokopios, etc.
The names of these martyrs, if they were ever mentioned, are now lost. They could have been Sergios, Bakchos, and/or Leontios: the primary martyrs to whom the cathedral church of Bostra was dedicated in 512/513 (see: E02234). Our inscription is also likely to date to the 6th c.Bibliography
Edition:
Sartre, M. (ed.), Les inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 13/1: Bostra: nos. 9001 à 9472 (BAH 13, Paris: Librairie orientaliste P. Geuthner, 1982), no. 9043.
