V 17. Cherson. Building inscription of unknown and Sabbatios, 1167–1198 C.E.

Monument

Type

Panel. 

Material

Limestone. 

Additional description

Flaked and broken into small pieces, of which 28 survive, and some can be joined into 8 fragments, two of them yielding legible sequences. 

Place of Origin

Cherson. 

Find place

Sevastopol (Chersonesos). 

Find context

North sector, Block IX, Room 10, stone fill. 

Find circumstances

1983, excavations of S.G. Ryzhov. 

Modern location

Sevastopol, Crimea. 

Institution and inventory

National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos, 214/37068. 

Autopsy

September 2009. 

Fragment 1

Dimensions (cm)

H. 33.5, W. 20.5, Th. 6.0.

Fragment 2

Dimensions (cm)

H. 9.5, W. 5.0, Th. 5.0.

Fragment 3

Dimensions (cm)

H. 3.0, W. 5.5, Th. 1.5.

Fragment 4

Dimensions (cm)

H. 14.0, W. 14.5, Th. 4.0.

Fragment 5

Dimensions (cm)

H. 7.0, W. 6.0, Th. 3.0.

Fragment 6

Dimensions (cm)

H. 6.0, W. 7.0, Th. 3.5.

Fragment 7

Dimensions (cm)

H. 6.5, W. 5.5, Th. 3.0.

Fragment 8

Dimensions (cm)

H. 4.5, W. 4.5, Th. 1.2.

Epigraphic field

Position

On the front. 

Lettering

Lapidary. Letters are elongated, especially in the top part of the inscription. Some alphas with a slanting crossbar, and some with a loop; delta with extended horizontal raised to mid-letterheight; mu with short central hastae; upsilon with and without tails at the tops of strokes. Ligature: alpha-nu-eta; abbreviation; irregular diacritics. 

Letterheights (cm)

3–5.2.

Text

Category

Building inscription. 

Date

1167–1198 C.E. 

Dating criteria

Palaeography, explicit date. 

Editions

1. Vinogradov 2011, 227–229, № 6. 

Edition

+ Δ̣ηὰ [βοηθείας?] τ[οῦ]
κ(υρίο)υ ἡμῶν Ἰ(ησο)ῦ̣ [Χ(ριστο)ῦ]
ἀνηγ̣έρθη [ὁ ναὸς]
ὁ θ̣(εοτό)[κ(ο)]ῦ δι[ὰ] κ[όπου]
5Γ[...]ου, υἱο[ῦ ...]
[...] καὶ Σαμβ̣[ατίου]
[...] ἠ[ν]δ(ικτιῶνος) β´ +

Diplomatic

+.ΗΑ[........]Τ[..]
ΚΥΗΜΩΝΙ.[...]
ΑΝΗ.ΕΡΘΗ[.....]
Ο.[.]ΥΔΙ[.]Κ[....]
5Γ[···]ΟΥΥΙΟ[.···]
[···]ΚΑΙΣΑΜ.[.....]
[···]Η[.]ΔΒ+

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/><g ref="#stauros"/> <unclear>Δ</unclear>ηὰ
      <supplied reason="lost" cert="low">βοηθείας</supplied>
      τ<supplied reason="lost">οῦ</supplied>
      <lb n="2"/><roleName><expan><abbr>κ</abbr><ex>υρίο</ex><abbr>υ</abbr></expan></roleName>
      ἡμῶν
      <expan><abbr>Ἰ</abbr><ex>ησο</ex><abbr><unclear>ῦ</unclear></abbr></expan>
      <supplied reason="lost"><expan><abbr>Χ</abbr><ex>ριστο</ex><abbr>ῦ</abbr></expan></supplied>
      <lb n="3"/>ἀνη<unclear>γ</unclear>έρθη <supplied reason="lost">ὁ
      ναὸς</supplied>
      <lb n="4"/>ὁ
      <expan><abbr><unclear>θ</unclear></abbr><ex>εοτό</ex><supplied reason="lost"><abbr>κ</abbr><ex>ο</ex></supplied><abbr>ῦ</abbr></expan> δι<supplied reason="lost">ὰ</supplied> κ<supplied reason="lost">όπου</supplied>
      <lb n="5"/>Γ<gap reason="lost" quantity="3" unit="character"/>ου, υἱο<supplied reason="lost">ῦ</supplied> <gap reason="lost" quantity="3" unit="character"/>
      <lb n="6"/><gap reason="lost" quantity="3" unit="character"/> καὶ Σαμ<unclear>β</unclear><supplied reason="lost">ατίου</supplied>
      <lb n="7"/><gap reason="lost" quantity="3" unit="character"/> <date><expan><abbr>ἠ<supplied reason="lost">ν</supplied>δ</abbr><ex>ικτιῶνος</ex></expan> <num value="2">β</num></date> <g ref="#stauros"/>
   </ab>
   </div> 

Translation

With the [help (?)] of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, a [church] of the Mother of the Lord was built, through the efforts of G[...], the son of [...] and Sabba[tios], in the 2nd indiction.

 

Commentary

Ten more fragments survive where individual letter strokes can be discerned.

2. Compare with the formula in V 16.

3. The building formula ἀνηγέρθη occurs nowhere else in the Northern Black Sea area, but is widely used in Byzantine epigraphy elsewhere (no fewer than 26 examples, according to PHI7 Database).

7. On the name Sabbatios (here Sambatios), and the phonetic dissimilation here, see commentary to V 282. The script is similar to that of the tombstone of Petronios (V 68) and therefore also most likely dates to the end of the XIIth C.E. The 2nd indiction in this period fell in the years 1167-1168, 1182–1183 and 1197–1198. The inscriptions most likely refers to the small Church 22 ("Northern basilica") in the same Block IX (see Romanchuk 2000, 236).

 

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