Greek inscription for a church (naos) dedicated to *Leontios (probably the martyr of Tripolis, Phoenicia, S00216), built by a father and son. Found at Dūr/ancient Doroa, to the north of Bostra (Roman province of Arabia). Dated 565/566.
Evidence ID
E02252
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
+ Ουαρος <Κ>υρίλ<λ>ου <κ>α<ὶ Κ>ύ<ρι>λλο<ς> αὐτοῦ υἱό<ς> ἐ{ι}ξ ἰ{ο}-
δίων κόπων ἔκτισαν τὸν ν<α>ὸν τ[ο]ῦ
ἁγίου Λεοντίου ἐν ἔτι υξ΄, ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος) [- - -]
[1. ΟΥΑΡΟCΒΥΡΛΔΟΥΝΑΗΒΥΝΛΛΟΙ.ΑΥΤΟΥΥΙΟΥΕΙΞΙΟ Wetzstein's copy || 2. - ΝΛΟΝΤ - Υ Wetzstein's copy]
'+ Ouaros/Varus, son of Kyrillos, and Kyrillos, his son, built the church (naos) of Saint Leontios from their own (funds). In the year 460, [- - -] indiction.'
Text: IGLS 13/2, no. 9851.
Translation: P. Nowakowski.
Cult PlacesChildren
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesChildren
Other lay individuals/ people
Source
Long stone lintel. Very worn face. Dimensions unknown. There is no published description. Now lost.Seen above the doorway of a house (apparently reused) by Johann Gottfried Wetzstein, the Prussian consul in Damascus and Orientalist, and published by him in 1863/1864. Later surveyors did not find the stone. The editions by William Waddington, and by Maurice Sartre and Annie Sartre-Fauriat, are based on the earlier copy.
Discussion
The inscription commemorates the construction of a church dedicated to Saint Leontios. This is presumably the same saint who was venerated together with *Sergios and *Bakchos in nearby Bostra (which was the metropolitan bishopric of the region, see: E02234). It is supposed that this Leontios was a soldier, reportedly martyred in Tripolis in the 2nd c. under the emperor Hadrian.The church was built by a father and son. They are otherwise unattested.
Dating: the inscription is dated to the 460th year of the era of the province of Arabia, which corresponds to AD 565/566. The indiction year is lost, but given the era year date it can be restored as the 13th or 14th indiction year.
Bibliography
Edition:Sartre, M., Sartre-Fauriat, A. (eds.), Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 13/2: Bostra (Supplément) et la plaine de la Nuqrah (BAH 194, Beirut: Institut français du Proche-Orient, 2011), no. 9851.
Waddington, W.H., Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie (Paris: Firmin Didot Frères, Libraires-Éditeurs, 1870), no. 2412p.
Wetzstein, J.G., "Ausgewählte griechische und latinische Inschriften, gesammelt auf Reisen in den Trachonen und um das Haurangebirge", Philologische und Historische Abhandlungen des königlischen Akademie des Wissenschaften zu Berlin (1863) [1864], 294, no. 103.
Images
)
Majuscule edition. From: Wetzstein 1863[1864], 294.
)
Majuscule edition. From: IGLS 13/2, 269.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
16/01/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00216 | Leontios, martyr of Tripolis (Phoenicia) | Λεόντιος | Uncertain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E02252 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02252