Greek inscription on a boundary stone of a church dedicated to unnamed *Apostles. Found in a later church of St. Mamas on the island of Naxos (Aegean Islands). Probably 6th-7th c.
Evidence ID
E01255
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
ὅροι
τ ῶ-
ν ἁγί-
ων ἀ-
ποσ-
̣τώλ-
ων
'The boundaries (of the church) of the holy Apostles.'
Text: Kiourtzian 2000, no. 30.
Cult PlacesAwarding privileges to cult centres
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityAwarding privileges to cult centres
Seeking asylum at church/shrine
Source
A white marble stele. H. 0.8 m; W. 0.2 m; Th. 0.1 m. Found in the church of St. Mamas, sited near the villages of Tritis and Kato Potamia in the central part of the island of Naxos. The present building dates probably to the 9th c. and is considered as the oldest extant Christian structure on the island.The inscription is written over a carving of a Latin cross. The middle letters in lines 1, 3, 4, and 5 are on the vertical bar of the cross, lines 6-7 are below the cross. First published by Georgios Dimitrokallis in 1972.
Discussion
The inscription marked the boundaries of a church dedicated to the Apostles. Georges Kiourtzian supposes that the church of Mamas, where the inscription was found, could have been constructed over the foundations of a late antique church dedicated to these saints, which is possible. The other possibility, he considers, is that the stone was brought from another place.Though this inscription does not say so explicitly, boundary stones were usually bestowed upon sanctuaries by emperors.
Dating: Kiourtzian stylistically dated the inscription to the 6th or 7th c. This dating roughly corresponds to the period of the reign of emperors mentioned on other, datable boundary stones. Georgios Dimitrokallis, the first editor of the inscription, stylistically dated the cross to the "Byzantine" period.
Bibliography
Edition:Kiourtzian, G., Recueil des inscriptions grecques chrétiennes des Cyclades, de la fin du IIIe au VIIIe siècle après J.-C., (Travaux et mémoires du Centre de recherche d'histoire et civilisation de Byzance. Monographies 12, Paris: De Boccard, 2000), no. 30.
Dimitrokallis, G., Συμβολαὶ εἰς τὴν μελέτην τῶν βυζαντινῶν μνημείων Νάξου, vol. 1 (Athens: 1972), 74-75.
Further reading:
Drossoyianni, Ph., "[Review:] G. Kiourtzian, Receuil des inscriptions grecques chrétiennes des Cyclades, De la fin du IIIe au VIIe siècle après J.-C.", Βyzantinische Ζeitschrift 95 (2002), 693 (attempts to identify the church).
Kiourtzian, G., "Pietas insulariorum", [in:] Eupsychia: mélanges offerts à Hélène Ahrweiler, vol. 2 (Série Byzantina Sorbonensia 16, Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1998), 366-367, 373.
For a description of the church, see:
Ohnesorg, A., "Die antiken Spolien in der Kirche des Hagios Mamas auf Naxos", Architectura. Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Baukunst / Journal of the History of Architecture 24 (1994), 170-184.
Rhoby, A., Byzantinische Epigramme in inschriftlicher Überlieferung, vol. 3/1: Byzantinische Epigramme auf Stein (Denkschriften (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse) 474, Denkschriften (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse). Veröffentlichungen zur Byzanzforschung 35, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2014), 315.
Reference works:
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 50, 771.
Images
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From: Dimitrokallis 1972, 73.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
08/04/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00084 | Apostles, unnamed or name lost | ἀπόστωλοι | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E01255 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01255