Greek inscription commemorating the foundation of a church of *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030) by a family apparently devoted to the saint. Found near Aizanoi (Phrygia, west central Asia Minor).
E00873
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elements
On three faces of an octagonal base:
Face A:
ὑπερὶ εὐχῆς κ(αὶ)
σωτερίας Κυρίλ-
[ο]υ καὶ τῆ<ς> συνβίου
̣αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν τέ-
κνων αὐτοῦ· Σωσ-
̣θέν̣ο̣υ καὶ τῆς συ̣ν[β-]
ίου αὐτοῦ ̣Δρ[.]ου κα̣ὶ
̣τῶν τέ̣κνων αὐτοῦ Στ[ε-]
φανίδος. ἀμήν.
Face B:
καὶ ὑπὲρ μνή̣μης
καὶ ἀναπαύσε̣ω[ς]
Θεοδούλ̣ο̣υ καὶ
τῆς συνβίου αὐτοῦ
Κ)υριακῖς καὶ Θε-
̣οδούλου καὶ Τροφί-
[μη]ς καὶ ΕΓΕΙ̣ΝΑΕΚ
Στεφάνου καὶ Γε̣ν-
<ε>θλίας +
Face C:
ἐγένετο τὸ ἔργ̣ο[ν]
τοῦ ἁγίου Στεφάνου
ὁ φόρος κ(αὶ) ὁ ἄμβω[ν]
̣κ(αὶ) ἡ κολι̣μ̣βίθρα
ἐπὶ τοῦ ὁσιοτάτου
ὑμῶν ἐπισκόπου
Ἐπιφανίου, + μινὶ
Ἀπριλίου ἰ(ν)δ(ικτιῶνος) ζ΄
The following variant readings and reconstructions of the text have been suggested by different scholars. None of them substantially alter the overall meaning of the text.
A1. ὑ]πὲρ εὐχ[ῆς] καὶ LBW || A2-3. [σ]ωτ[η]ρίας Κυ[ρ]ί[λ|λου] LBW || A3. τῆς [σ]υνβίου LBW || A4-5. τέ|[κ]νων LBW || A5-6. Σω|[γέ]ν[ου καὶ] LBW || A6-7. [τῆς] σ[υ]ν[β|ίου] LBW || A7. Δι..... LBW, Δροσου or Δροξου Cox in MAMA || A7-8. [καὶ | τ]ῶν LBW || A8-9. [καὶ] | Φανί[δ]ος LBW || B2. ἀναπαύσε[ως] LBW || B5. Ὑυρσάκης LBW || B5-6. Θε|[ο]δούλου LBW || B7-9. καὶ εἴ τέ[κ]να ἐκ Στεφάνου καὶ Γεν|[ναδ]ί[α]ς [ᾖ] LBW || Β7. ΕΓΕΙ̣ΝΑΕΚ = <Ῥ>εγεί̣νας κ(αὶ) or Ε<ὐ>γει̣ν<ί>iας κ(αὶ) (?), ΕΓΕΙΗΑ Cox in MAMA, perhaps Ἐγειρίας κ(αί) or εἴ τινα CIG || C1. ἔργ[ον] LBW || C4. κολ[υ]νβί[θ]ρα LBW || C5. [ἐ]πὶ LBW || C6. [ἡ]μῶν LBW || C7. μ[η]νὶ LBW || C8. §ΙΔ§Ζ§- = ἰ(ν)δ(ικτιῶνος) ζ΄ Cox in MAMA, CΓΛΥΣΟ LBW, dΛΥΣΟ = [ἔτ. ͵ς]υ[ξθ] CIG
Face A: 'As a vow for the salvation of Kyrillos and his wife and his children: Sosthenos and his wife; Dr[-]os (?) and his children; (and) Stepahnis. Amen.'
Face B: 'And for the memory and repose of Theodoulos, and his wife Kyriake, and Theodoulos, and Trophime, and EGEINAEK (= Regina or Eugenia?), and Stephanos, and Genethlia.'
Face C: 'The church of Saint Stephen with an atrium (phoros), and a pulpit (ambon), and a baptismal font (kolymbhthra) was completed under our most holy bishop Epiphanios.'
'
Text: MAMA IX, no. 560.
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - secondary installation (fountain, pilgrims’ hostel)
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Vow
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Construction of cult buildings
Explicit naming a child, or oneself, after a saint
Saint as patron - of an individual
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Other lay individuals/ people
Women
Children
Source
An octagonal base (of a pulpit?) of greyish marble. H. 0.58 m (visible); W. 0.38 m (each face), diameter 0.91 side to side, letter height 0.02-0.025 m. Found in Tepecik near Aizanoi (Phrygia, central Asia Minor) in the centre of the village. Partially buried. The text was inscribed on three faces.Discussion
The inscription commemorates the foundation of a church of *Stephen (the First Martyr) by a certain family. In comments to Face A in Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua Charlotte Roueché says that Kyrillos, Sosthenos, Drosos and Stephanos were all siblings. There is, however, another possibility: Kyrillos and his unnamed wife could be parents of other mentioned persons: Sosthenos, Drosos, and Stephanis (a daughter: in ll. 7-8 we find the feminine genitive form of the name, Στεφανίδος, and not the masculine, Στεφάνου). Given the fact that two members of the family bear names Stephanos and Stephanis, and that the church is dedicated to Stephen, we may witness a case of permanent devotion of a family to a specific saint, which is still quite rare in Late Antiquity.Date: unknown. The date reconstructed in CIG as dΛΥΣΟ = [ἔτ. ͵ς]υ[ξθ] = AD 981 was rejected by the editors of the ninth volume of Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua as it was "too late for the style of the inscription". Probably late antique.
Bibliography
Edition:Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua IX, no. 560.
LBW, no. 991.
Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, no. 8697.
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), 91.
Reference works:
Chroniques d'épigraphie byzantine, 361.
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 38, 1296.
Pawel Nowakowski
22/11/2015
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Στέφανος | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Pawel Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E00873 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00873