Fragmentary Greek inscription on a lintel, with an invocation of *John the Apostle and Evangelist (S00042) asked to help a steward/oikonomos Isidoros. In the Museum of Izmir; said to be from Ephesos (western Asia Minor). Possibly 5th/7th c. according to the first edition, but most likely dating from the 10th or 11th c.
Evidence ID
E00793
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
+ Θεολόγε βοήθει Ἰσηδώρῳ οἰκονόμῳ Ι[- - -]
1. οἰκονόμῳ [- - -] Orlandos, οἰκονόμῳ Ἰ[ωάννου] Grégoire
'+ O Theologian, help Isidoros, the steward/oikonomos (of a sanctuary?) of J[- - -].'
Text: IGC, no. 85.
Cult PlacesEcclesiastics – unspecified
Cult building - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics – unspecified
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Source
Inscription on a lintel, seen in the Museum of Izmir by Anastasios Orlandos before 1937 and said to have been brought there from Ephesos.Discussion
The inscription is an invocation of *John the Evangelist by an otherwise unattested ecclesiastical steward, Isidoros. Henri Grégoire hypothesises that he served in a monastery of *John the Baptist but this supposition is based only on the occurrence of an iota after the word oikonomos (which was not noted by Orlandos, the first editor of the inscription). In fact, there is no way to identify Isidoros' sanctuary.Dating: This kind of invocation is usually dated to the 5th or later centuries. Another terminus post quem may be the council of Chalcedon (451) as one of its canons states that a steward (oikonomos) must be appointed in every church. Orlandos ascribed it to the 6th c. The stone was recently revisited and re-examined by Georgios Pallis (2016, 391 note 11) who dates it to the 10th or 11th c., based on the style of the decorations.
Bibliography
Edition:Grégoire, H. (ed.), Recueil des inscriptions grecques chrétiennes d'Asie Mineure, vol. 1 (Paris: Leroux, 1922), no. 85.
Orlandos, A.K., "Χριστιανικὰ γλυπτὰ τοῦ Μουσείου Σμύρνης’, Ἀρχεῖον τῶν βυζαντινῶν μνημείων τῆς Ἑλλάδος", 3 (1937), 133-134.
Further Reading:
Halkin, F., "Inscriptions grecques relatives à l'hagiographie, IX, Asie Mineure", Analecta Bollandiana 71 (1953), 78.
Pallis, G., "Τhe “speaking” decoration: Inscriptions on architectural sculptures of the middle Byznatine church", in: Stavrakos, Ch. (ed.), Inscriptions in the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine History and History of Art. Proceedings of the International Symposium "Inscriptions: Their Contribution to the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine History and History of Art" (Ioannina, June 26-27, 2015) (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag in Kommission, 2016), 391 note 11.
Record Created By
Pawel Nowakowski
Date of Entry
17/10/2015
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00020 | John the Baptist | Ἰωάννης | Uncertain | S00042 | John, the Apostle and Evangelist | Θεολόγος | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Pawel Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E00793 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00793