Evidence ID
E04396Saint Name
Unnamed ascetics (or name lost) : S00117Image Caption 1
Photograph. From: Puech 1988, Pl. 9.Image Caption 2
Drawing. From: Puech 1988, Pl. 10.Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Language
SyriacEvidence not before
492Evidence not after
493Activity not before
492Activity not after
493Place of Evidence - Region
Syria with PhoeniciaPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
EdessaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Edessa
Thabbora
ThabboraCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocationSource
Framed panel from a floor-mosaic, decorated with two leaves in the upper left-hand corner. Dimensions not specified. Black and red tesserae.
The inscription emerged, together with three other mosaic panels inscribed in Syriac, in the antiquities market of New York. First published by Émile Puech in 1988, from a photograph, with the permission of a private collector of antiquities.
Based on the use of the Seleucid era and the shape of letters, Puech suggests that the inscription may have come from the territory of Edessa.Discussion
The inscription was partly restored, and the reading and interpretation of several passages is, therefore, problematic. Émile Puech, the editor, presents it as commemorating the construction of a building. The structure is apparently named in line 3, where Puech reads ܡܘ[ܫ]ܠܐ which he understands as a transcription of Greek μαυσώλειον and translates as a 'funerary structure'. This is, however, an unparalleled expression, and the line may actually refer to the paving of a building with floor-mosaics, as ܡܽܘܫܶܐ is a Syriac term for 'mosaic'.
The lower parts of the panel, which are especially important to us, give a dating formula. Puech argues that in addition to the regular date expressed in the Seleucid era (804 = AD 492/493), the author of the inscription referred to the 'times of a holy miracle worker, ascetic, and priest'. Tentatively, Puech tries to connect this person (and the present inscription), with a tomb or shrine built in honour of Thaddaeus/Addai of Edessa or his disciple Aggai. This is, however, not convincing, although the inscription, if read correctly, may refer to a local holy man or bishop. Perhaps the inscription continued on a different panel where the name of the holy man was specified.Bibliography
Puech, É., "Une inscription syriaque sur mosaïque", Liber Annuus 38 (1988), 267-270.
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