Floor-mosaic with a Greek inscription invoking an unnamed *Archangel. From the narthex of a church located between Miletos and Didyma (Caria, western Asia Minor). Probably late antique (5th-7th c.).
Evidence ID
E00815
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)
ἐπὶ Νουνεχίου
πρεσβυ[τ]έρου κὲ οἰ-
[κο]νόμου ἐγέ-
[νο]ντο τὰ ἔργα.
[ἀ]ρχάνγελε σ
[- - -]
5-6. [ἀ]ρχάνγελε, σ|[ῴζε or [ἀ]ρχάνγελε, σ|[κέπε (?) rather than σ|[ὺ βοήθει] Herrmann Wiegand
'These works (or: buildings) were done under Nounechios the presbyter and steward (oikonomos). O Archangel, [- - -].'
Text: Milet VI/2, no. 966.
Cult PlacesPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Construction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
Greek mosaic floor inscription. H. 30 m; W. 0.4 m. Found in 1903 in the southern part of Miletos that remained unfortified in the Byzantine period, to the southwest of the modern village Akköy, in the narthex of the church Hagia Paraskevi, in front of the main entrance. Published by Theodore Wiegand in 1904.Discussion
The inscription commemorates the completion of floor-mosaics or the construction of unnamed buildings (τὰ ἔργα) under the presbyter and steward Nounechios. Given the character of the find-spot (narthex, at the main entrance to the church) one can suppose that this is the building inscription for the whole church or at least for the pavement of the narthex.The inscription ends with an invocation of an unnamed *Archangel. Wiegand supposed that the mentioned *Archangel was *Michael but this is uncertain, as we know that both *Michael and *Gabriel were venerated nearby in Miletos (see E00811 and E00812). Göcmen, Niewöhner, Raubo 2013, 223 suggest that the church was originally dedicated to an archangel and renamed Hagia Paraskevi in the middle Byzantine period.
Wiegand tried to reconstruct the invocation in a very unconventional way: [ἀ]ρχάνγελε, σ|[ὺ βοήθει]. The following formulas are much more probable: [ἀ]ρχάνγελε, σ|[ῴζε or [ἀ]ρχάνγελε, σ|[κέπε.
Dating: The inscription is likely to postdate the council of Chalcedon (451) as one of its canons states that a steward (oikonomos) must be appointed in every church. The building is likely to predate the troubles of the seventh century.
Bibliography
Edition:Scheibelreiter-Gail, V., Die Mosaiken Westkleinasiens. Tessellate des 2. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. bis Anfang des 7. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. (Vienna: Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut, 2011), 324, no. 96.
Scheibelreiter, V., Stifterinschriften auf Mosaiken Westkleinasiens (Tyche Supplement 5, Vienna: Holzhausen, 2006), no. 34.
Herrmann, P. (ed.), Milet. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen seit dem Jahre 1899, vol. 6: Die Inschriften von Milet, part 2 (Berlin – New York 1998), no. 966.
Grégoire, H., Recueil des inscriptions grecques chrétiennes d'Asie Mineure, vol. 1 (Paris: Leroux, 1922), no. 224(5).
Wiegand, Th., "Dritter vorläufiger Bericht über die von den Königlichen Museen begonnenen Ausgrabungen in Milet", Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (1904), 89.
Inscriptiones Chistianae Graecae database, no. 1724: http://www.epigraph.topoi.org/ica/icamainapp/inscription/show/1724
Further Reading:
Destephen, S., Prosopographie du Diocèse d'Asie (325-641) (Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire 3, Paris: Association des amis du centre d'histoire et civilisation de Byzance, 2008), s.v. Nounechios 4.
Göcmen, D., Niewöhner, P., Raubo, B., "Hagia Paraskevi", in: Niewöhner, P., "Neue spät- und nachantike Monumente von Milet und der mittelbyzantinische Zerfall des anatolischen Städtewesens", Archäologischer Anzeiger, (2013/2), 223.
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (1956), 185.
Record Created By
Pawel Nowakowski
Date of Entry
30/10/2015
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00191 | Archangels, unnamed or name lost | ἀρχάνγελος | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Pawel Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E00815 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00815