V 343. Taman peninsula. Inscription of Kyriakos, Mary and Constantine, IX-Xth centuries C.E.

Monument

Type

Stele. 

Material

Shell-rock. 

Dimensions (cm)

H. 0.22, W. 0.35, Th. неизвестна.

Additional description

Stele with the top in the shape of a circle with relief moulded border and inset centre; the latter shows a depression carved to receive a cross. 

Place of Origin

Taman peninsula. 

Find place

Taman peninsula. 

Find context

Unknown. 

Find circumstances

1980-90ies, chance find. 

Modern location

Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk region, Russia. 

Institution and inventory

Magnitogorsk State University (?), no inventory number. 

Autopsy

Non vidi. 

Epigraphic field

Position

Below the relief. 

Lettering

Bouletée. Alpha with pointy loop and broken crossbar (line 4), oval and diamond-shaped theta, kappa with extended vertical, lambda with projecting right hasta, Y-shaped and У-shaped upsilon. Ligatures omicron-upslion, sigma-tau, epsilon-upsilon minuscule sigma (?); abbreviation marks. 

Letterheights (cm)

1.5–2.0.

Text

Category

Apotropaic inscription. 

Date

IX-Xth centuries C.E. 

Dating criteria

Palaeography. 

Editions

Unpublished. 

Edition

Κ(ύρι)ε ὑ(μῶν?) (pro ἡ(μῶν?)) , δέσπωτα κακοῦ, πθόνου καὶ ζήλου
καὶ πνευματικοῦ πράγματος· κ(ύρι)ε, δόξα σ[οι].
Κ(ύρι)ε ὦ θ(εό)ς, φύλαξον τοὺς δούλους
τοῦ θ(εο)ῦ Κυριακὸν κ(αὶ) Μα(ρίαν) κ(αὶ) Κοσταντίνου ἀ̣[π-]
5ὼ πθόνον, ψοφης κ(αὶ) μαγ̣[είας],
κ(αὶ) πθόνος οὐκ ἅ̣[ψῃ αὐτούς (e.g.)]

Diplomatic

ΚΕΥΔΕΣΠΩΤΑΚΑΚΟΥΠΘΟΝΟΥΚΑΙΖΗΛΟΥ
ΚΑΙΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙΚΟΥΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΟΣΚΕΔΟΞΑΣ[..]
ΚΕΩΘΣΦΥΛΑΞΟΝΤΟΥΣΔΟΥΛΟΥΣ
ΤΟΥΘΥΚΥΡΙΑΚΟΝΚΜΑΚΚΟΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥ.[.-]
5ΩΠΘΟΝΟΝΨΟΦΗΣΚΜΑ.[....]
ΚΠΘΟΝΟΣΟΥΚ.[............]

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
    <lb n="1"/><roleName><expan><abbr>Κ</abbr><ex>ύρι</ex><abbr>ε</abbr></expan></roleName>
    <choice><orig><expan><abbr>ὑ</abbr><ex cert="low">μῶν</ex></expan></orig>
     <reg cert="low"><expan><abbr>ἡ</abbr><ex cert="low">μῶν</ex></expan></reg></choice>,
    δέσπωτα κακοῦ, πθόνου καὶ ζήλου
    <lb n="2"/>καὶ πνευματικοῦ πράγματος· <roleName><expan><abbr>κ</abbr><ex>ύρι</ex><abbr>ε</abbr></expan></roleName>,
    δόξα σ<supplied reason="lost">οι</supplied>.
    <lb n="3"/><roleName><expan><abbr>Κ</abbr><ex>ύρι</ex><abbr>ε</abbr></expan></roleName>
    ὦ <roleName><expan><abbr>θ</abbr><ex>εό</ex><abbr>ς</abbr></expan></roleName>,
    φύλαξον τοὺς δούλους
    <lb n="4"/>τοῦ <roleName><expan><abbr>θ</abbr><ex>εο</ex><abbr>ῦ</abbr></expan></roleName>
    Κυριακὸν <expan><abbr>κ</abbr><ex>αὶ</ex></expan>
    <expan><abbr>Μα</abbr><ex>ρίαν</ex></expan>
    <expan><abbr>κ</abbr><ex>αὶ</ex></expan>
    Κοσταντίνου
    <unclear>ἀ</unclear><supplied reason="lost">π</supplied><lb n="5" break="no"/>ὼ πθόνον, ψοφης <expan><abbr>κ</abbr><ex>αὶ</ex></expan>
    μα<unclear>γ</unclear><supplied reason="lost">είας</supplied>,
    <lb n="6"/><expan><abbr>κ</abbr><ex>αὶ</ex></expan> πθόνος οὐκ
    <unclear>ἅ</unclear><supplied reason="lost">ψῃ</supplied>
    <supplied reason="lost">αὐτούς <note>e.g.</note></supplied>
   </ab>
  </div> 

Translation

Our (?) Lord, a Master over evil, envy, jealousy and spiritual matter; O Lord, glory is yours. O Lord God, protect the servants of God, Kyriakos, Mary, and Constantine from envy, slander, and sorcery; and may envy [not touch them (?)].

 

Commentary

A photograph of the monument was kindly provided to me by S.E. Andreyeva. The monument was a stele with a circle-shaped top. The circular front bore an inset centre surrounded by relief border, with a further cavity in the centre carved to receive a cross. The specially inserted cross (possibly containing relics, or perhaps a sacred item in itself) must have had an apotropaic function. There are similar (cross accompanied by text) apotropaic monuments from Cherson: V 42, V 109).

1-2. Reconstructions are difficult in some places, including the words at the beginning of line 1. A complex third sign in that line looks like an upside down mu with a vertical line through the centre, and might be a combination of mu, omega and nu. The formula "master of evil etc." is somewhat unusual, and should probably be understood as "Master over evil etc." The expression πνευματικοῦ πράγματος should be understood as "action of evil spirits" (cf. Ps. 90.6) - in Byzantine epigraphy, such attestation is unique: the adjective πνευματικὸς is typically used in positive sense or in reference to clerical status.

4. Ligature mu-alpha is an abbreviation of the name Mary, which is commonly found in this form on icons. On the name Kyriakos, see commentary to V 72, on Konstantinos - see commentary to V 32.

5. The meaning of the word ψοφης is also not entirely clear: it is either dat. plur. of the word ψόφος "mere noise" (LSJ, s.v.), or gen. sing. of an otherwise unknown noun ψοφή with some similar meaning. We should also note an unusual dissimilation of consonants in the word πθόνος, which might be a reflection of local pronunciation, or a deliberate misspelling in order to avoid the evil eye. There is one analogy for such spelling, found in a papyrus - PRyl 2, № 144. It is specifically this word that appears in different parts of the text in combination with various other calamities that need to be repelled: jealousy, action of evil spirits, malediction (?) and sorcery.

The shapes of theta and lambda in this text are similar to some monuments of the Middle Byzantine period (cf. V 240).

 

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.)