Evidence ID
E01291
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elements
On four faces of the abacus of a capital:
[+] ὅροι διαφέρον[τες] | τοῖς ΚΛΙ | [- - - μά]ρτυρες Χριστοφό|ρῷ καὶ Γεωργίω +
2. - - -] ̣τοῖς κλι [- - -] Orlandos || 3. [μά]̣ρ̣τυρες Orlandos || 2-3. possibly: τοῖς καλ|[λινίκοις] or [ἁγ]ίοις καὶ | [ἐνδόξοις]
'[+] Boundaries belonging to [- - - ] martyrs Christophoros and George. +'
Text: SEG 55, 908.
Cult PlacesAwarding privileges to cult centres
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityAwarding privileges to cult centres
Seeking asylum at church/shrine
Source
The inscription is carved on four faces of the abacus of a small Corinthian capital (H. of the capital 0.255 m; H. of the abacus 0.04 m; W. of the abacus 0.25 m; L. of the abacus 0.26 m; letter height 0.015 m). When recorded, the capital was housed in the library of the Historical and Archaeological Institute of Rhodes.First described by Anastasios Orlandos in 1948. In 2002 the inscription was re-edited, together with a good photograph, by Eleni Papavasileiou, in the catalogue of an exhibition in the White Tower in Thessaloniki.
Discussion
In her edition Papavasileiou placed the object in the chapter 'Farming' and considered Christophoros and Georgios, mentioned in the inscription, farmers who set up boundary markers on their fields to prevent trespassing.We, however, think that the inscription marked the boundaries of an estate belonging to a church or a monastery dedicated to the martyrs Christophoros and Georgios, probably the two famous saints: Christophoros, martyr in Lycia or Syria (S00616), and George, martyr in Nikomedia or Diospolis (S00259), both frequently referred to in the hagiographic tradition.
The original findspot of the capital is unknown, but it is almost certain that the column, bearing it, stood outside the city, at the boundary it marked, and was brought to the library by an antiquarian.
Though this inscription does not say so explicitly, boundary stones were usually bestowed upon sanctuaries by emperors.
Based on the style of the capital, Orlandos dated the inscription to the 7th-8th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Papavasileiou, E. (ed.) in: Papanikola-Bakirtzi, D. (ed.), Everyday Life in Byzantium (Athens: Hellenic Ministry of Culture, 2002), 123, no. 116.
Orlandos, A.K., "Παλαιοχριστιανικά λείψανα τῆς Ῥόδου", Ἀρχεῖον τῶν βυζαντινῶν μνημείων τῆς Ἑλλάδος 6 (1948), 10-12.
Further reading:
Dimitrokallis, G., Συμβολαὶ εἰς τὴν μελέτην τῶν βυζαντινῶν μνημείων Νάξου, vol. 1 (Athens: 1972), 75, note 83 (mentioned).
Kiourtzian, G., "Pietas insulariorum", [in:] Eupsychia: mélanges offerts à Hélène Ahrweiler, vol. 2 (Série Byzantina Sorbonensia 16, Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1998), 377.
Reference works:
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 55, 908.
Images
)
From: Papanikola-Bakirtzi 2002, 123.
)
Orlandos 1948, 11.
)
Orlandos 1948, 10.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
19/04/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00259 | George, soldier and martyr, and Companions | Γεωργίος | Certain | S00616 | Christophoros, martyr of Pamphylia | Χριστοφόρος | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E01291 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01291