Two Greek dedicatory inscriptions, commemorating an ex-voto offering to *Michael (the Archangel, S00181) and *Andrew (either Andreas 'Stratelates', soldier and martyr of Cilicia, S00763, or Andrew the Apostle, S00288), by a military man. Found in Aigiale on the island of Amorgos (Aegean Islands). Probably 5th-6th c.
Evidence ID
E01269
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elements
Inscription 1:
+ εἰς τὸν ἅγιον Μιχαῆλα καὶ Ἀνδρ[έαν ὑ]πὲρ εὐ-
χῆς Κύριακοῦ ἀκτυαρίου +
'+ For Saint Michael and Andrew as a vow of Kyriakos, actuarius.'
Text: Kiourtzian 2000, no. 2a.
Inscription 2:
+ εἰς τὸν ἅγιον [Μιχα]ῆλα καὶ Ἀνδρ[έαν] ὑπὲρ εὐ-
χῆς Κύριακοῦ ἀκτουαρίου
'+ For Saint Michael and Andrew as a vow of Kyriakos, actuarius.'
Text: Kiourtzian 2000, no. 2b.
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOfficials
Prayer/supplication/invocation
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Vow
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOfficials
Soldiers
Source
Two identical inscriptions. Both of them were seen and copied before 1891 in a private garden near the port of the city of Aigiale, on the island of Amorgos, by Georges Radet and Pierre Paris. They described the objects, on which the text was engraved, as rounded cippi. When Federico Halbherr came to the island in or soon before 1891, he found one of these inscriptions (Inscription 1 = Kiourtzian 2000, no. 2a) displayed in front of the church of Hagia Sophia in the village of Langada. He identified the object bearing it as a little column with the inscription placed partly on the upper rim, and partly on the shaft. It was said that the stone was brought there from the port of Aigiale. At the time Halbherr was unaware of Radet and Paris' publication. In 1992 Georges Kiourtzian revisited the site and found a small column (H. 0.38 m; diameter of the base 0.28 m) in front of the mentioned church, but it was uninscribed, or the letters were so effaced that the inscription was no longer visible.Inscription 2 is mentioned only by the first editors and in the corpus of Kiourtzian. It seems that it was not moved to Langada together with Inscription 1, and Halbherr did not see it.
Discussion
Both inscriptions record a vow and an unspecified offering to Saints Michael and Andrew by Kyriakos, an actuarius. In Late Antiquity actuarii were officials in military units (numeri), responsible for the administration of supplies, e.g. distributing rations to soldiers, and accounting (for works discussing this office, see: Kiourtzian 2000, 40, note 65). Kiourtzian notes that it is not clear why an actuarius would have travelled to Amorgos and made an offering there. Perhaps the island was his homeland.The first dedicatee, Saint Michael, is almost certainly Michael the Archangel (S00181), the commander of the heavenly hosts. As for Saint Andrew, Kiourtzian identifies him either as Andrew the Apostle (S00288) or as Andreas Stratelates (S00763), martyred under the emperor Maximianus (286-305), and venerated as a warrior saint in the Synaxarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae on 19th August. Kiourtzian concludes that, as Kyriakos was a military man himself, it is highly probably that he made the offering to two warrior saints, whom he considered as his protectors.
Dating: probably 5th/6th c., based on the contents.
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), nos. 2a-2b.
IGC - Grégoire, H (ed.), Recueil des inscriptions grecques chrétiennes d'Asie Mineure, vol. 1 (Paris: Leroux, 1922), no. 211 (only Inscription 1).
Halbherr, F., "Krete, the Sporades and the Kyklades", American Journal of Archaeology 7 (1891), 531 (only Inscription 1).
Halbherr, F., "Greek Christian inscriptions in the Cyclades and in Crete", Athenaeum (1891), 458 (only Inscription 1).
Radet, G., Paris, P., "Inscriptions d'Amorgos", Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 15 (1891), 598, nos. 26-27.
Further reading:
Halkin, F., "Inscriptions grecques relatives à l'hagiographie. Supplément", Analecta Bollandiana 71 (1953), 341.
Kiourtzian, G., "Pietas insulariorum", [in:] Eupsychia: mélanges offerts à Hélène Ahrweiler, vol. 2 (Série Byzantina Sorbonensia 16, Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1998), 366, 370, 373.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
11/04/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00181 | Michael, the Archangel | Μιχαήλ | Certain | S00288 | Andrew, the Apostle | Ἀνδρ[έας] | Uncertain | S00763 | Andreas Stratelates, martyr under Maximian | Ἀνδρ[έας] | Uncertain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E01269 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01269