E02920
Inscriptions - Graffiti
Inscriptions - Inscribed objects
Images and objects - Other portable objects (metalwork, ivory, etc.)
Fragment of the base of a clay bowl (probably Cypriot Red Slip Ware). Dimensions not specified. A fragmentary inscription runs on the outer wall, around the centre of the base, clockwise. Letter height 15-22 mm. The letters were cut after the firing. The first three letters are significantly deeper than the rest.
Found at Caesarea in unspecified circumstances. Now at Beth Shemesh, at a storage facility of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Examined in March 2010 by Avner Ecker and first published by him in the Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae in 2012. A different interpretation was offered by Leah Di Segni in SEG 61.
Inscription:
ΑΓΗΟΥΘΕΟΔΟ[- - -]
Ecker's interpretation:
Ἀγήου Θεοδό[- - -]/'(Property) of Agias son of Theod[- - -].'
Di Segni's interpretation:
ἁγήου Θεοδό[ρου]/'(Property of the church/monastery) of Saint Theodore.'
Text: CIIP 2, no. 1785; further comments by L. Di Segni in SEG 61, 1423.
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - monastic
Places Named after SaintMonastery
Cult Related ObjectsOther
Discussion
Avner Ecker, the first editor of the graffito, interpreted it as an ordinary owner's inscription by one Agias. He noted that 'though tempting, the reading Hagios (Saint) is unlikely.' As justification he cites 141 occurrences of the name 'Agias' in the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names (though this total number refers to various periods and regions, none of them being Palestine or even Syria). Furthermore, Avner wondered whether the inscription could have been written by two different hands, and, therefore, whether the bowl had two different owners, i.e. Agias and Theodoros/Theodosios/Theodotos, etc, or if the inscription describes one owner by his personal name and patronym.In her comments to Avner's edition, Leah Di Segni suggests a 'simpler interpretation': ἁγήου Θεοδό[ρου]/'(Property) of Saint Theodore'. She points out that the bowl could have belonged to a church or a monastery dedicated to Saint Theodore, and, though so far we have no evidence for a shrine of any saint bearing this name in Caesarea, she refers to 16 sanctuaries of Saint Theodore that have been recorded in Palestine and Arabia.
The precise identity of the saint, if he is really named in the inscription, is not clear. Theodore, soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita in Pontus/northeast Anatolia (S00480), or Theodoros, a martyr of Amman in Jordan/Roman province of Arabia (01215) are both possibilities. The more intuitive solution is, however, that the bowl was marked with the name of its owner, as suggested by Avner. Di Segni has argued also for two other occurrences of saints' names on bowls, see E02844 and E02852 (both unconvincing).
Bibliography
Edition:Ameling, W., Cotton, H.M., Eck, W., and others, Corpus inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae: A Multi-Lingual Corpus of the Inscriptions from Alexander to Muhammad, vol. 2: Caesarea and the Middle Coast 1121-2160 (Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2011), no. 1785.
Reference works:
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 61, 1423.
Images
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From: CIIP 2, 654.
Paweł Nowakowski
04/06/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00480 | Theodore, soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita | Θεόδο[ρος] | Uncertain | S01215 | Theodoros, Ioulianos/Julianus, Euboulos, Malkamon, Mokimos, and Salomone/Salamanes, martyrs of Philadelphia/Amman (province of Arabia/Jordan), ob. c. 303 | Θεόδο[ρος] | 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, E02920 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02920