E02245: Greek inscription commemorating the construction of a martyr shrine (martyrion) of *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, S00023) from communal funds. Found at Rakham, to the northwest of Bostra (Roman province of Arabia). Dated 517.
'This holy martyr shrine (martyrion) of Saint Sergios was built from the communal (fund?), in the month of Gorpiaios, 11th indiction, the year 412 of the province.'
Text: IGLS 13/2, no. 9837. Translation: P. Nowakowski.
Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Construction of cult buildings
Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Peasants
Source
Probably a complete stone block. Dimensions unknown. Now lost. The inscription was probably within a frame.
Seen and copied by Maurice Dunand and published by him with a drawing in 1939. In 2011 republished by Maurice Sartre and Annie Sartre-Fauriat, based on the earlier edition.
Discussion
The inscription commemorates the construction of a martyr shrine of Sergios, a popular soldier martyr originally venerated in Rusafa. It is not clear whether this shrine was an independent structure or a chapel. Interestingly, the construction was funded by a community and not by a single donor (or a number of donors enumerated by name).
Dating: the inscription is dated according to the era of the province of Arabia. Its year 412, together with the 11th indictional year and the month of Gorpiaios correspond to a very narrow period: 1st - 17th September AD 517.
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. 9837.
Dunand, M., "Nouvelles inscriptions du Djebel Druze et du Hauran", Mélanges syriens offerts à monsieur René Dussaud: secrétaire perpétuel de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, par ses amis et ses élèves (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1939), 571, no. 290.
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (1940), 189.