Greek inscription with an invocation of the God of *Archangels, asked to help a village and the Greens - 'the only orthodox faction'. Found probably near Kibyra (Caria, western Asia Minor). Perhaps 5th or 6th c.
Evidence ID
E00844
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
ὁ θεὸς τõν ἀρχαγέλον
σύνπ[ρ]αξον τοὺς τῆ[ς]
κούμης μου πᾶσην
καὶ Πρασίνον τõν [ὀρ-]
θωδόξον +
1. τõν =τῶν || ἀρχαγέλον = ἀρχαγγέλων || 2. σύνπ[ρ]αξον = σύμπ[ρ]αξον || τοὺς = τοῖς || 3. κούμης = κώμης || πᾶσην = πᾶσιν || 4. Πρασίνον = Πρασίνων || 3-4. 3-4. πᾶσ<ι> ν[ῖ]|και Πρασίνον less probable reconstruction by Ramsay || 4-5. [ὀρ]|θωδόξον = [ὀρ]|θωδόξων
'The God of the archangels, help all the inhabitants of my village and the orthodox Greens! +'
Text: IGC, no. 311. Translation: Al. Cameron.
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesPeasants
Prayer/supplication/invocation
Saint as patron - of a community
Cultic confraternities
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesPeasants
Other lay individuals/ people
Heretics
Source
Probably a slab. There is no detailed description of the stone.Precise find-spot unknown, perhaps Koça Yaka near Kibyra (Caria, west Asia Minor). Found by Ramsay in front of a mosque in “Büyük Yaka”. Henri Grégoire ascribed this village to the province of Pamphylia, but he was also wondering whether it could belong to the province of Phrygia or Caria. Louis Robert (see Robert 1955, 234) pointed out that according to Ramsay's itinerary the village should lie between Kibyra and Lake Burdur. He guessed the village could be identical with the modern Koça Yaka.
Discussion
There have been two major attempts to date this inscription but, unfortunately, both are unconvincing. Henri Grégoire wondered whether the inscription was created after the deposition of the emperor Maurice (602) who had been called a Marcionist (i.e. a heretic) by the Greens. But the only argument he brought forward was that the faction claimed to be the orthodox one and an orthodox faction is mentioned in the inscription. This reasoning is, of course, unsound, as every dogmatic persuasion was convinced of its own orthodoxy. Alan Cameron preferred to date this text to a period when the Greens were in danger (and therefore sought for God's help), for example during the persecution of the Greens under the emperor Phocas. However, such a request for help could be written without any specific reasons, and so the date remains unknown.For an invocation of the God of *George (martyr in Nicomedia or Diospolis, ob. c. 303), similarly asked to rouse the spirits of a circus faction, see E00790 from Ephesos.
For a similar request for help for a village, see E01157 from the area of Ikonion (Lykaonia, central Asia Minor).
Bibliography
Edition:Grégoire, H. (ed.), Recueil des inscriptions grecques chrétiennes d'Asie Mineure, vol. 1 (Paris: Leroux, 1922), no. 311.
Ramsay, W.M., Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, vol. 1, part 2: West and West-Central Phrygia (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897), 557, no. 434.
Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae database, no. 1015: http://www.epigraph.topoi.org/ica/icamainapp/inscription/show/1015
Further Reading:
Halkin, F., "Inscriptions grecques relatives à l'hagiographie, IX, Asie Mineure", Analecta Bollandiana 71 (1953), 87.
Robert, L., Hellenica. Recueil d'épigraphie, de numismatique et d'antiquités grecques, vol. 10: Dédicaces et reliefs votifs. Villes, cultes, monnaies et inscriptions de Lycie et de Carie. Inscriptions et topographie. Inscriptions de Phocée et des Dardanelles. Péripolarques. Monnaie de Thibron (Paris: La librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient Adrien Maisonneuve, 1955), 228-239.
For a commentary on this and several other inscriptions showing the Greens as the orthodox ones see Cameron, Al., Circus Factions. Blues and Greens at Rome and Byzantium (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), 2, 148-149, 315.
For an inscription from Phthiotic Thebes showing the Greens as the orthodox ones see Cameron, Al., Porphyrius the Charioteer (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973), 276.
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (1954), 26.
Record Created By
Pawel Nowakowski
Date of Entry
06/11/2015
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00191 | Archangels, unnamed or name lost | ἀρχάγελοι | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Pawel Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E00844 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00844