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Unpublished.
<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
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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