Greek inscription invoking the help of the God of *George (soldier and martyr, S00259). Found at the 'monastic church' at Sammā' (to the southeast of Bostra, Roman province of Arabia). Probably c. 620s.
Evidence ID
E02272
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
+ Κ(ύρι)ε ὡ θ(εὸ)ς τοῦ ἁγίου Γεωρ-
γίου βωήθισον Γεωρ(γ)ίου καὶ
<Σελ>ομανης Σεργίου οἱὸς Μεγάλ[ου]
[3. (Η)Γ[ΟΥ]Μ[Ε]Ν(ΟΥ)CΕΡΓΙΟΥ[ΕΤΕΙ]C Dussaud & Macler || ΓΕFΝΟΜΑΝΗC stone, <Σελ>ομανης Littmann || ΟΙΟC = ΥΙΟC Littmann || Μεγάλ[ου] Feissel, με(τ)' ἄλ[ων] Littmann || [ἔτει] σ..΄ Dussaud & Macler]
'+ O Lord, God of Saint George, help Georgios and Selomane, daughter of Sergios, son of Megas.'
Text: I. Jordanie 5/1, no. 17.
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Places Named after SaintPrayer/supplication/invocation
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - monastic
Places Named after SaintMonastery
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Construction of cult buildings
Source
Basalt lintel. H. 0.255-0.275 m; W. 1.40 m. Letter height 0.05-0.07 m. Broken at the left-hand end. Now lost.First seen and copied in 1901 by René Dussaud and Frédéric Macler during their survey in south Syria, and published by them in their report in 1902. They saw the stone in situ, in a large arched room of the so-called monastic church, at its northeast angle. The site was revisited by the Princeton Archaeological Expedition to Syria in 1904/1905 and the inscription was republished by Enno Littmann, based on a new transcription. The edition by Nabil Bader (2009) is based on earlier readings and Littmann's drawing.
Discussion
The inscription is an invocation of the God of Saint George, by a namesake of the saint and his wife. Line 3 which contains the names of the supplicants was differently read by different editors, but the interpretation suggested by Littman and then modified by Feissel, which we follow here, is the most plausible. The first editors, Dussaud and Macler, read the first word in line 3 as ἡγούμενος/'superior of a monastery', but this reading cannot be accepted. The inscription is the sole basis for the identification of the complex, where it was found, as a monastery dedicated to George.Dating: Dussaud and Macler supposed that the last line contained remnants of a dating formula according to the era of the province of Arabia: [ἔτει] σ..΄/'[in the year] 2..' This reading is, however, obviously wrong. Littmann suggested that the inscription is contemporary to another dated lintel from the same room (I. Jordanie 5/1, no. 20; cf. Piccirillo 2011, 103), which commemorates the construction of the building and dates this event to the 519th year of the era of the province of Arabia = AD 624/625 (that is during the Persian occupation of the region).
Bibliography
Edition:Bader, N., Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 21: Inscriptions de la Jordanie, part 5/1: La Jordanie du Nord-Est (Bibliothèque archéologique et historique 187, Beirut: Institut français du Proche-Orient, 2009), no. 17.
Littmann, E., Magie, D., Stuart, D.R., (eds.), Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904-5 and 1909, Division III: Greek and Latin Inscriptions, Section A: Southern Syria (Leiden: Brill, 1921), 44, no. 24.
Dussaud, R., Macler, F., "Rapport sur une mission scientifique dans les régions désertiques de la Syrie moyenne", Nouvelles archives des missions scientifiques et littéraires 10 (1902), 691, no. 151.
Further reading:
Feissel, D., "Magnus, Mégas et les curateurs des <<maisons divines>> de Justin II à Maurice", Travaux et mémoires de centre de recherche d histoire et civilisation de Byzance 9 (1985), 469-470.
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), 186, no. 50.
Piccirillo, M., Chiese e mosaici della Giordania settentrionale (Jerusalem: Franciscan Print. Press, 1981), Pl. 38a.
Piccirillo, M., "The Province of Arabia during the Persian Invasion (613-629/630)", in: K.G. Holum, H. Lapin (eds.), Shaping the Middle East. Jews, Christians, and Muslims in an Age of Transition, 400-800 C.E. (Bethesda, MD: University Press of Maryland, 2011), 103.
Reference works:
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 35, 1792.
Images
)
Drawing. From: Dussuad & Macler 1902, 691.
)
Drawing by Littmann. From: I. Jordanie 5/1, 42.
)
Plan of the monastic complex. From: Michel 2001, 185.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
25/01/2017
| 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, E02272 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02272