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E02244: Greek inscription with an invocation of *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033). Found at Ta'leh, to the north of Bostra (Roman province of Arabia). Probably late antique.

online resource

posted on 2017-01-12, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

ἁγία Μαρ[ία μ]νήσ-
θηθι Ομανου τοῦ
ἀπ[ὸ δ]ομεστίκων

1-2. μ]νήσ|θηθι Bankes' copy, μ]νήσ|θητι Sartre

'O Holy Mary, remember Omanos, former domestikos!'

IGLS 13/2, no. 9826.

History

Evidence ID

E02244

Saint Name

Mary, Mother of Christ : S00033

Saint Name in Source

Μαρία

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Mary_Mother_of_Christ/13729186

Type of Evidence

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

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

450

Evidence not after

800

Activity not before

450

Activity not after

800

Place of Evidence - Region

Arabia Arabia

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Bosra Ta'leh

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

Bosra Sakkaia / Maximianopolis Σακκαια Sakkaia Saccaea Eaccaea Maximianopolis Shaqqa Schaqqa Shakka Ta'leh Sakkaia / Maximianopolis Σακκαια Sakkaia Saccaea Eaccaea Maximianopolis Shaqqa Schaqqa Shakka

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Officials Soldiers

Source

Probably a lintel, apparently complete at both ends but possibly broken on top and bottom. Dimensions unknown. Now lost. The inscription was seen and copied by William John Bankes, during his journeys in the Mediterranean between 1815 and 1820 (for his work in the Near East, see the comments in E02194). The copy remained unpublished until 2011, when it was edited by Maurice Sartre and Annie Sartre-Fauriat.

Discussion

The inscription is a simple invocation of Mary, Mother of Christ (here named the Holy Mary and not Theotokos/the God-Bearer). The supplicant is called 'domestikos'. The Sartres note that this epithet was characteristic of high-ranking officials, e.g. prefects, magistri militum, magistri officiorum, but also of provincial governors and members of the imperial guard. Consequently, they suggest that our supplicant could have been a governor of the province of Arabia, possibly of Arab origin as he bears a quite distinctive name, or a soldier in a military unit of domestici.

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. 9826.