File(s) not publicly available

E02669: Greek inscription commemorating the construction of a church (oikos) of *George (soldier and martyr, S00259). Found at 'Amra, near Bostra (Roman province of Arabia). Probably 6th-7th c.

online resource

posted on 2017-04-07, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

+ ἐκτείσθη ὁ οἶκος οὗτ-
ος τοῦ ἁγί(ου) Γεωργίου
ἐκ σπουδῆς Σεργίου πρ(εσβυτέρου)
καὶ Ζήνωνος ἀρχιδιακ(όνου)

'+ This church (oikos) of Saint George was built through the zeal of the presbyter Sergios and the archdeacon Zenon.'

Text: Waddington 1870, no. 2092.

History

Evidence ID

E02669

Saint Name

George, soldier and martyr of Diospolis, ob. c. 303 : S00259

Saint Name in Source

Γεώργιος

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/George_soldier_and_martyr_and_Companions/13729822

Type of Evidence

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

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

500

Evidence not after

700

Activity not before

500

Activity not after

700

Place of Evidence - Region

Arabia Arabia

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Bosra 'Amra

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

Bosra Sakkaia / Maximianopolis Σακκαια Sakkaia Saccaea Eaccaea Maximianopolis Shaqqa Schaqqa Shakka 'Amra 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

Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy

Source

Stone lintel reused over a doorway in a house. The inscription faced the interior of the building. The inscribed face is decorated with a carving of a cross within a circle and four bunches of grapes in four sectors around it. The text is divided into two columns flanked by two carvings of crosses within squares and lozenges with loops. There is no published description. Seen and copied by William Waddington, and published by him in 1870. Scheduled for re-edition in the sixteenth volume of Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, under no. 581.

Discussion

The inscription commemorates the construction of a church of Saint George by a presbyter and archdeacon. There is no reliable way to date the inscription precisely, but this kind of dedication is characteristic of the 6th and 7th centuries.

Bibliography

Edition: IGLS 16, no. 581 (forthcoming). Waddington, W.H., Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie (Paris: Firmin Didot Frères, Libraires-Éditeurs, 1870), no. 2092. Further reading: Sartre-Fauriat, A., "Georges, Serge, Élie et quelques autres saints connus et inédits de la province d'Arabie", in: Fr. Prévot (ed.), Romanité et cité chrétienne. Permances et mutations. Intégration et exclusion du Ier au VIe siècle. Mélanges en l'honneur d'Yvette Duval (Paris: De Boccard, 2000), 295, note 4.