V 144. Laki.Epitaph of Tzoupanis and Alexis, 1364 C.E.
Monument
Type
Stele.
Material
Limestone.
Dimensions (cm)
H.152.0, W.35.0, Th.29.0.
Additional description
The top is shaped as on ogee arch with acroteria. On the front - relief cross within ornamental frame, and an ornamental circle.
Place of Origin
Laki.
Find place
Laki.
Find context
Forest, cemetery.
Find circumstances
Summer of 1898, survey of A.L. Bertye-Delagard.
Modern location
Bakhchisaray, Crimea.
Institution and inventory
Bakhchisaray State Historical and Cultural Preserve, АЖ I–2343.
Autopsy
September 2006.
Epigraphic field
Position
Within a frame.
Lettering
Lapidary. Elongated letters. Alpha with right-slanting crossbar, vertical right hasta, and capping horizontal bar pointing left; pi with extended horizontal. Ligature: omicron-upsilon. Superscript marks.
Letterheights (cm)
1.5–3.0.
Text
Category
Epitaph.
Date
1364 C.E.
Dating criteria
Explicit date.
Editions
L1. Latyshev1898, 235–238, 252, № 64г.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/><expan><abbr>Ἐσφά</abbr><ex>γ</ex><abbr>η</abbr></expan> ὁ
ἐν <expan><abbr>μακαρίο</abbr><ex>ι</ex><abbr>ς</abbr></expan> καὶ
<expan><abbr>δοῦ</abbr><ex>λος</ex></expan>
<lb n="2"/>τοῦ <roleName><expan><abbr>θ</abbr><ex>εο</ex><abbr>ῦ</abbr></expan></roleName>
Τζουπάνις τοῦ Ἰα
<lb n="3" break="no"/>νάκου καὶ τοῦ ἱοῦ αὐτοῦ
<lb n="4"/>Ἀλέξις ὑπὸ ἡμερῶν
Τεμ<supplied reason="lost">ί</supplied>ρη
<lb n="5"/>ἐν <date><expan><abbr>μη</abbr><ex>νὶ</ex></expan> <rs type="month" ref="iun">Ἰουνίου</rs> <unclear>ὐ</unclear><supplied reason="lost">ς</supplied><supplied reason="lost">τ</supplied>ὰ <num value="28">κη</num>,
<lb n="6"/>ἔτους <num value="6872">ςωοβ</num></date>
</ab>
</div>
Apparatus criticus
5: ἡμ(έρᾳ)Latyshev
Translation
Slaughtered, in the blessed ones, and a servant of God, Tzoupanis, son of Ianakos, and his son Alexis, in the days of Temires, on the 28th of June, in the year 6872.
Commentary
Latyshev used a photograph made by Bertye-Delagard in preparing the publication of this inscription. That photograph is preserved at the Photo Archive, Institute for History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences (О.1077.11; О.1529.85).
1-2. The formula "slaughtered" is also known from an undated (probably post-Byzantine) inscription from the village Kudrino (former Shury; Latyshev 1910, 4–5, № 12, fig. 12). We may compare the formula ἐδόθη ὑπὸ τοῦ ξίφους in the inscription of 1301 C.E. from Asia Minor (Bees 1922, № 77). The formula "in the blessed memory, and a servant of God" (with the omission of the word "memory") is attested in V 224.
3. The name Ianakos could be Turkic or a corruption of the Greek Ioannikios.
4. On the name Alexis, see commentary to V 167; conflation of grammatical cases is common for Mountainous Crimea (cf. V 135, V 136). For the formula ὑπὸ ἡμερῶν, see V 172, V 179 and V 180. Latyshev thought that Temires of this inscription was Kutluk-Temir, the khan's governor for Crimea. According to Latyshev, his mention was meant to underscore that Tzoupanis and Alexis had met their deaths at the hands of Tatars (see also Myts 2009, 38–39).
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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