V 248. Sougdaia. Dedication (?) of Simon, XIth century C.E.

Monument

Type

Icon in relief. 

Material

Limestone from south-western Crimea. 

Dimensions (cm)

H. 3.0, W. 18.0, Th. unknown.

Additional description

Broken on all sides, except the bottom; only the raised border and remains of the icon's narrative field survive. 

Place of Origin

Sougdaia. 

Find place

Sudak. 

Find context

Fortress, surface inventory. 

Find circumstances

1988, excavations of I.A. Baranov. 

Modern location

Sudak, Crimea. 

Institution and inventory

Museum "Sudak Fortress", no inventory number. 

Autopsy

September 2003, September 2009. 

Epigraphic field

Position

On the bottom border. 

Lettering

Lapidary; mu with Y-shaped middle. 

Letterheights (cm)

1.5–2.0.

Text

Category

Dedication (?). 

Date

XIth century C.E. 

Dating criteria

Palaeography. 

Editions

L1. Solomonik 1991, 177–178, № 4; 2. Vinogradov, Dzhanov 2004, 418–420, № 11. 

Edition

[Προσφορ]ὰ Σήμων ἀμ[αρτωλοῦ?].

Diplomatic

[.......]ΑΣΗΜΩΝΑΜ[.......]

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/><supplied reason="lost">Προσφορ</supplied>ὰ
      Σήμων
      ἀμ<supplied reason="lost" cert="low">αρτωλοῦ</supplied>.
   </ab>
   </div> 
 
Apparatus criticus

1: ...]α Σίμονα μ[οναχόν (?) Solomonik

Translation

[Offering] of [the sinful (?)] Simon.

 

Commentary

The restoration proposed by Solomonik faces one obstacle: the inscription on the bottom of the raised border is most likely dedicatory, and if we restore an accusative, we would have to imagine either a formula "Lord, help" or "Lord, save." The alpha before the name, however, cannot belong to an article or to a verb of this kind. The name Simon, taken from ancient Hebrew, can be declined or remain indeclinable. In the latter case, we would interpret the following two letters as the beginning of the next word (ΑΜ), with the word "sinful" readily springing to mind, as it is a typical Byzantine topos of self deprecation. The alpha before the name most likely indicates a feminine noun, denoting either the act of gifting or the object given, e.g., προσφορά "offering," although the absence of an article before an indeclinable name certainly seems problematic.

At the same, it should be noted that a restoration based on the name "Simon" (here Semon) is not the only possibility; others include [ὑπὲρ σωτηρί]ας ἡμῶν ἀμ[αρτωλῶν].

 

Images

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