Greek inscription from Anazarbos (Cilicia, south-east Asia Minor) with a poem commemorating the restoration of a picture of *Menas (probably the soldier and martyr of Abu Mena, S00073) perhaps in the apse of a local church, funded by an unnamed emperor. Probably 6th c.
Evidence ID
E00709
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
In four lines of hexameters:
+ Μηνᾶς ὑψικέλευ|θε τεὸν πολυπίδ[α]|κα μαζόν
σῶζε πο̣[ρ]|ὼν ναέτηισιν ἔχει[ν] | εὐπάρθενον ἥβη[ν]· |
δωτίναις βασιλήισι | ἔχεις πεφυλαγμέ|νον εἶδος
ἁψῖδος | στροφάλιγγι Φι|λαγριάδεσσι με|ρίμναις (ivy leaf)
Φιλαγρίου ἰν|λουστρίου (ivy leaf)
3-4. πο̣[ρ]|ὼν Halkin, Hamdi Sayar, Dagron & Marcillet-Jaubert, πα[ρ]|ὼν Merkelbach & Stauber Robert Gough
'+ Heavenly Menas, keep this multiple fountain (literally: your many-fountained breast), granting the inhabitants to have youthful vigour. Thanks to imperial largesse, your image is secured on the circle of the apse by the efforts of Philagrios. (Poem) by Philagrios, of illustris rank.'
Text: I. Anazarbos, no. 58. Trans. E. Rizos, P. Nowakowski.
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Places Named after SaintPrayer/supplication/invocation
MiraclesMiracle after death
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesAristocrats
Cult building - independent (church)
Holy spring/well/river
Cult building - secondary installation (fountain, pilgrims’ hostel)
Places Named after SaintOther
Use of ImagesCommissioning/producing an image
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
MiraclesMiracle after death
Power over elements (fire, earthquakes, floods, weather)
Healing diseases and disabilities
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesAristocrats
Monarchs and their family
Other lay individuals/ people
Source
The inscription was reused in the masonry of the northern gate entrance in Anavarza. H. 1.40 m; W. 0.63 m; letter height 0.06 – 0.048 m.Discussion
The poem commemorates the renovation of a picture of a certain Menas, probably in the apse of a local church. If it refers to the rock-cut church in the upper city, it can be dated to the period after 516 when the church was founded. Another explanation is that the picture was located in a large building with a fountain providing water for the town (see Gough 1952, 133-134). Though the mentioned Menas is not called ἅγιος/'saint', it is rather unlikely that he is the Anatolian deity Men, as the inscription is Christian (it begins with a cross). Michael Gough, Reinhold Merkelbach and Josef Stauber identified this Menas as the famous Egyptian martyr, though a homonymous local victim of persecutions may also be in question.The renovation was funded by an unnamed emperor and supervised by a certain Philagrios of illustris rank. Philagrios might be the same person who constructed a stoa in Keramos (PLRE 2, Philagrius 4; for the building inscription see: SGO 01/10/02; I. Keramos 66; Varınlıoğlu, E., “The missing fragment of I.K. 30 (Keramos), no. 66”, Epigraphica Anatolica 25 (1995), 93-94; Lebek, W.D., “Dichterisches über den Menschenfreund Philagrios aus Kermaos (I.K. 30, 66)”, Epigraphica Anatolica 27 (1996), 151-156; but contra CEByz, 533).
The reference to the "many-fountained breast of Menas" is by no means unambiguous but may be to a local rounded crag with a spring providing fresh water (see Gough 1952, 133).
Bibliography
Edition:I. Anazarbos 58
Steinepigramme aus dem griechischen Osten, no. 19/17/05
Dagron, G., Marcillet-Jaubert, J., “Inscriptions de Cilicie et d'Isaurie”, Belleten Türk Tarih Kurumu 42 (1978), 379
Gough M., “Anazarbus”, Anatolian Studies 2 (1952), no. 4a
PLRE 2, Philagrius 4.
Further Reading:
Destephen, S., "Martyrs locaux et cultes civiques en Asie Mineure", in: J.C. Caillet, S. Destephen, B. Dumézil, H. Inglebert, Des dieux civiques aux saints patrons (IVe-VIIe siècle) (Paris: éditions A. & J. Picard, 2015), 107.
Halkin, F., “Inscriptions grecques relatives à l'hagiographie, IX, Asie Mineure”, Analecta Bollandiana 71 (1953), 346-347
Halkin, F., “L'inscription métrique d'Anazarbe en l'honneur de Saint Ménas”, Byzantion 23 (1953), 239-243
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (1954), 238.
Chroniques d'épigraphie byzantine, 533
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 12, 545a
Record Created By
Pawel Nowakowski
Date of Entry
22/09/2015
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00073 | Menas, soldier and martyr buried at Abu Mena | Μηνᾶς | Uncertain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Pawel Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E00709 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00709