Greek graffiti with probable invocations of God as the Lord, and of unnamed martyrs. Found in a burial grotto at Seleukeia Pieria near Antioch on the Orontes (north Syria). Probably late antique.
Evidence ID
E01825
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Graffiti
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Κύρ(ιος) or Κύρ(ιε)
'O Lord!'
μάρτυρε[ς (?) - - -]
'O martyrs (?) [- - -]!'
Text: IGLS 3/2, no. 1242/10 = Downey 1941, 97, no. 176.
Non Liturgical Activity
Prayer/supplication/invocation
Source
Graffiti scratched on the wall of a burial grotto, at Seleukeia/Seleucia Pieria, on a layer of red, yellow, and white stucco.Found during surveys of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and its Vicinity in 1938 and 1939. First published by Glanville Downey in 1941. Republished by René Mouterde in 1953.
Discussion
The inscription is probably an invocation of martyrs on behalf of people buried in the grotto. Perhaps the lost part of the inscription should be completed with the popular formula βοηθεῖτε or βοηθήσατε/'help!'. It is possible that the names of the martyrs were mentioned in the lacuna, but the saints could be invoked also anonymously. For a similar text, see: E00735.Bibliography
Edition:Jalabert, L., Mouterde, R. (eds.), Les inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 3/2: Antioche (suite). Antiochène: nos. 989-1242 (BAH 51, Paris: P. Geuthner, 1953), no. 1242/10.
Downey, G., “Greek and Latin inscriptions”, in: R. Stillwell and others (eds.), Antioch-on-the-Orontes, vol. 3: The excavations 1937-1939 (Princeton: Princeton Univeristy Press, 1941), 97, no. 176.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
30/08/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | μάρτυρες | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E01825 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01825