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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Greek inscription with a reference to Christ, described as the offspring of the holy Virgin (*Mary, Mother of Christ, S00033). Found at Laodikeia/Laodicea Combusta (Pisidia, west central Asia Minor). Probably 6th-8th c. or later.

Evidence ID

E00920

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)

Calder's reading:

Ἰ(ησοῦ)ς Χ(ριστό)ς,
τό-
κος ἁ(γίας) π(αρθένου). ὁ Μανι-
ακις δοῦλος Χ(ριστο)ῦ

'Jesus Christ, the offspring of the holy Virgin. Maniakis, servant of Christ.'

Text:
MAMA I, no. 249.

Laminger-Pascher's reading:

Ἰ(ησοῦ)ς Χ(ριστό)ς.
Κοσ(εις) (or Κοσ(μᾶς)) ἀπὸ Μανν-
ακις δοῦλος Χ(ριστο)ῦ

'Jesus Christ. Koseis (or: Kosmas) from Mannake, servant of Christ.'

Text: Laminger-Pascher 1984, no. 126.

Non Liturgical Activity

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Other lay individuals/ people

Source

A piece of bluish limestone, reused in a well. It may originally have been part of a sarcophagus. H. 0.35 m; W. 0.176 m; Th. 0.84 m. The stone bears a carving of a cross pattée in a circular cavity, a six-leaved rosette and a whorl.


Discussion

Gertrud Laminger-Pascher suggests that the second part of the inscription does not contain the reference to Mary as the Holy Virgin and Mother of Christ, but the name of a dedicant, who came from the village of Mannake, which is probably an alternative spelling of Manaba (Μάναβα, Μάναυα, Μάναυγα). The village lay between Side and Kotenna.

Dating: This kind of invocation with the 'servant-of-saint' formula is usually dated to the 6th-8th c. or later. The formula is certainly common in the middle Byzantine period.


Bibliography

Edition:
Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua I, no. 249.

Laminger-Pascher, G.,
Beiträge zu den griechischen Inschriften Lykaoniens (Ergänzungsbände zu den tituli Asiae Minoris 11, Denkschriften (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse) 173, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), no. 126.

Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae database, no. 524: http://www.epigraph.topoi.org/ica/icamainapp/inscription/show/524

Reference works:
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum
34, 1378.


Record Created By

Pawel Nowakowski

Date of Entry

02/12/2015

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00033Mary, Mother of Christἁ(γία) π(αρθένος)Uncertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Pawel Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E00920 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00920