Record | The Cult of Saints

Fragmentary Greek epitaph for a person affiliated to the Corinthian church of *John (presumably either the Baptist, S00020, or the Apostle and Evangelist, S00042), probably a reader (anagnostes). Found at Corinth (northeastern Peloponnese). Probably 6th c.

Evidence ID

E06298

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions

[- - - - - - - διαφέρ]ω̣ντα Α-
[- - - - - - - - - - - . ΚЄΝЄΥ
[- - - - - - - - - - - - . ρῳ τῷ
[- - - - - - - - - - - το]ῦ̣ ἁγίω Ἰ-
5 [ωάννου, ἀναγνώ]στου τῆς
[- - - - - - - - - - - - -σία̣[ς - -]
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]

l. 1. κοιμητήριον Kent; μνῆμα Sironen || l. 2. ὃ πέπρα]κεν Εὐ- Sironen; Νεῦ|[να Walbank, unlikely || l. 3. θυρω]ρῷ Sironen || l. 4. [πιστοτάτῳ? Sironen || l. 6. [μακαρίας Ἀναστα]σία̣[ς . . .] Kent; [ἁγιωτ(άτης) ἐκκλη]σία̣[ς Sironen.

'[Tomb?] belonging to A[- - -] (of the church) of Saint J[ohn, the reader (anagnostes)? - - -].'

Text: IG IV2 3, no. 1602.

Cult Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Places Named after Saint

Church

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy

Source

The upper right-hand corner of a slab of green slate. Broken on all sides, but part of the right margin is preserved. Dimensions: H. 0.168 m; W. 0.16 m; Th. (original) 0.025 m; letter height 0.013-0.024 m. Precise find-spot unknown. Now in the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth (inv. no. 2306). First published in 1966 by J. H. Kent who edited all the Corinthian inscriptions found between 1926 and 1950.

Discussion

The expression διαφέρωντα (or rather διαφέροντα) is a false neuter, common in funerary inscriptions and usually relating to μνῆμα or κοιμητήριον. The inscription could thus be an epitaph for a person affiliated to a Corinthian church of Saint John. The saint can be either the Apostle, or John the Baptist. Sironen suggests that the function of the deceased should be restored as anagnostes ('reader’), but the inscription could mention several other functions subsequently held by the deceased (for example, θυρωρός/ostiarius).

Dating: Erkki Sironen dated the inscription to the 6th c., probably based on the shape of letters. The same date is given in Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae database.

Bibliography

Edition:
Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae database, no. 2729: http://www.epigraph.topoi.org/ica/icamainapp/inscription/show/2729

Inscriptiones Graecae IV (2nd ed.) 3, no. 1602 and Tab. XXXI (photograph).

Kent, J. H., Corinth, vol. 8, part 3: The Inscriptions, 1926-1950 (Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1966), 201, no. 666 and Pl. 56 (photograph).

Further Reading:
Wallbank, M.B., "Where have all the names gone? The Christian community in Corinth in the Late Roman and Early Byzantine eras," in S. Friesen, D.N. Schowalter, and J. Walters (eds.), Corinth in Context: Comparative Studies on Religion and Society (Supplements to Novum Testamentum 134, Leiden: Brill, 2010), 299 n. 23, 310 n. 193, 315 n. 250.

Images

Photograph. From: Kent 1966, Pl. 56, no. 666.

Photograph. From: IG IV2 3, Tab. XXXI, no. 1602.

Record Created By

Małgorzata Krawczyk

Date of Entry

06/09/2018

Related Saint Records

ID	Name	Name in Source	Identity
S00020	John the Baptist	Ιωάννης	Uncertain
S00042	John, the Apostle and Evangelist	Ιωάννης	Uncertain

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Małgorzata Krawczyk, Cult of Saints, E06298 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E06298

The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world