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E02252: Greek inscription for a church (naos) dedicated to *Leontios (probably the martyr of Tripolis, Phoenicia, S00216), built by a father and son. Found at Dūr/ancient Doroa, to the north of Bostra (Roman province of Arabia). Dated 565/566.

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posted on 2017-01-16, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

+ Ουαρος <Κ>υρίλ<λ>ου <κ>α<ὶ Κ>ύ<ρι>λλο<ς> αὐτοῦ υἱό<ς> ἐ{ι}ξ ἰ{ο}-
δίων κόπων ἔκτισαν τὸν ν<α>ὸν τ[ο]ῦ
ἁγίου Λεοντίου ἐν ἔτι υξ΄, ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος) [- - -]

1. ΟΥΑΡΟCΒΥΡΛΔΟΥΝΑΗΒΥΝΛΛΟΙ.ΑΥΤΟΥΥΙΟΥΕΙΞΙΟ Wetzstein's copy || 2. - ΝΛΟΝΤ - Υ Wetzstein's copy

'+ Ouaros/Varus, son of Kyrillos, and Kyrillos, his son, built the church (naos) of Saint Leontios from their own (funds). In the year 460, [- - -] indiction.'

Text: IGLS 13/2, no. 9851. Translation: P. Nowakowski.

History

Evidence ID

E02252

Saint Name

Leontios, martyr in Tripolis (Syria), ob. c. 303-312 : S00216

Saint Name in Source

Λεόντιος

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Leontios_martyr_of_Tripolis_Phoenicia_/13729696

Type of Evidence

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

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

565

Evidence not after

566

Activity not before

565

Activity not after

566

Place of Evidence - Region

Arabia Arabia

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Bosra Dūr/Doroa

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

Bosra Sakkaia / Maximianopolis Σακκαια Sakkaia Saccaea Eaccaea Maximianopolis Shaqqa Schaqqa Shakka Dūr/Doroa Sakkaia / Maximianopolis Σακκαια Sakkaia Saccaea Eaccaea Maximianopolis Shaqqa Schaqqa Shakka

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Construction of cult buildings

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Children Other lay individuals/ people

Source

Long stone lintel. Very worn face. Dimensions unknown. There is no published description. Now lost. Seen above the doorway of a house (apparently reused) by Johann Gottfried Wetzstein, the Prussian consul in Damascus and Orientalist, and published by him in 1863/1864. Later surveyors did not find the stone. The editions by William Waddington, and by Maurice Sartre and Annie Sartre-Fauriat, are based on the earlier copy.

Discussion

The inscription commemorates the construction of a church dedicated to Saint Leontios. This is presumably the same saint who was venerated together with *Sergios and *Bakchos in nearby Bostra (which was the metropolitan bishopric of the region, see: E02234). It is supposed that this Leontios was a soldier, reportedly martyred in Tripolis in the 2nd c. under the emperor Hadrian. The church was built by a father and son. They are otherwise unattested. Dating: the inscription is dated to the 460th year of the era of the province of Arabia, which corresponds to AD 565/566. The indiction year is lost, but given the era year date it can be restored as the 13th or 14th indiction year.

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. 9851. Waddington, W.H., Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie (Paris: Firmin Didot Frères, Libraires-Éditeurs, 1870), no. 2412p. Wetzstein, J.G., "Ausgewählte griechische und latinische Inschriften, gesammelt auf Reisen in den Trachonen und um das Haurangebirge", Philologische und Historische Abhandlungen des königlischen Akademie des Wissenschaften zu Berlin (1863) [1864], 294, no. 103.