V 307. Pantikapaion.Epitaph of an unknown, 691–692 C.E.

Monument

Type

Panel. 

Material

Grayish marble. 

Dimensions (cm)

H.3.5, W.10.5, Th.2.0.

Additional description

Cut at the bottom and polished; the back is carefully smoothed. Broken on the top and left. 

Place of Origin

Pantikapaion. 

Find place

Kerch. 

Find context

Predtechenskaya (modern Lenin) Square. 

Find circumstances

1911, construction works. 

Modern location

Unknown. 

Institution and inventory

Unknown. 

Autopsy

Non vidi. 

Epigraphic field

Position

On the front. 

Lettering

Lapidary. Alpha with broken crossbar, round and diamond-shaped omicron. 

Letterheights (cm)

1.5–2.0.

Text

Category

Epitaph. 

Date

691–692 C.E. 

Dating criteria

Explicit date. 

Editions

Unpublished. 

Edition

[..]., ͵ς̣σ̣´ ἔτο-
[υς] ἀπὸ Ἀδ(ά)μ.

Diplomatic

[··]·..ΕΤΟ
[..]ΑΠΟΑΔΜ

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/><gap reason="lost" quantity="2" unit="character"/><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="character"/>, 
      <num value="6200"><unclear>ςσ</unclear></num> ἔτο<lb n="2" break="no"/><supplied reason="lost">υς</supplied> ἀπὸ
      <expan><abbr>Ἀδ</abbr><ex>ά</ex><abbr>μ</abbr></expan>.
   </ab>
   </div>

Translation

...in the year 6299 since Adam.

 

Commentary

The inscription was originally published without a critical edition (Shkorpil 1912, 21, № 12). The shape of the monument and the formula of the inscription make it clear that this is a tombstone (for parallels, see commentary to V 319). On the dating 'since Adam,' typical for the VIII-Xth centuries, see Introduction IV. 4. D and Vinogradov 2008. On the drawing of Shkorpil, stigma is followed by a sign, from which a part of the bottom semicircle is preserved: the possibility with the number of tens is to be excluded, thus only sigma remains. Indeed, of all monuments that use the dating formula 'since Adam,' only the earliest (V 316 (767 C.E.)) bears resemblance to the palaeography of our monument. For such an early date according to the era 'since Creation', cf. Ὀρλάνδος, Βρανούσσης 1973, № 34 (693 C.E.); our example from Kerch is virtually the oldest inscription dated in this way (on the correspondence between the years 'since Creation' and 'since the Birth of Christ' in the Middle Byzantine period, see Introduction IV. 4. D).

 

Images

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