Floor-mosaic with a Greek inscription commemorating the laying of the mosaic in 'Church 79' in Khirbet es-Samra to the southeast of Gerasa/Jerash (Jordan/the Roman province of Arabia), dedicated to *George (soldier and martyr, S00259). Probably earlier 7th c.
Evidence ID
E02037
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)
+
ἐκ προσφορᾶς
τοῦ διδουτα, ὡ θ(εὸ)ς ὖ-
δεν τις ἠστίν, ἐλέϊσον
αὐτοῦ∙ ἠπὶ Θεωδώρου
ἀρχηηπισκόπου ἐψη-
φṓθη τοῦ ἁγίου Γεωργίου, σπου-
δῖς Κασισεου δ(ιακόνου)
(καὶ) παραμονα-
ρίου
'+ From the offering of the donor. O God, the one who knows who he is, have mercy upon him! Under archbishop Theodoros (the church?) of Saint George was paved with (this) mosaic, by the efforts of Kasiseos, deacon and watchman (paramonarios).'
Text: Gatier 1998, 387, no. 76.
Translation: P. Nowakowski.
Cult PlacesPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Other lay individuals/ people
Source
Circular mosaic panel, framed by a square with flowers (?) in its corners, and positioned in the middle of the nave of Church 79. The inscription is surrounded by a braid-like band. Diameter of the circle: 1.35 m; Dimensions of the square: H. & W. 1.95 m. Letter height 0.010-0.012 m.First published by Pierre-Louis Gatier in 1998, from a photograph. A drawing sketched probably in 1985 (when Church 79 was excavated) had been previously published but with no transcription. Reprinted by Annie Sartre-Fauriat in 2000, based on the earlier edition.
Church 79 is one of eight shrines excavated at the site by 1998. It is a small basilica (18.75 x 11,50 m) located in the south-west sector of the town. It is supposed that the chamber at the east end of its south aisle housed a martyr shrine.
Discussion
The inscription commemorates the paving of the church by an anonymous donor (which was a quite frequent practice in the late antique East). The mosaic says that the church was dedicated to George, certainly the martyr of Diospolis, whose cult was widely spread in Arabia.Annie Sartre-Fauriat notes that the archbishop mentioned in lines 4-5 was probably Theodoros, archbishop of nearby Bostra, who appeared in a dated inscription from Riḥāb (529 of the province of Arabia = AD 635, see: E02044). If so, the inscription is likely to date to the earlier 7th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Gatier, P.-L., "Les inscriptions grecques et latines de Samra et Rihab", Humbert, J.-B., Desreumaux, A., Bauzou, Th. (eds.), Fouilles de Khirbet es-Samra en Jordanie, vol. 1: La voie romaine, le cimetière, les documents épigraphiques (Turnhout: Brepols, 1998), 387, no. 76.
Further reading:
Desreumaux, A., Humbert, J.-B., Thébault, G., Bauzou, Th., "Des Romains, des Araméens et des Arabes dans le Balqa' jordanien : les cas de Hadeitha - Khirbet es Samra", in: A. Borrut, M. Debié, A. Papaconstantinou, D. Pieri, J.-P. Sodini (eds.), Le Proche-Orient de Justinien aux Abassides : peuplement et dynamiques spatiales : actes du colloque "Continuités de l'occupation entre les périodes byzantine et abbasside au Proche-Orient, VIIe-IXe siècles," Paris, 18-20 octobre 2007 (Bibliothèque de l'Antiquité tardive 19, Turnhout: Brepols, 2011), 285-304.
Gatier, P.-L., "Les inscriptions grecques et latines de Samra et Rihab", Humbert, J.-B., Desreumaux, A., Bauzou, Th. (eds.), Fouilles de Khirbet es-Samra en Jordanie, vol. 1: La voie romaine, le cimetière, les documents épigraphiques (Turnhout: Brepols, 1998), 52 (description of the find-spot).
Michel, A., Les églises d'époque byzantine et umayyade de Jordanie (provinces d'Arabie et de Palestine), Ve-VIIIe siècle: typologie architecturale et aménagements liturgiques (avec catalogue des monuments; préface de Noël Duval; premessa di Michele Piccirillo) (Bibliothèque de l'Antiquité tardive 2, Turnhout: Brepols, 2001), 205-206, no. 68.
Sartre-Fauriat, A., "Georges, Serge, Élie et quelques autres saints connus et inédits de la province d'Arabie", in: Fr. Prévot (ed.), Romanité et cité chrétienne. Permances et mutations. Intégration et exclusion du Ier au VIe siècle. Mélanges en l'honneur d'Yvette Duval (Paris: De Boccard, 2000), 302.
Reference works:
Chroniques d'épigraphie byzantine, 864.
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 48, 1933.
Images
)
Plan of the site with churches. From: Khirbet es-Samra 1, 47.
)
Reconstruction of Church 79. From: Khirbet es-Samra 1, 52.
)
Photograph of the mosaic panel. From: Khirbet es-Samra 1, 387.
)
Photograph of the nave. From: Michel 2001, 204.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
22/11/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00259 | George, soldier and martyr, and Companions | Γεώργιος | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E02037 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02037