Greek inscription with the epitaph of a presbyter of a church dedicated to unnamed *Archangels. Found at Ankyra (Galatia, central Asia Minor). Probably late 5th-6th c.
Evidence ID
E01123
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
+ ἐνθάδε κεκύμητε
ὁ δοῦλος τοῦ θ(εο)ῦ Παῦλος ὁ
τῆς εὐλαβ(οῦς) μνήμης γενάμε-
νος πρεσβ(ύτερος) τῶ(ν) ἀρχαγέλω(ν),
καὶ ἐτελεύτησεν μινὶ
Ἰουνίου αʹ, ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος) ιβʹ.
'+ The servant of God Paulos, former presbyter of blessed memory of the church of the Archangels, fell asleep here. And he died on the 1st (day) of the month of June, in the 12th indiction.'
Text: Jerphanion 1928, no. 63.
Cult Places
Cult building - independent (church)
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
A large marble slab. The inscription was framed by a tabula ansata and accompanied by a carving of a cross, that was erased, probably in the modern period. Letter height c. 0.025 m. Seen and copied before 1928 by Guillaume de Jerphanion. When recorded, it was reused in the ceiling (inserted face-down) of Tower 15 of the citadel at Ankyra. Published by Jerphanion with the aid of Alfred von Domaszewski.Discussion
The inscription is the epitaph of a presbyter, who served at a church dedicated to unnamed archangels. Stephen Mitchell suggested that dedicating churches to groups of saints was a peculiar Ancyran habit, as we know that at the city there were also: a martyrion of the (Montanist?) Patriarchs, a martyrion of the (Montanist?) Fathers (see the Martyrdom of Theodotos of Ancyra 16, EXXXXXXXX), and possibly a church of unnamed saints (see E01004).Dating: Probably late 5th-6th c.: the inscription must predate the construction of this section of the citadel, where it was reused, which according to Jerphanion falls in the 6th c.
Bibliography
Edition:de Jerphanion, G., Mélanges d'archólogie anatolienne. Monuments préhelléniques, gréco-romains, byzantins et musulmans de Pont, de Cappadoce et de Galatie (Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph 13, Beyrouth: Imprimerie Catholique, 1928), p. 289, no. 63.
Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae database, no. 779: http://www.epigraph.topoi.org/ica/icamainapp/inscription/show/779
Further reading:
Mitchell, St., "The Life of Saint Theodotus of Ancyra", Anatolian Studies 32 (1982), 105.
Record Created By
Pawel Nowakowski
Date of Entry
15/02/2016
| 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, E01123 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01123