Site logo

The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


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


Greek inscription with an invocation of *Isidoros (soldier and martyr of Chios, S00425). Found at Livadia (island of Chios; Aegean Islands). Probably late antique.

Evidence ID

E01721

Type of Evidence

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

+ ἀγαθῇ τύχῃ
[ἅ]γιε Ἰσίδωρε βοήθι
τοῦ δούλου σου
̣Ἀλαπιντίου. ἀμήν

'+ With good fortune! Saint Isidoros, help your servant Alapintios! Amen.'

Text: Zolotas 1908, 312, no. 29.

Non Liturgical Activity

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Other lay individuals/ people

Source

A whitish stone plaque. H. 0.39 m; W. 0.42 m; Th. 0.14 m. Seen and copied by Georgios Zolotas at the Museum of the Gymnasium in Chios after 1886. Said to have been found at Livadia.


Discussion

The inscription is an invocation of Saint Isidoros. Its remarkable feature is the unusual combination of the pagan introductory formula agathe tyche / 'with good fortune' with the Christian religion of the supplicant.

We witness here a sign of the devotion to a local martyr, as Isidoros was martyred and then venerated in Chios. His cult was known to Gregory of Tours in the late 6th c., see: E00654.

Dating: There is no reliable way to date such a short invocation: this type of prayer, with the 'servant-of-saint' formula, is unlikely to occur before the late 5th or 6th c., while the
agathe tyche formula suggests a date early in this period.


Bibliography

Edition:
Zolotas, G., "Επιγραφαί Χίου ανέκδοτοι", Athena 20 (1908), 312, no. 29

Further reading:
Kiourtzian, G., "Pietas insulariorum", [in:] Eupsychia: mélanges offerts à Hélène Ahrweiler, vol. 2 (Série Byzantina Sorbonensia 16, Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1998), 375.

Images



From: Zolotas 1908.
























Record Created By

Paweł Nowakowski

Date of Entry

13/07/2016

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00425Isidoros, soldier and martyr of ChiosἸσίδωροςCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E01721 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01721