V 287. Pantikapaion. Epitaph of Archelaos, IVth century C.E.

Monument

Type

Stele. 

Material

Soft limestone. 

Dimensions (cm)

H. 52.0, W. 37.0, Th. 8.0.

Additional description

On the front - elongated cross with flaring arms. Broken in four parts, broken off on the bottom. 

Place of Origin

Pantikapaion. 

Find place

Kerch. 

Find context

Glinishche, Bratskaya St. (modern Frunze St.), house no. 17, property of the widow of A. Bondarenko. 

Find circumstances

1903, chance find 

Modern location

Unknown. 

Institution and inventory

Unknown. 

Autopsy

Non vidi. 

Epigraphic field

Position

On either side of the cross. 

Lettering

Lapidary. Alpha with broken crossbar, rectangular and lunate epsilon, diamond-shaped theta. 

Letterheights (cm)

3.0–4.0.

Text

Category

Epitaph. 

Date

IVth century C.E. 

Dating criteria

Palaeography. 

Editions

L1. Latyshev 1904, 87, № 101; 1.1. Diatroptov, Yemets 1995, № 10. 

Edition

Col. A
+Ἐν
θά-
δε
κα-
5τά-
κι-
τε Col. B

ὁ δο-
ῦλος
10τοῦ-
Θ-
ε-
ο-

15Ἀ[ρ-]
χέ-
λα-
ος.

Diplomatic

Col. A
+ΕΝ
ΘΑ
ΔΕ
ΚΑ
5ΤΑ
ΚΙ
ΤΕCol. B

ΟΔΟ
ΥΛΟΣ
10ΤΟΥ
Θ
Ε
Ο
Υ
15Α[.-]
ΧΕ
ΛΑ
ΟΣ

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab><cb n="A"/>
      <lb n="1"/><g ref="#stauros"/>Ἐν
    <lb n="2"/>θά<lb n="3" break="no"/>δε
      <lb n="4"/>κα<lb n="5" break="no"/>τά<lb n="6" break="no"/>κι<lb n="7" break="no"/>τε
      <cb n="B"/>
      <lb n="8"/>ὁ δο<lb n="9" break="no"/>ῦλος
      <lb n="10"/>τοῦ<lb n="11" break="no"/><roleName>Θ<lb n="12" break="no"/>ε<lb n="13" break="no"/>ο<lb n="14" break="no"/>ῦ</roleName>
      <lb n="15"/>Ἀ<supplied reason="lost">ρ</supplied><lb n="16" break="no"/>χέ<lb n="17" break="no"/>λα<lb n="18" break="no"/>ος.
   </ab>
   </div> 

Translation

Here lies a servant of God, Archelaos.

 

Commentary

The insciprion was gifted to the Kerch Museum by A.G. Hessel. Another monument - V 270 - was found nearby.

1–15. On the formula, see Introduction IV.3.F.d.

16-19. The name Archelaos is attested in Bosporus four times (see CIRB 855), however all those cases date no later than the I century C.E. It is therefore possible that the name re-appeared as a result of Christian influence: three martyrs of this name are known (see Delehaye 1902, 1058); it is attested in Christian inscriptions at least 8 times (according to PHI7 Database).

Yemets and Diatroptov date the inscription to the VIth century, probably reflecting a misunderstanding of Latyshev's words "no later than the VIth century." The fact of its discovery next to V 270 (cf. also similar shape of the cross) rather suggests that our monument should be dated to the IVth century, although its workmanship is quite crude.

 

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.)