V 126. Kermenchik.Epitaph of Basileios, 1448 C.E.
Monument
Type
Casket-shaped tombstone.
Material
Limestone.
Additional description
Casket-shaped monument with saddleback lid, with ornament on the left side of the lid, a depression on the front, and a projecting ledge at the bottom. Letters are effaced.
Place of Origin
Kermenchik.
Find place
Vysokoe.
Find context
East of Yukhary-Kermenchik, Sarcha-kilse Tract, Balaban-karagach-kilse, Church of Forty Martyrs, cemetery.
Find circumstances
1915-1916, survey of M.I. Skubetov.
Modern location
Unknown.
Institution and inventory
Unknown.
Autopsy
Non vidi.
Epigraphic field
Position
In the depression and on the ledge.
Lettering
Unknown.
Text
Category
Epitaph.
Date
1448 C.E.
Dating criteria
Explicit date.
Editions
L1. Latyshev1918, 41–42, № 10.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/>Ἐκυμίθι ὁ μα<lb n="2" break="no"/>καριότατος
<lb n="3"/>δοῦλος τοῦ
<roleName><expan><abbr>θ</abbr><ex>εο</ex><abbr>ῦ</abbr></expan></roleName>
Βασίλις
<lb n="4"/><orig>Α</orig> <date><expan><abbr>μι</abbr><ex>νὶ</ex></expan>
<rs type="month" ref="aug"><supplied reason="omitted">Αὐ</supplied>γου<supplied reason="lost">στοῦ</supplied></rs>
<num><gap reason="lost" quantity="2" unit="character"/>,</num>
<supplied reason="lost" cert="low">ἐπὶ</supplied>
<lb n="5"/>ἔτους <num value="6956">ςϠνς</num></date>.
</ab>
</div>
Apparatus criticus
4: ΑΜΙΛΟΓΟΥ ......Latyshev
Translation
Fell asleep: the most blessed servant of God, Basileios, ... of August, in the year 6956.
Commentary
Because the plates for Latyshev's article were never published, and the stone disappeared, our reconstruction of this inscription remains rather hypothetical.
1-3. On the formula, see Introduction IV.3.F.e. The epithet "most blessed" with reference to secular individuals is attested in Byzantine epigraphy about 10 times (according to PHI7 Database) and in such cases designates a deceased or long-deceased person.
3. The name Basileios (here spelled Basilis) is also known in Crimea from V 44.
4-5. In most inscriptions from Kermenchik we find a dating formula by the day of the month - it would be logical to restore it here, while correcting similar-looking letters (alpha instead of lambda and epsilon instead of omicron, as in Latyshev's edition), however, an earlier inscription from Kermenchik - V 123 - displays the dating formula ἐπὶ ἔτους (for more detail, see Introduction III.1.C.b), for which reason we are also cautiously restoring it here.
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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