Fragmentary Greek inscription on a lintel, mentioning *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, 00023). Found at Umm al-Quṭṭein, to the south-east of Bostra (Roman province of Arabia). Probably late 5th or 6th c.
Evidence ID
E02084
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
[- - -] ἁγίου + Σεργίου + [- - -]
'[- - -] of Saint + Sergios + [- - -]'
Text: I. Jordanie 5/1, no. 698.
Cult Places
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Source
Stone lintel over the doorway of a house in the north sector of the village. There is no published description.Seen and copied by Maurice Sartre. Now lost. A preliminary transcription was published by Annie Sartre-Fauriat in 2000. The proper first edition, by Nabil Bader, followed in 2009.
Discussion
When recorded, the inscription was very fragmentarily preserved, and the name of Saint Sergios was its only element left. Since the stone seems to have been a lintel, and the name of the saint is in the genitive case, we can suppose that the text referred to a church dedicated to the saint (i.e. 'Church of Saint Sergios'); or perhaps the God of Saint Sergios was invoked here (for similar invocations in the territory of Bostra, see E02078; E02079; E02083).There is no reliable way to date this inscription, but references to the cult of Saint Sergios appear in dated inscriptions in our region only in the late 5th and 6th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Bader, N. (ed.), Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 21: Inscriptions de la Jordanie, part 5: La Jordanie du Nord-Est, fasc. 1(Beirut: Institut français du Proche-Orient, 2009), no. 698.
Further reading:
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), 304.
Reference works:
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 50, 1518; 50, 1544.
Images
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Drawing by M. Sartre. From: I. Jordanie 5/1, 319.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
07/12/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00023 | Sergios, soldier and martyr of Rusafa | Σέργιος | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E02084 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02084