File(s) not publicly available

E06298: Fragmentary Greek epitaph for a person affiliated to the Corinthian church of *John (presumably either the Baptist, S00020, or the Apostle and Evangelist, S00042), probably a reader (anagnostes). Found at Corinth (northeastern Peloponnese). Probably 6th c.

online resource

posted on 2018-09-06, 00:00 authored by Malgorzata

[- - - - - - - διαφέρ]ω̣ντα Α-
[- - - - - - - - - - - . ΚЄΝЄΥ
[- - - - - - - - - - - - . ρῳ τῷ
[- - - - - - - - - - - το]ῦ̣ ἁγίω Ἰ-
5 [ωάννου, ἀναγνώ]στου τῆς
[- - - - - - - - - - - - -σία̣[ς - -]
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]

l. 1. κοιμητήριον Kent; μνῆμα Sironen || l. 2. ὃ πέπρα]κεν Εὐ- Sironen; Νεῦ|[να Walbank, unlikely || l. 3. θυρω]ρῷ Sironen || l. 4. [πιστοτάτῳ? Sironen || l. 6. [μακαρίας Ἀναστα]σία̣[ς . . .] Kent; [ἁγιωτ(άτης) ἐκκλη]σία̣[ς Sironen.

'[Tomb?] belonging to A[- - -] (of the church) of Saint J[ohn, the reader (anagnostes)? - - -].'

Text: IG IV2 3, no. 1602.

History

Evidence ID

E06298

Saint Name

John the Baptist : S00020 John, the Apostle and Evangelist : S00042

Saint Name in Source

Ιωάννης Ιωάννης

Related Saint Records

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

500

Evidence not after

600

Activity not before

500

Activity not after

600

Place of Evidence - Region

Balkans including Greece

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Corinth

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

Corinth Drizypera Δριζύπερα Drizypera Büyük Karıştıran

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Places Named after Saint

Church

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy

Source

The upper right-hand corner of a slab of green slate. Broken on all sides, but part of the right margin is preserved. Dimensions: H. 0.168 m; W. 0.16 m; Th. (original) 0.025 m; letter height 0.013-0.024 m. Precise find-spot unknown. Now in the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth (inv. no. 2306). First published in 1966 by J. H. Kent who edited all the Corinthian inscriptions found between 1926 and 1950.

Discussion

The expression διαφέρωντα (or rather διαφέροντα) is a false neuter, common in funerary inscriptions and usually relating to μνῆμα or κοιμητήριον. The inscription could thus be an epitaph for a person affiliated to a Corinthian church of Saint John. The saint can be either the Apostle, or John the Baptist. Sironen suggests that the function of the deceased should be restored as anagnostes ('reader’), but the inscription could mention several other functions subsequently held by the deceased (for example, θυρωρός/ostiarius). Dating: Erkki Sironen dated the inscription to the 6th c., probably based on the shape of letters. The same date is given in Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae database.

Bibliography

Edition: Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae database, no. 2729: http://www.epigraph.topoi.org/ica/icamainapp/inscription/show/2729 Inscriptiones Graecae IV (2nd ed.) 3, no. 1602 and Tab. XXXI (photograph). Kent, J. H., Corinth, vol. 8, part 3: The Inscriptions, 1926-1950 (Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1966), 201, no. 666 and Pl. 56 (photograph). Further Reading: Wallbank, M.B., "Where have all the names gone? The Christian community in Corinth in the Late Roman and Early Byzantine eras," in S. Friesen, D.N. Schowalter, and J. Walters (eds.), Corinth in Context: Comparative Studies on Religion and Society (Supplements to Novum Testamentum 134, Leiden: Brill, 2010), 299 n. 23, 310 n. 193, 315 n. 250.