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. Shkorpil1900, 59, № 1; 2. КБНCIRB add. 3; 2.1. Diatroptov, Yemets1995, № 14; 2. Vinogradov2007, 257, № 3.
<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).
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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