V 292. Pantikapaion.Epitaph of Theodore, IV-Vth century C.E.
Monument
Type
Panel.
Material
Fine-grained limestone.
Dimensions (cm)
H.60.0, W.53.0, Th.13.0.
Additional description
On the front - a cross with forking arms in the top left corner, painted with ochre. Cut at the top.
Place of Origin
Pantikapaion.
Find place
Kerch.
Find context
Glinishche, garden of Poltavsky.
Find circumstances
3 May 1909, chance find.
Modern location
Kerch, Crimea.
Institution and inventory
Historical and Archeological Museum of Kerch State Historical and Cultural Preserve, КЛ–547.
Autopsy
May 1999, September 2004, September 2008.
Epigraphic field
Position
On the front.
Lettering
Lapidary; letters filled with ochre. Alpha with broken crossbar, delta with leftward projecting right diagonal, rectangular epsilon, omicron, theta and sigma. Ligature: omicron-upsilon (rectangular); abbreviation mark.
Letterheights (cm)
5.0–11.0.
Text
Category
Epitaph.
Date
IV-Vth century C.E.
Dating criteria
Palaeography.
Editions
L1. Marti1911, 6–8, № 2; 1.1. Diatroptov, Yemets1995, № 21.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/>Ἐνθά<lb n="2" break="no"/>δε κῖ<lb n="3" break="no"/>τε ὁ δοῦ<lb n="4" break="no"/>λος τοῦ
<lb n="5"/><roleName>Θεοῦ</roleName> Θεόδ<lb n="6" break="no"/><expan><abbr>ορ</abbr><ex>ος</ex></expan>.
</ab>
</div>Translation
Here lies a servant of God, Theodore.
Commentary
Marti reported an inscription on the top side of the monument, cut by the same hand as the main text, but illegible. I was not able to discent any letters there. The archival photograph is preserved at Photo Archive, Institute for History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences (I–90986; Q.759.91).
1–5. On the formula, see Introduction IV.3.F.d.
5–6. On the name Theodore, see commentary to V 275. On the abbreviation marks, see commentary to V 273.
Marti dated the inscription to the Early Byzantine period, and Diatroptov and Yemets to the V-VIth centuries. The script is, however, typical of Bosporan tombstones of the IV-Vth centuries (see Introduction IV.2.A.b).
Images
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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