V 338. Utash settlement (?). Dedication of Artemios, XIII-XVth centuries C.E.
Monument
Type
Panel.
Material
Shell-rock.
Dimensions (cm)
H. 196.0, W. 58.0–71.0, Th. 17.0.
Additional description
Panel of trapezoidal shape. Broken at the top, the surface is badly weathered.
Place of Origin
Utash settlement (?).
Find place
Utash settlement (?).
Find context
At a depth of approximately 90 cm.
Find circumstances
1894, chance find.
Modern location
Unknown.
Institution and inventory
Unknown.
Autopsy
Non vidi.
Epigraphic field 1
Position
Above Text 2.
Lettering
See below.
Epigraphic field 2
Position
Below Text 1.
Lettering
Elongated letters. Oval epsilon, mu with T-shaped middle, pi with extended horizontal. Ligatures omicron-upsilon, sigma-epsilon; abbreviations.
Text
Category
Dedication.
Date
XIII-XVth centuries C.E.
Dating criteria
Palaeography.
Editions
L1. Latyshev 1896, 115–116, № 107.
<div type="textpart" subtype="section" n="1">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/><supplied reason="lost"><expan><abbr>Ἰ</abbr><ex>ησοῦ</ex></expan>ς</supplied>
<lb n="2"/>ν<supplied reason="lost">ικᾷ</supplied>
<lb n="3"/><expan><abbr>Χ</abbr><ex>ριστό</ex><abbr>ς</abbr></expan>
</ab>
</div><div type="textpart" subtype="section" n="2">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/>Ἡ <expan><abbr>μετ</abbr><ex>α</ex><abbr>μ</abbr><ex>όρ</ex><abbr>φο<lb n="2" break="no"/>συς</abbr></expan> τοῦ
<expan><abbr>Χ</abbr><ex>ριστο</ex><abbr>ῦ</abbr></expan>.
<lb n="3"/>Ὑπὲρ ψυχι<lb n="4" break="no"/>κῖς <expan><abbr>σ</abbr><ex>ωτ</ex><abbr>ηρ<supplied reason="lost">ί</supplied>ας</abbr></expan>
<lb n="5"/>σεβ<supplied reason="lost">α</supplied>στοῦ
<lb n="6"/><supplied reason="lost">Ἀρ</supplied>τεμίου.
</ab>
</div> Translation
Jesus Christ is victorious.
2The transfiguration of Christ. For the spiritual salvation of revered Artemios.
Commentary
After the discovery, the monument had apparently been sent to the Kerch Museum, but I was not able to locate it there. In preparing his edition, Latyshev used three photographs and a transcription made by Yu.A. Kulakovsky; one of the photographs (the one published here) is preserved at the Photo Archive of the Institute for History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences (Q.759.71). Apparently, the stone originates from Utash settlement where several dozens of Christian stelae have been found (Pletneva, Makarova 2003, 199).
On the formula, see Introduction IV.3.C.e.
1–2. A reference to Transfiguration probably, as had been righly noted by Latyshev, implies a church erected by the dedicant.
3–4. On the formula, see Introduction IV.3.B.d.
5. The title Sebastos (as a court title, not as translation of the Latin augustus) is attested in Byzantium from the middle of the XIth century, but up to the late XIIth century, it was mostly used by members of the Komnenos imperial dynasty. From the XIIIth century onwards, the title was, among other usages, applied to commanders of ethnic military units (ODB 1862–1863; see also Novichikhin 2002).
6. The name Artemios is not otherwise attested in the Northern Black Sea region of the Byzantine period; it is however the name of a great martyr deeply revered in Constantinople (see Delehaye 1902, 151).
Images
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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