V 141. Laki. Epitaph of Theodoritsis and Chatais, 1301 C.E.
Monument
Type
Stele.
Material
Limestone.
Dimensions (cm)
H. 83.0, W. 36.0, Th. unknown.
Additional description
Arched inset stele; on the front - three relief crosses on a base. On the left and right sides of the stele - crosses with ornaments. Broke in two parts during the transfer to Simferopol. The bottom part is currently missing.
Place of Origin
Laki.
Find place
Laki.
Find context
Forest, cemetery.
Find circumstances
Summer of 1898, survey of A.L. Bertye-Delagard.
Modern location
Simferopol, Crimea.
Institution and inventory
Central Museum of Tavrida, А-21942.
Autopsy
September 2006.
Epigraphic field
Position
Below the relief.
Lettering
Lapidary. Minuscule zeta, lambda with vertical right hasta, mu with Y-shaped middle, angular omega. Ligature omicron-upsilon, upsilon-iota; abbreviation κ(αί).
Letterheights (cm)
2.5.
Text
Category
Epitaph.
Date
1301 C.E.
Dating criteria
Explicit date.
Editions
L1. Latyshev 1898, 233–235, 252, № 64в.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/>Ἐκοιμήθη <supplied reason="lost">ὁ</supplied>
δοῦλος τοῦ
<roleName><expan><abbr>θ</abbr><ex>εο</ex><abbr>ῦ</abbr></expan></roleName>
Θεο<lb n="2" break="no"/>δωρίτζης<g ref="#dipunct"/>
<expan><abbr>κ</abbr><ex>αὶ</ex></expan>
Χαταις
<expan><abbr><unclear>ἀ</unclear>δ</abbr><ex>ελφὸς</ex></expan>
<lb n="3"/>αὐτοῦ, υἱοὶ
Παλπαν
τοῦ Τζο<lb n="4" break="no"/>γαται,
<date><expan><abbr>μην</abbr><ex>ὶ</ex></expan> <supplied reason="lost">Μ</supplied>έ<unclear>ου</unclear>
<unclear>ὐ</unclear>ς <expan><abbr>τ</abbr><ex>ὰ</ex></expan>
<num value="1">α</num>, <expan><abbr>ἔτ</abbr><ex>ους</ex></expan>
<lb n="5"/><num value="6809">ςωθ</num></date>.
</ab>
</div> Apparatus criticus
2: Χατὰ ἡ σύ(ζυγος) Latyshev
3-4: ΠΛΑΠΑΝΤΟΥΤΖΟΤΑΓΑΙ Latyshev
4: μηνὸς Α(ὐγου)στ(ου) α´ Latyshev
5: ςωο´ Latyshev
Translation
Fell asleep: a servant of God, Theodoritses, and Chatais, his brother, sons of Palpan, son of Tzogatai, on the 1st of May, in the year 6809.
Commentary
Latyshev used a photograph made by Bertye-Delagard in preparing the publication of this inscription. The photograph is currently at the Photo Archive, Institute for History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences (О.1077.10); the image published here is also in the same archive (Q.759.87).
1. On the formula, see Introduction IV.3.F.e.
1-2. On the name Theodoritsis, see commentary to V 136. We should note that one brother has a Greek and another a Turkic name.
3-4. At present, only the tops of letters from line 4 are preserved, but we can tell from those traces (as well as from the photograph) that a mistake crept into the drawing in Latyshev's article: instead of ΠΑΛΠΑΝΤΟΥΤΖΟΓΑΤΑΙ the sequence was reproduced as ΠΛΑΠΑΝΤΟΥΤΖΟТАГΑΙ. A Turkic name Tzogatai (Chogotai) is known in the form Scacatai from Guillaume de Rubrouck: this was the name of the Tatar "prince of Gazaria" in 1253 C.E. (Pelliot 1949, 47, n. 2). Judging by the difference of 48 years between 1253 and 1301 C.E., the date of our inscription, the hero of de Rubrouck may well have been the grandfather of Theodoritsis and Chatais. If so, then we could make two observations: firstly, those buried at the Laki cemetery must have been of noble birth (this is also supported by the high quality of the inscription), and secondly, the grandchildren of Tzogatai were Christians.
4. A single Crimean occurrence of μέου in place of μαΐου is also attested in IGLS 1912, 2053.
5. A theta in the year date is very clear on the archival photo.
Images
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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