Bronze candelabrum with a Greek inscription invoking the help of *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, S00023). Found at Umm er-Rasas/Kastron Mefaa, to the south-east of Madaba (Roman province of Arabia). Probably late 6th or 7th c.
Evidence ID
E02587
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Inscribed objects
Images and objects - Other portable objects (metalwork, ivory, etc.)
Images and objects - Lamps, ampullae and tokens
The candelabrum was found in the south chamber flanking the apse of the so-called 'Church of the Rivers', that is the northern basilica of the double church of the fort (castrum) of Umm er-Rasas. It is made of bronze and bears the following engraving around the external border of the disc:
ἅγιε Σέργι, βοήθι Θωμᾷ. ἀμίν
'Saint Sergios, help Thomas! Amen.'
Text: Rey 1992, 10.
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOil lamps/candles
Prayer/supplication/invocation
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOther lay individuals/ people
Cult Related ObjectsOil lamps/candles
Precious material objects
Discussion
The inscription invokes the help of Saint Sergios for one Thomas, probably the donor of the object.Dating: the inscription contains no dating formula. This kind of invocation, as well as the cult of Sergios, became especially popular in the 6th and 7th centuries. The church is believed to have been constructed in the first half of the 6th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Rey, A.-L., "", in: J. Bujard, Fr. Schweizer (eds.), Entre Byzance et l'Islam: Umm er-Rasas et Umm el-Walid. Fouilles Genevoises en Jordanie (Genève: Musée d'art et d'histoire, 1992), 10 and fig. 5-6.
Further reading:
For a description of the church, see:
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), 411-415, no. 150a (with the candelabra described on p. 415).
Piccirillo M., Alliata E., Umm al-Rasas – Mayfa’ah I: Gli scavi del complesso di Santo Stefano (Jerusalem: Studium Biblicum Franciscum, 1994), 462 note 13.
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (1993), 646.
Chroniques d'épigraphie byzantine, 909.
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 42, 1494.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
21/03/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00023 | Sergios, soldier and martyr of Rusafa | Σέργις | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E02587 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02587