Greek graffito with an invocation of the God of *George (soldier and martyr, S00259), asking Him to rouse the spirits of a (? circus) faction. Found in Ephesos (western Asia Minor). Probably late antique (5th-6th c.).
Evidence ID
E00790
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Graffiti
ὁ θεὸς Γιοργίου
ἀνέγιρον τὸ
μέρος το̣ν ὖδες
3. το̣ν = τὸ (= ὃ) or τῶν Roueché
'The God of George, rouse the spirits of the faction you know!'
Text: Roueché 2007.
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOther lay individuals/ people
Prayer/supplication/invocation
Saint as patron - of a community
Cultic confraternities
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOther lay individuals/ people
Crowds
Source
Graffito scratched on the statue base edited in I. Ephesos 526, found in Ephesos (western Asia Minor), on the Embolos street.Discussion
The graffito offers us an invocation of the God of the martyr *George. He is asked to support one of the factions, presumably a circus faction (literally 'to rouse their spirits'). This kind of invocation cannot be dated with any certainty, but must be late antique since provincial circus factions disappear in the seventh century. There is a very similar inscription, this time invoking the God of the *Archangels, from the area of Kibyra in Caria, western Asia Minor (see E00844). Alan Cameron argues, unconvincingly, for a dating of this second inscription to the reign of Phocas (602-610).Bibliography
Edition:Roueché, Ch., "Interpreting the signs: anonymity and concealment in Late Antique inscriptions", in: H. Amirav, B. ter Haar Romeny (eds.), From Rome to Constantinople. Studies in Honour of Averil Cameron (Leuven; Dudley, MA: Peeters, 2007), 221-234.
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (2009), 619.
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 57, 1119; 58, 1330.
For similar invocations see:
Cameron, Al., Circus Factions. Blues and Greens at Rome and Byzantium (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), 2, 148-149.
Record Created By
Pawel Nowakowski
Date of Entry
16/10/2015
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00259 | George, soldier and martyr, and Companions | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Pawel Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E00790 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00790