V 273. Pantikapaion. Epitaph of Eutropis, IVth century C.E.

Monument

Type

Stele. 

Material

Fine-grained limestone. 

Dimensions (cm)

H. 64.0, W. 63.0, Th. 16.0.

Additional description

On the front - carved cross with flaring arms. Broken virtually on all sides. 

Place of Origin

Pantikapaion. 

Find place

Kerch. 

Find context

Glinishche, garden of K. Woerle. 

Find circumstances

Second half of January 1898. 

Modern location

Kerch, Crimea. 

Institution and inventory

Historical and Archeological Museum of Kerch State Historical and Cultural Preserve, КЛ–1740. 

Autopsy

May 1999, September 2004, September 2008. 

Epigraphic field

Position

Above the cross. 

Lettering

Lapidary. Alpha with broken crossbar, rectangular (1st) and lunate (2nd-4th) epsilon, kappa both with and without extended vertical, pi with extended horizontal, lunate sigma. 

Letterheights (cm)

3.0–5.0.

Text

Category

Epitaph. 

Date

IVth century C.E. 

Dating criteria

Palaeography. 

Editions

L1. Shkorpil 1900, 59, № 1; 2. КБНCIRB add. 3; 2.1. Diatroptov, Yemets 1995, № 14; 2. Vinogradov 2007, 257, № 3. 

Edition

+ Ἐνθάδε κατάκι-
ται Εὐτρόπις. Χα(ῖρε).

Diplomatic

+ΕΝΘΑΔΕΚΑΤΑΚΙ
ΤΑΙΕΥΤΡΟΠΙΣΧΑ

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/><g ref="#stauros"/> Ἐνθάδε κατάκι<lb n="2" break="no"/>ται
      Εὐτρόπις.
      <expan><abbr>Χα</abbr><ex>ῖρε</ex></expan>.
   </ab>
   </div> 
 
Apparatus criticus

2: Χα(ῖρε) Vinogradov; χα´ Shkorpil, Gaydukevich, Diatroptov

Translation

Here lies Eutropis. Rejoice.

 

Commentary

The inscription was found together with V 291.

1-2. On the formula, see Introduction IV.3.F.d.

2. The name Eutropis (Eutropios) is common in Christian epigraphy - 17 times, according to PHI7 Database (see, e.g., TAM V.2, 1161 (Thyatera), МАМА Х 9 (Ankyra, IV в.)). Also two saints of this name are known (Delehaye 1902, 476, 503). On the transition of endings in -ιος to -ις, see Tokhtasiev 2007.

Following Shkorpil who believed that the "stigma at end of the inscription had been simply as a punctuation mark," all researches have considered the last two letters of the text to be indications of the year according to the Bosporan era. Not a single other inscription, however, contains a year date followed by an S-shaped sign; rather the latter is a typical abbreviation mark, used among others, in Bosporan Christian inscriptions (cf. V 279, V 292). Thus we are led to believe that ΧΑ here is an abbreviation of χαῖρε, typical for funerary inscriprions, including Christian (over 50 times according to PHI7 Database). It is noteworthy that ΧΑ is the most common abbreviation attested in papyri for the typologically indentical greeting χαίρειν. My reading of the inscription has been supported by S.R. Tokhtasiev (2007, 118).

 

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.)