Syriac building inscription for a martyr shrine (bēth sāhdē) built by a presbyter. Found at Kafr Nabu in north Syria, near Qalat Semaan, to the northwest of Beroia/Aleppo. Dated 525/526.
Evidence ID
E04392
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)
ܒܫܢܬ ܚܡܫܡـܐܐ ܘܫܒܥܝܢ ܘܐܪܒ[ܥ] ܐܢܐ ܩܫܝܫܐ +
ܐܒܐ ܥܒܕܝܬ ܒܣܗܕ(ܐ) ܗܢܐ
'In the year five hundred and seventy and four, I, the priest Abhā, made this martyr shrine (?bē-sāhdē, see the comments).'
Text: Littmann 1934, no. 52. Translation: E. Littmann.
Cult PlacesCult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Non Liturgical Activity
Cult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Martyr shrine (martyrion, bet sāhedwātā, etc.)
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
Stone lintel. H. 0.80 m; W. 2.24 m. Decorated with three crosses within concentric, punctured circles. The inscription is carved directly above them, and has no frame. Letter height 0.0275 - 0.075 m.The lintel is set over the south doorway of a small stone building in the centre of the town, usually termed a 'chapel' by surveyors. Certainly in situ. In 1905, when the site was visited by the Princeton Archaeological Expedition to Syria, the building was owned by a resident of Aleppo.
First published by Henri Pognon in 1907. Re-published by Enno Littmann in 1934. We reprint the text as published by Littmann; for the slightly different readings of Pognon, see his edition and the comments by Littmann.
Two single letters, probably ܝ and ܣ, are legible below the inscription. This, Littmann suggests, is a stonecutter's signature.
Discussion
The inscription commemorates the construction of a martyr shrine, certainly the 'chapel', on which it is displayed, by a presbyter.The text has attracted the attention of scholars for the unusual 1st person singular perfect form of the verb ܥܒܕܝܬ (normally it should be ܥܒܕܬ). Another particular form, more important for us, is the expression used to denote the character of the building founded: ܒܣܗܕܐ, which here replaces the regular ܒܝܬ ܣܗ̈ܕܐ (bēth sāhdē). Based on the spelling and pronunciation of toponyms containing the Aramaic element ܒܝܬ in Arabic, Pognon suggested that similar phonetic phenomena could be observed here, and proposed the following vocalisation: bāssohdo. Littmann agreed that we probably have here a dialectic form of the literary expression bēth sāhdē, rather than a mere stonecutter's error, but questioned Pognon's vocalisation. He convincingly argued that, for example, the word could be pronounced in North Syria bē-sāhdē, or that ܬ was assimilated to the following ܣ, and the word was pronounced bēssāhdē. For a detailed commentary and other possibilities, see Littmann 1934, 45.
Dating: the date, computed according to the era of Antioch, corresponds to AD 525/526. Pognon read the number of the era year as 571 or 572 (hence he dated the construction to AD 522/523 or AD 523/524), but we find Littmann's reading more plausible.
Bibliography
Edition:Littmann, E., Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904-5 and 1909, division IV: Semitic Inscriptions, Section B: Syriac Inscriptions (Leiden: Brill, 1934), no. 52.
Pognon, H., Inscriptions sémitiques de la Syrie, de la Mésopotamie et de la région de Mossoul (Paris: Imprimerie nationale; Librairie V. Lecoffre, J. Gabalda, 1907), 56-59.
Images
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Photograph 1. From: http://vrc.princeton.edu/archives/items/show/10961
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Photograph 2. From: http://vrc.princeton.edu/archives/items/show/10960
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Drawing. From: Littmann 1934, 42.
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Drawing. From: Pognon 1907, Pl. XVIII.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
20/11/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E04392 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04392