Fragmentary (?) lintel with a Greek inscription mentioning thanksgiving to *George (soldier and martyr, S00259) and just possibly an invocation of *Hilarion (anchorite in Palestine and Cyprus, ob. 371, S00099). When recorded, it was reused at Khan Yunis in the north-west Negev desert, midway between Gaza and Rafah (Roman province of Palaestina I). Probably 5th-7th c.
Evidence ID
E03169
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
+ εὐχαριστῶν τῷ ἁγίῳ Γεωργίῳ
Ι
Λ
Α
Ρ
Ι
Ω
[vertical text: Ἱλαρίῳ or Ἱλαρίω[ν] Ameling]
'+ Giving thanks to Saint George. Hilarion (?)'
Text: CIIP 3, no. 2560.
Cult PlacesBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Cult building - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Construction of cult buildings
Source
Stone lintel. H. 0.50 m; W. 1.50 m. Its original location is unknown. Marie-Joseph Lagrange recorded it before 1917, reused in a tomb at Khan Yunis, and published a transcription with a drawing. The stone was reportedly housed in the Musée de Notre Dame de France in Jerusalem, but is probably now lost. A new edition, based on the original drawing and Lagrange's transcription, is offered by Walter Ameling in the third volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae (2014).Discussion
The first inscription, positioned horizontally, clearly records an act of thanksgiving to Saint George. As such a text could be put over a doorway of a church or chapel dedicated to the saint, Ameling rejects Lagrange's idea that the inscription comes from a monumental tomb.The vertical inscription probably begins with the name Hilarion. Based on the drawing, we cannot say if it is complete. Ameling considers the possibility that Saint Hilarion, the great ascetic of nearby Gaza, is invoked here, but in the end he finds it questionable.
Bibliography
Edition:Ameling, W., Ecker, A., Hoyland, R. (eds.), Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae, vol. 3: South Coast, 2161-2648: A Multi-Lingual Corpus of the Inscriptions from Alexander to Muhammad (Berlin - Boston, Massachusetts: De Gruyter, 2014), no. 2560.
Bagatti, B., Ancient Christian Villages of Judaea and the Negev (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 2002), 181, 187 [= Antichi villaggi cristiani della Giudea e del Neghev (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1983)].
Lagrange, M., "", La Revue biblique 26 (1917), 572-573.
Further reading:
Dauphin, C., La Palestine byzantine: peuplement et populations (Oxford: Archaeopress, 1998), 952, no. 25.
Meimaris, Y., Sacred names, saints, martyrs and church officials in the Greek inscriptions and papyri pertaining to the Christian Church of Palestine (Athens: National Hellenic Research Foundation, Center for Greek and Roman Antiquity, 1986), 127, no. 687 [who wrongly gives the edition as 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), 140-141].
Images
)
Lagrange's drawing. From: CIIP 3, 569.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
29/06/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00099 | Hilarion, anchorite in Palestine and Cyprus, d. 371 | Ἱλαρίων | Uncertain | S00259 | George, soldier and martyr, and Companions | Γεώργιος | 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, E03169 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E03169