Two labelled capitals showing *Theodore (soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita, S00480), and *Longinos (centurion at the Crucifixion, S00926), and unspecified *Archangels. Found at 'Aila near modern 'Aqaba, at the north end of the Gulf of 'Aqaba (Roman province of Palaestina III). Probably 6th-7th c.
Evidence ID
E02617
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elements
Images and objects - Sculpture/reliefs
Capital 1:
Broken and lost on top and bottom. One face shows a labelled depiction of a standing bearded man, with nimbus, dressed as a soldier in full armour with breast-plate, and holding a spear in his right hand and an oval shield in his left. The figure is flanked by an eagle or phoenix, and a palm. Other faces of the capital bear images of Archangels holding a spear in the right hand, and an orb with a superimposed cross in the left hand, flanked by eagles or phoenixes. The heads of the Archangels are damaged.
The saint is labelled: [Λο]̣γ̣γῖν(ος)/'[Lo]nginos'
Capital 2:
The capital is very similar to the preceding one, except for the fact that the decorations are inverted. The saint is labelled:
̣Θεόδω̣ρ(ος)/'Theodore'
Text and description: I. Jordanie 4, nos. 144-145.
Cult Places
Cult building - independent (church)
Use of ImagesPublic display of an image
Non Liturgical ActivitySaint as patron - of a community
Source
The capitals were reportedly found at a private property. Nelson Glueck saw and photographed them in the 1930s in the courtyard of the police station at 'Aqaba. Capital 1 was also seen by Moshe Schwabe. They are now in the Museum of Amman. Revisited and re-photographed by Maurice Sartre, and by Fawzi Zayadine.Discussion
These two capitals, together with fragments of a chancel screen also found at the site, are believed to be remnants of a church from a significant Christian settlement at 'Aila. Another capital, recorded at 'Aqaba and now lost, depicting two further soldier saints - *George (soldier and martyr, S00259) and *Isidoros (probably the soldier and martyr of Chios, S00425) - may well have come from the same church: see E02618.Based on the labels and the images, the saints were identified as Theodore, the soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita, and Longinos, the centurion of the Crucifixion, by Nelson Glueck and Harold R. Willoughby, an identification that has been accepted by all who have discussed these capitals. The military outfit of the saints and Archangels, as well as the fact that both Theodore and Longinos were soldiers in life, have attracted considerable attention. Willoughby argued that they were venerated in 'Aila, which was the garrison of the Legio X Fretensis after the reforms of Diocletian, because the site lay on the frontier of the empire, and was exposed to raids of nomadic tribes. It is, therefore probable that we have an example of the veneration of saints of military character by Roman soldiers. The occurrence of Longinos, identified by early Christians with the centurion present at the Crucifixion of Jesus, is remarkable, though, for another inscription mentioning him, again in a military context, see E01834.
Similar painted images of soldier saints were found in Avdat/Oboda in the central Negev desert (see E04164).
Bibliography
Edition:Zayadine, F., 'Ayla- 'Aqaba in the light of recent excavations', Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 38 (1994), 489.
Piccirillo, M., The Mosaics of Jordan (Amman, Jordan: American Center of Oriental Research, 1992 [2008, 3rd ed.]), 337.
Sartre, M., Inscriptions de la Jordanie, vol. 4: Pétra et la Nabatène méridionale du Wadi al-Hasa au golfe de 'Aqaba (Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1993), nos. 154 and 155.
Schwabe, M., "A Greco-christian inscription from Aila", Harvard Theological Review 46 (1953), 49-55.
Glueck, N., "Explorations in Eastern Palestine, III", Annual of the American School of Oriental Research 18-19 (1937-1939), 1-3.
Further reading:
Bagatti, B., The Church from the Gentiles in Palestine: History and Archaeology (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1971), 235, fig. 107.
Figueras, P., "Monks and monasteries in the Negev desert", Liber Annuus 45 (1995), 405.
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), 420.
Saller, S.J., Bagatti, B., The town of Nebo (Khirbet El-Mekhayyat): with a brief survey of other Christian monuments in Transjordan (Jerusalem: Franciscan Press, 1949), 233, no. 135.
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (1954), 252.
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 44, 1394.
Images
)
Longinos. From: Piccirillo 1992 [2008], 337.
)
Theodore. From: Piccirillo 1992 [2008], 337.
)
One of the faces showing an Archangel. From: Piccirillo 1992 [2008], 337.
)
Longinos. From: I. Jordanie 4, Pl. L.
)
Theodore. From: I. Jordanie 4, Pl. LI.
)
One of the faces showing an Archangel. From: I. Jordanie 4, Pl. L.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
28/03/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00480 | Theodore, soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita | Θεόδωρος | Certain | S00926 | Longinos/Longinus, centurion at the Crucifixion | Λογγῖνος | Certain |
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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, E02617 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02617