V 101. Cherson.Inscription of Epiphanios (?), IV–Vth centuries C.E.

Monument

Type

Stele. 

Material

White fine-grained marble. 

Dimensions (cm)

H.15.5, W.16.0, Th.2.0.

Additional description

Roman funerary stele decorated with pediment and cornice and fluted Doric colonnettes on each side, with inset (D. 4cm) field inbetween. There may have been a bas-relief and inscription in this architectural space. The front is smooth, and the back is crudely worked; in secondary use. Broken off on the right and bottom. 

Place of Origin

Cherson. 

Find place

Sevastopol (Chersonesos). 

Find context

Northern sector, Block IX, near the bath-house by the Northern basilica, in the masonry of the wall of XII-XIVth centuries. 

Find circumstances

1982, excavations of S.G. Ryzhov. 

Modern location

Sevastopol, Crimea. 

Institution and inventory

National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos, 179/37050. 

Autopsy

May 1999, August 2001, September 2002, September 2003, September 2004, September 2005, September 2006, September 2007. 

Epigraphic field

Position

On the cornice. 

Lettering

Lapidary. Alpha with slanting crossbar, bouletée epsilon, elongated phi. 

Letterheights (cm)

1.0–1.4.

Text

Category

Unknown. 

Date

IV–Vth centuries C.E. 

Dating criteria

Palaeography. 

Editions

L1. Solomonik1986, 217, № 8, fig. 13; 2. Vinogradov2010, 150–151, № p. 

Edition

+ Ἐπηφα[νι---]

Diplomatic

+ΕΠΗΦΑ[..---]

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/><g ref="#stauros"/> <seg part="I">Ἐπηφα<supplied reason="lost">νι</supplied></seg><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
   </ab>
   </div>

Translation

Epipha[ni...

 

Commentary

It is not clear whether the name Epiphanios or Epiphania stood at the beginning of the inscription. An ancient relief in this case was reused as a Christian tombstone. The name Epiphanios has parallels in the Northern Black Sea region (Beševliev 1964, № 105, 113). An additional possibility is that we are dealing with the name of a feast - Epiphany.

The lettershapes are close to the script of V 5 where alphas in lines 4 and 6 are also heavily tilted to the left.

 

Images

(cc)© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
You may download this inscription in EpiDoc XML. (This file should validate to theEpiDoc schema.)