Greek epigram, by the medical scholar Senekas, composed to be inscribed on the book of the Miracles of *Kyros and Ioannes (Cyrus and John) (physician and soldier, martyrs of Egypt, S00406) by Sophronius of Jerusalem (written in c. 610). Recorded in the 10th c. Greek Anthology.
Evidence ID
E00563
Type of Evidence
Literary - Poems
Major author/Major anonymous work
Greek Anthology
Greek Anthology, Book 1 (Christian Epigrams), 90
ΣΕΝΕΚΑ ΙΑΤΡΟΣΟΦΙΣΤΟΥ
εἰς Κῦρον καὶ Ἰωάννην
Κύρῳ, ἀκεστορίης πανυπέρτατα μέτρα λαχόντι,
καὐτῷ Ἰωάννῃ, μάρτυσι θεσπεσίοις,
Σωφρόνιος, βλεφάρων ψυχαλγέα νοῦσον ἀλύξας,
βαιὸν ἀμειβόμενος τήνδ᾽ ἀνέθηκε βίβλον.
'Senekas the professor of medicine
On Cyrus and John
To the excellent martyrs Kyros, possessor of unsurpassable means in the art of healing, and also to John, Sophronios dedicated this book, as a small recompense for his escape from a distressing disease of the eyes.'
Text and Translation: Paton and Tueller 2014; translation modified.
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
MiraclesHealing diseases and disabilities
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesPhysicians
Cult Related Objects
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Visiting graves and shrines
MiraclesHealing diseases and disabilities
Miracle after death
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesPhysicians
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Cult Related ObjectsEx-votos
Source
The Greek Anthology is a collection of Greek epigrams from dating from the Archaic period to the 9th century AD. It was initially compiled by Meleager of Megara (100-90 BC), whose collection was edited and expanded by Philip of Thessalonica (under Nero), Agathias of Myrina (AD 567/8) and finally by Konstantinos Kephalas (c. AD 900).The word epigram literally means an inscription. Although most Greek inscriptions were in prose, the word came to be specifically connected to those written in verse, and eventually to include poetic texts which were not necessarily inscribed. From the earliest period of Greek literature, epigrams were mostly sepulchral or dedicatory: they either memorialised the dead or marked the dedication of an object to a god.
Book 1 of the Greek Anthology contains Christian epigrams from Late Antiquity to the 9th century. It was compiled c. 880-900, containing a considerable number of poems copied directly from monuments. The scholar responsible for the transcriptions may have been Gregorios Magistros, a colleague of Kephalas. Epigrams 1-17 and possibly others were taken down from inscriptions at Constantinople and two of them, namely No. 1 (inscription from the bema arch of St. Sophia) and No. 10 (inscription from the church of St. Polyeuktos) have been found in situ, thus confirming the accuracy of the entries in the Anthology.
Discussion
This epigram was probably written as a dedicatory colophon on a book containing the Miracles of Kyros and Iōannēs (Cyrus and John) by Sophronius of Jerusalem (see $E###). During his stay in Alexandria, in the company of John Moschos in c. AD 580, Sophronius was afflicted by blindness and was cured after a visit to the shrine of Kyros and Iōannēs in Menuthis. In c. 610, he composed and dedicated the book of miracles as a votive offering for his own cure. The identity of the composer of the epigram, Senekas the iatrosophistēs (‘medical scholar’), and its precise date are unknown.Bibliography
Edition and Translation:Paton, W.R., rev. Tueller, M.A., The Greek Anthology, Books 1-5, 2nd ed. (Loeb Classical Library; London, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2014).
Other editions:
Beckby, H., Anthologia Graeca (Munich: Ernst Heimeran Verlag, 1957).
Conca, F., Marzi, M., and Zanetto, G., Antologia Palatina. 3 vols. Vol. 1 (Classici Greci; Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 2005).
Waltz, P., Anthologie Grecque (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1928).
Further reading on the Greek Anthology:
Cameron, A., The Greek Anthology: From Meleager to Planudes (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993).
Record Created By
Efthymios Rizos
Date of Entry
17/08/2015
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00406 | Kyros and Ioannes/Cyrus and John, physician and soldier, martyrs of Egypt | Κύρος, Ἰωάννης | Certain |
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