V 335. Tamatarcha (?). Epitaph of Constantine, XIII–XIVth century C.E.
Monument
Type
Panel.
Material
Marble.
Dimensions (cm)
H. 173.0, W. 59.0, Th. 18.0.
Additional description
Panel in secondary use, with a Totenmahl relief, an inscription dated to 308 C.E. in honour of Marcus Aurelius Andronicus (CIRB 1051) and tamga-shaped sign in the bottom right of the front. The top is sawed off, the relief is weathered.
Place of Origin
Tamatarcha (?).
Find place
Taman, vicinity.
Find context
Unknown.
Find circumstances
February 1830, chance find.
Modern location
Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Institution and inventory
The State Hermitage, Т.1830.1.
Autopsy
September 2006.
Epigraphic field
Position
On the lower part of the slab below the Roman inscription.
Lettering
Lapidary. Alpha with slanting crossbar, delta with extended horizontal raised to mid-letterheight, lunate and rectangular epsilon, lambda with capping horizontal bar, mu with Y-shaped middle, diamond-shaped omicron, rectangular sigma. Ligature omicron-upsilon.
Letterheights (cm)
4.0–6.0.
Text
Category
Epitaph.
Date
XIII–XIVth century C.E.
Dating criteria
Palaeography.
Editions
L1. Stefani 1854, № 28; 1.1. CIG IV.9287; 2. IOSPE I2 363; 2.1. Latyshev 1896, 109–110, № 100; 3. КБНCIRB 1051а.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/>Ἐνθάδε κα<lb n="2" break="no"/>τάκυτε ὁ
<lb n="3"/>δοῦλος τοῦ
<lb n="4"/><roleName>θεοῦ</roleName> Κων<lb n="5" break="no"/>σταντῖ<lb n="6" break="no"/>νος ἱε<lb n="7" break="no"/>ρεὺς <app type="alternative"><lem>καὶ <w part="I">νωμυ</w></lem><rdg><w part="I">καινωμυ</w></rdg></app><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
</ab>
</div> Apparatus criticus
7: νάννης ? Stefani; νωμ[ικός Boeckh; Νι[.]ΜΑ[-]
Translation
Here lies a servant of God, Constantine, a priest and...
Commentary
N.N. Murzakevich (1844, 626) was the first to mention the inscription in print.
1–4. On the formula, see Introduction IV.3.F.d.
4–6. On the name Constantine, see commentary to V 32.
6–7. Priests ("presbyters") are also mentioned in V 32 and V 61 from Cherson (see commentaries). Our inscription is the only example of a presbyter's tombstone in Bosporus (the meaning "bishop" for ἱερεὺς is unlikely here): he was most likely a cleric of the Tamatarcha bishopric, known up until the XIVth century (Darrouzès 1981, 196). The inscription therefore most probably originates in Tamatarcha. Of all possible restorations of the last word, which signifies an office, νομικοταβουλάριος "scribe of the court" and νομιμάριος "guardian of the law" or καινομίκτης «peacemaker» make the best sense (Trapp 1994, 733, 1083). In combination with hiereus, only νομικός is attested (this has been observed already by Boek) - inscriptions of the XIV-XVth centuries and of 1513 C.E. from Cyprus; Stylianou 1960, 107, 116).
The script of the inscription displays several archaic features, possibly due to the imitation of the inscription of Marcus Aurelius Andronicus (CIRB 1051) on the same stone (rectangular epsilon and sigma, diamond-shaped omicron), while delta with extended horizontal raised to mid-letterheight is known in the Northern Black Sea region only from the XIVth century onwards (cf. V 124, V 176). In Byzantine and Slavic epigraphy, this letter shape is unknown before the early XIIIth century (cf. also the shape of alpha).
Images
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
You may download this inscription in EpiDoc XML. (This file should validate to the EpiDoc schema.)