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E04564: Greek inscription commemorating the construction of an unnamed martyr shrine (martyrion). Found at Jubata El-Hashab in the Golan Heights (north Bashan), to the north of Quneitra (Roman province of Phoenicia). Probably 5th-6th c.

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posted on 2018-01-09, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski
Text in majuscules, as published by Asher Ovadiah:

[.]ΕΚΤΙCΘΗΤΟ (ΜΡ) Α (ΧΡ) ΧΟΒΟΗΘΗΤΙ ΤΟΥ[- - -]
[. .]CΑΛΟ ΒΟΗΘΕΟ ΤΕΚΝΑ ΜΑΡΚΕΛ[- - -]

Ovadiah's interpretation:

[+] ἐκτίσθη τὸ μαρ(τύριον). Χρ(ιστὲ) Χ(ριστ)ό(νυμε) βοήθητι τοῦ [δούλου σου]
[Ἀβ]σάλο(μ) βοήθεο τέκνα Μαρκέλ[λου +]

'[+] The martyr shrine (martyrion) was built. Jesus Christonymos, help [Thy servant] Absalom! Help the children of Markellos!'

Text and translation (lightly adapted): Ovadiah 1976, no. 11.

History

Evidence ID

E04564

Saint Name

Martyrs, unnamed or name lost : S00060

Related Saint Records

Type of Evidence

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

Language

  • Greek

Evidence not before

400

Evidence not after

600

Activity not before

400

Activity not after

600

Place of Evidence - Region

Syria with Phoenicia Syria with Phoenicia

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Quneitra Jubata El-Hashab

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

Quneitra Thabbora Thabbora Jubata El-Hashab Thabbora Thabbora

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Other lay individuals/ people Children

Source

Basalt lintel. There is no published description. When recorded, it was reused in a house in the north sector of the village of Jubata El-Hashab. Found during a survey conducted by the Society of Archaeological Survey in Israel in November and December 1973. First published by Asher Ovadiah in 1976, from a 'blurred photograph'.

Discussion

The editor had access to a photograph of very poor quality. Therefore, his readings need not be correct, and, indeed, his interpretation of line 1 seems strange. The beginning of the line, commemorating the construction of a martyr shrine (with the term martyrion written as a popular monogram ΜΡ) is plausible, but the invocation of Jesus as the 'Christonymos'/'Bearer of the name Christ', is at least doubtful. Ovadiah supposes that line 2 records the name of the founder, a certain Absalom, and a request for help for the children of one Markellos, interpreted as co-founders by Ovadiah. The name Absalom is, however, very rare among Christians. Dating: The inscription contains no dating formula, but this kind of dedicatory lintel is characteristic of the 5th and 6th c. (Ovadiah places it in the 6th c.).

Bibliography

Edition: Ovadiah, A., "Greek inscriptions from the northern Bashan", Liber Annuus 26 (1976), no. 11. Reference works: Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 28, 1347.

Usage metrics

    Evidence - The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

    Categories

    Keywords

    S00060History

    Licence

    CC0

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