Greek inscription with a poem commemorating the reconstruction, extension, and embellishment of a monastic church (oikos, neos) of *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, S00023). Found at Deir al-Qadi near Dionysias/modern Suweidā, to the north of Bostra (Roman province of Arabia). Probably 6th-7th c.
Evidence ID
E02681
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Literary - Poems
Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)
Four hexameter verses:
μείζονα τοῦ προτέροιο σὺν ἀσφαλέεσσι θεμέθλοις
εἰς ἔδαφος νεύοντα Γεώργιος οἶκον ἔγειρεν,
Ἀντιπάτρου γενετῆρος ἀμείνονα κόσμον ἀνύσ<σ>ας,
μάρτυρι Σεργίῳ περικαλλέα νηὸν ὀπάσ<σ>ας +
'Greater than its predecessor, that was already leaning towards the ground, Georgios erected this church (oikos), with stable foundations, (and) embellished it with better decoration than did his begetter Antipatros. (He) offered a splendid shrine (neos) to the martyr Sergios. +'
Text: SGO 4, no. 22/36/04.
Translation: P. Nowakowski.
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Places Named after SaintBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - monastic
Places Named after SaintMonastery
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOther lay individuals/ people
Source
Stone lintel. Seen above a gateway of an abandoned monastery by William Waddington in the 1860s. First published by him in 1870. The inscription, based on Waddington's edition, was in 1878 reprinted in Kaibel's collection of epigrams, and in 2002 by Merkelbach and Stauber. The inscription is scheduled for re-edition in the sixteenth volume of Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, under no. 357.There is no published description.
Discussion
The inscription commemorates a major refurbishment of a monastic church of Saint Sergios. The reader learns that the church was beautifully restored by one Georgios, son of Antipatros, who claims that he has surpassed the work of his father. The inscription is thus a rare example of the continued devotion of a family to a specific saint.Dating: there is no reliable way to date the text, but in this region dedications to Sergios are characteristic of the 6th and 7th centuries.
Bibliography
Edition:IGLS 16, no. 357 (forthcoming).
Merkelbach, R., Stauber, J., Steinepigramme aus dem griechischen Osten, vol. 4 (Stuttgart: Teubner, 2002), no. 22/36/04.
Kaibel, G., Epigrammata Graeca ex lapidibus conlecta (Berolini: G. Reimer, 1878), no. 1065.
Waddington, W.H., Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie (Paris: Firmin Didot Frères, Libraires-Éditeurs, 1870), no. 2412.
Further reading:
Key Fowden, E., The Barbarian Plain: St. Sergius between Rome and Iran (Berkeley, Calif.; London: University of California Press, 1999), 108.
Images
)
Waddington's transcription. From: LBW, 550.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
10/04/2017
| 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, E02681 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02681