Syriac inscription on a lintel, praising the 'God who raised from the the dead mār Damianos and mār Kosmas', perhaps *Kosmas and Damianos (brothers, physicians and martyrs of Syria, S00385). Found at Kefr Antīn in north Syria, near Qalat Semaan, to the northwest of Beroia/Aleppo. Probably late antique.
Evidence ID
E04394
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
ܫܒܚܐ ܠܡܪܢ ܕܥܝܪ ܡܪ ܕܐܡܝܢܐ ܘܡܪ +
ܩܘܙܡܐ ܒܪܗ ܕܘܟܪܢܐ ܕܬܪܝܗܘܢ
(ܢܗܐ)( ܛܘܒܢܐ )
1. possibly ܕܥܢܕ Littmann, ܡܪܝ drawing (rejected by Littmann, see his comments on p. 53)
'+ Praise be to Our Lord who raised from the dead (or: removed from this life) mār Damianos and mār Kosmas, his son! The memory of both be blessed!'
Text: Littmann 1934, no. 61.
Translation: E. Littmann, lightly modified.
Cult PlacesPrayer/supplication/invocation
Cult building - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Construction of cult buildings
Source
Stone lintel. Decorated with mouldings and a carving of a cross within a circle, to the right of which the inscription is carved. Dimensions: Line 1: W. 0.66 m; Line 2: W. 0.68 m; Line 3: 0.24 m. Letter height 0.0175 - 0.04 m.Recorded by the Princeton Archaeological Expedition to Syria: in situ, in a wall of a small, partly buried, building, probably 'over the entrance to the second storey of a colonnade'. First published by Enno Littmann in 1934.
Discussion
The inscription is somewhat puzzling. It refers to two deceased people: a certain mār Damianos, and mār Kosmas introduced as a son of the former.Enno Littmann, the editor, suggested two interpretations. His first impression was that the two men may have been Saints *Kosmas and Damianos, the physicians and martyrs of Syria. The Greek tradition presents them as brothers, which is in contrast with our inscription, where the two characters are father and son, but Littmann pointed out that in the Syriac version of their Life, presumed to have been earlier than the Greek accounts, the kinship of the holy couple was not defined. Furthermore, the Syriac version does not describe them as martyrs, and our inscription too may suggest a peaceful death of the two. Littmann concludes that the author of the inscription 'may have been a physician and invoked the help of the physician saints'.
Littmann admits, however, that he had consulted the text with Hans Lietzmann, who was sceptical about the identification of the people mentioned as saints. In his opinion, the inscription is a funerary one, commemorating an ordinary man called Damianos, and his son Kosmas (both presumably named after the saints). Lietzmann suggested that they bore the title mār, because they were monks. This alternative interpretation was included in his comments by Littmann. He, however, rightly noted that the presence of this kind of a funerary inscription on a building sited next to the centre of the village, would be difficult to explain.
In our opinion, as yet there is no easy answer to the above controversy, a problem compounded by the fact that we cannot be certain about the reliability of Littmann's reading of this text (e.g. the drawing shows the form ܡܪܝ/'my lord', an epithet often given to saints, rather than just ܡܪ/'lord', argued by Littmann, etc.). See also the comments on a Greek inscription found in the same town: E01797. On balance, even if the inscription was in situ (and therefore on a building in the middle of the village), then it need not refer to Saints Kosmas and Damianos. It may merely record the dedication of a religious structure as a vow for their repose.
In 1967, Jacques Jarry suggested that in l. 1 we have a commemorative formula, where ܕܥܝܪ was erroneously read instead of a different word, similarly to the case of an inscription from Dehes (Jarry 1967, 150–151, no. 19): ܕܟܝܪ.
In Tabula Imperii Byzantini 15, this is presented as a funerary inscription. The authors doubt that these could be the saints Cosmas and Damianos themselves but their names could point to a local cult, perhaps situated in a so-far unattested church in this village.
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. 61.
Further reading:
Jarry, J., ‘Inscriptions arabes, syriaques et grecques du massif du Bélus en Syrie du nord [avec 42 planches]’, Annales Islamologiques 7 (1967), 150–151, comments to no. 19.
Tabula Imperii Byzantini 15, pp. 1350-1351.
Images
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Drawing. From: Littmann 1934, 53.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
21/11/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00385 | Kosmas and Damianos, brothers, physician martyrs of Syria | ܡܪ ܕܐܡܝܢـܐ ܘܡܪ ܩܘܙܡـܐ ܒܪܗ | 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, E04394 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04394