E02796: Greek painted inscriptions on pottery fragments, just possibly mentioning 'alms of the God-Bearer', i.e. *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033). Found at the Nea Church at Jerusalem (Roman province of Palaestina I). 6th c. or later.

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posted on 2017-05-13, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

Fragment 1:

Yellowish-brown fragment of a jar. Dimensions not specified. The inscription is in red ink. Line 2 could include a cross. Found in the north apse of the Nea Church.

ΡΘ
[- - -]

Di Segni's interpretation:

ῥ(όγα) Θ(εοτόκου) (?) [+ (?)]

'Alms of the God-Bearer.'

Fragment 2:

Greyish-brown fragment of an amphora. The inscription is in red ink. Letter height c. 0.018 m. Other dimensions not specified. Found in front of the Nea Church.

ΡΘ
ΡΘ

Di Segni's interpretation:

ῥ(όγα) Θ(εοτόκου), ῥ(όγα) Θ(εοτόκου)

'Alms of the God-Bearer. Alms of the God-Bearer.'

Text: CIIP 1/2, no. 1047-1048. Translation: L. Di Segni, lightly adapted.

History

Evidence ID

E02796

Saint Name

Mary, Mother of Christ : S00033

Related Saint Records

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

Image Caption 1

Fragment 1. From: CIIP 1/2, 433 (courtesy of O. Gutfeld).

Image Caption 2

Fragment 2. From: CIIP 1/2, 434 (courtesy of O. Gutfeld).

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Inscribed objects Images and objects - Other portable objects (metalwork, ivory, etc.)

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

543

Evidence not after

620

Activity not before

543

Activity not after

620

Place of Evidence - Region

Palestine with Sinai

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Jerusalem

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

Jerusalem Caesarea Maritima Καισάρεια Kaisareia Caesarea Kayseri Turris Stratonis

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings

Discussion

Di Segni hypothetically interprets the inscriptions as abbreviated phrases ῥ(όγα) Θ(εοτόκου), recording 'alms of the God-Bearer' (possibly corn, flour, oil, or wine). This reasoning is solely based on the fact that the fragments were found at the Nea Church in Jerusalem, a splendid Justinianc foundation dedicated to Mary, Mother of Christ, completed in 543 (see Procopius, EXXXXXX). Although it is true that the term ῥόγα is a derivative of the Latin 'erogatio' and denotes 'largesse' in Byzantine Greek, while the verb ῥογεύω is respectively used for the expression 'to distribute alms', the expansion ῥ(όγα) Θ(εοτόκου) is extremely hypothetical. As Di Segni herself notes, the letters ΡΘ can also stand for the number 109, and refer, for example, to the transported goods. Similarly, Julien Aliquot (2014, 430) points out that further research on this kind of ostraca is badly needed, and does not accept the expansion of the letters as an abbreviated reference to alms of the church of Mary. Di Segni publishes several more pottery fragments from the site, but they bear different formulas. One of them (CIIP 1/2, nos. 1049) arguably refers to an offering (προσφορά), but the text is very fragmentary: [- - -]ΟΠΡΟΣ[- - - |- - -]ΩΝΙΝ[- - -] ([ἀπ]ὸ προσ(φορᾶς) | [Ἀντ]ωνίν[ου] (?)).

Bibliography

Edition: Cotton, H.M., Di Segni, L., Eck, W., Isaac, B., Kushnir-Stein, A., Misgav, H., Price, J.J., Yardeni, A. and others (eds.), Corpus inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae: A Multi-Lingual Corpus of the Inscriptions from Alexander to Muhammad, vol. 1, part 2: Jerusalem, nos. 705-1120 (Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2012), no. 1047, 1048. Di Segni, L., "", in: Jewish Quarter excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem, vol. 5: The Cardo (Area X) and the Nea Church (Areas D and T) Final report (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society; Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2012), 396-397, nos. 1-2. Further reading: Aliquot, J., "Inscriptions de Jérusalem romaine et Byzantine. Àpropos d'un corpus récent", Syria 91 (2014), 430. Reference works: Bulletin épigraphique (2015), 711.