Evidence ID
E02240Saint Name
John the Baptist : S00020
John the Evangelist : S00042
Mary, Mother of Christ : S00033Saint Name in Source
Ἰωάννης
Ἰωάννης
ΜαρίαType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Language
GreekEvidence not before
450Evidence not after
800Activity not before
450Activity not after
800Place of Evidence - Region
Arabia
ArabiaPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Bosra
Muṭā'iyyehPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Bosra
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
Shakka
Muṭā'iyyeh
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
ShakkaCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocationSource
Stone lintel, decorated with two carvings of crosses within circles. H. 0.26 m; W. 1.56 m. Letter height 0.065-0.095 m. Now lost.
First seen and copied in 1901 by René Dussaud and Frédéric Macler during their survey in south Syria, and published by them with a drawing in their report in 1902. When revisited by the Princeton Archaeological Expedition to Syria, it was set in an ancient house near Church 3, 'on the north side of the courtyard and east of the entrance.' Enno Littmann commented that the stone was probably in situ. Maurice Sartre and Annie Sartre-Fauriat did not record it during their survey of the region.Discussion
The inscription was edited without comments by René Dussaud and Frédéric Macler. Enno Littmann plausibly identified it as an apotropaic (protective) inscription set over a doorway of a private house. Its actual contents are unclear – it might refer to a certain Ioannes – an architect, owner of the house, or Saint John invoked as a protector. The second part mentions either 'justice' (dike) and Christ's help, or the Virgin Mary and Christ. The latter possibility was hypothetically suggested by Littmann, as the actual reading of the passage is not dubious (see the apparatus). The Sartres considered this interpretation as tempting, though requiring significant emendations. Pierre-Louis Gatier suggests that the inscription might mention an ekdikos (a representative of a church).
Dating: The inscription, as most dated texts from the region, probably comes from the 5th or 6th c.Bibliography
Edition:
Sartre, M., Sartre-Fauriat, A. (eds.), Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 13/2: Bostra (Supplément) et la plaine de la Nuqrah (BAH 194, Beirut: Institut français du Proche-Orient, 2011), no. 9644.
Littmann, E., Magie, D., Stuart, D.R., (eds.), Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904-5 and 1909, Division III: Greek and Latin Inscriptions, Section A: Southern Syria (Leiden: Brill, 1921), 53, no. 39.
Dussaud, R., Macler, F., "Rapport sur une mission scientifique dans les régions désertiques de la Syrie moyenne", Nouvelles archives des missions scientifiques et littéraires 10 (1902), 688, no. 143.