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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


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


Fragmentary Greek votive inscription, mentioning *Theodore 'Stratelates' (general and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita, S00136). Found at Dülük Baba Tepesi near Ancient Doliche (northern Syria). Probably 8th c. or later.

Evidence ID

E01426

Type of Evidence

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

Images and objects - Sculpture/reliefs

ὁ Θ̣[εό]δ̣ορο-
ἅ-                 ς
  γι-              ὁ
    ο-            Σ-
      ς           τ-
                  ρ-
                  ατέλατο[ς]


'Saint Theodore Stratelates [- - -]'

Photograph: Blömer & Winter 2010. Text:
SEG 60, 1639.

Non Liturgical Activity

Prayer/supplication/invocation
Vow
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings

Source

The inscription is on a votive plaque, broken into two pieces. The text runs along the edges of a low-relief carving of a cross, on its upper and right-hand branches. In the upper right corner of the plaque, there is another carving of a small cross, standing on four steps, which resembles crosses on coins issued by the emperor Heraclius (610-641), and carvings of crosses found on columns in Ephesos in the Justinianic Church of John the Evangelist (see: E00786, nos. 4-5).

The first part of the plaque was found in 2005, the second in 2008, during the excavations at Dülük Baba Tepesi, to the northwest of Gaziantep, funded by the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

Michael Blömer and Engelbert Winter published a photograph of the object in 2009, in the Turkish journal
Kazı Sonuçları Toplantıları. The transcription, based on the photograph, was offered by the editors of Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum.

Discussion

The editors rightly note that the inscription attests to the existence of the cult of Theodore, explicitly identified as Theodore Stratelates, in the territory of ancient Doliche. Unfortunately, they say nothing about the dating of the plaque. We suppose that it is very unlikely to predate the 7th c. As mentioned above, the carving of the cross potent on steps can be associated with images on the coins of Heraclius and subsequent emperors, thus implying a date in the 7th or later centuries. Also the cult of Theodore as Stratelates/'the Commander' is usually considered to be a middle Byzantine phenomenon. The saint was originally invoked simply as an unspecified Theodore or as Theodore Tiro (the Recruit). The name Stratelates emerges prominently in the 8th and 9th c. (see: White 2013, XY; Papaconstantinou 2001, 112-113; Walter 1999; Oikonomides 1986). See E06263 and E07827, for what may be the earliest references to Theodore Stratelates: in Sophronius' Miracles of Cyrus and John, written in 610/615.

Bibliography

Edition:
Blömer, M., Winter, E., “Das Zentralheiligtum des Iupıter Dolichenus auf dem Dülük Baba Tepesi bei Doliche - Forschungen des Jahres 2008”, Kazı Sonuçları Toplantıları 31/1 (2009), 444.

Reference works:
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 60, 1639.

For the cult of Theodore, see:
Oikonomides, N., "Le dédoublement de Saint Théodore et les villes d'Euchaita et d'Euchaneia", Analecta Bollandiana 104 (1986), 327-335.

Papaconstantinou, A.,
Le culte des saints en Égypte des Byzantins aux Abbasides. L'apport des inscriptions et des papyrus grecs et coptes (Paris: CNRS Editions, 2001), 112-113.

Walter, Ch., "Theodore, archetype of the warrior saint",
Revue des Études Byzantines 57 (1999), 163-220.

White, M.,
Military Saints in Byzantium and Rus, 900-1200 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).

Images



From: Blömer & Winter 2009.
























Record Created By

Paweł Nowakowski

Date of Entry

01/06/2016

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00136Theodore 'Stratelates', general and martyr of Amaseia and EuchaitaΘ[εό]δοροςCertain
S00480Theodore, soldier and martyr of Amaseia and EuchaitaCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E01426 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01426