V 46. Cherson. Invocation of Michael, Х–XIth centuries C.E.

Monument

Type

Panel. 

Material

Inkerman limestone. 

Dimensions (cm)

H. 28.0, W. 33.0, Th. 12.0.

Additional description

On the front is an anathyrosis along the top and right edge; there is incised framing line on the left, decorated with an incised geometric ornament; in the centre of the panel is a roughly chiseled image of a cross with forking ends, on Golgotha; on either side of the top arm of the cross are two small versions of the same type of cross, faintly incised. 

Place of Origin

Cherson. 

Find place

Sevastopol (Chersonesos). 

Find context

Northern shore, in the masonry of the monastery fence. 

Find circumstances

1896, survey of M.N. Skubetov. 

Modern location

Saint Petersburg, Russia. 

Institution and inventory

The State Museum of the History of Religion, no inventory number. 

Autopsy

November 2004. 

Epigraphic field

Position

In the bottom left corner between the arms of the cross. 

Lettering

Lapidary. Letters are angular and uneven. Alpha with a loop; delta with extended horizontal; iota with diaeresis. Ligature: omicron-upsilon. 

Letterheights (cm)

1.7–3.0.

Text

Category

Invocative inscription. 

Date

Х–XIth centuries C.E. 

Dating criteria

Palaeography. 

Editions

L1. Latyshev 1908, 32, № 27. 

Edition

Κ(ύρι)ε, βοήθ-
η τὸν δοῦ-
λό(ν) σου Μι-
χαήλη.

Diplomatic

ΚΕΒΟΗΘ
ΗΤΟΝΔΟΥ
ΛΟΣΟΥΜΙ
ΧΑΗΛΗ

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>,
      βοήθ<lb n="2" break="no"/>η τὸν
      <expan><abbr>δοῦ<lb n="3" break="no"/>λό</abbr><ex>ν</ex></expan> σου
      Μι<lb n="4" break="no"/>χαήλη.
   </ab>
   </div> 
 
Apparatus criticus

3-4: Μιχαήλει Latyshev

Translation

O Lord, help your servant Michael.

 

Commentary

The letters of the inscription appear scratched into the stone rather than carved: their shapes are angular. It is not absolutely clear whether the inscription is contemporary with the carving of the cross or made later, e.g., at the same time with the two small crosses. For this reason, it is not clear whether we should classify this inscription as dedicatory or as a graffito on a pre-existing monument.

The cross with forking ends, also sloppily executed, finds parallels in V 41 and V 72; the geometrically-patterned frame is similar to that on V 37.

1-3. On the formula, see IV.3.E.a.

3-4. The name Μιχαήλ, in the Byzantine period, was also declined according to the noun forms Μιχάηλος or Μιχαήλιος (see, e.g.,Sozomenus. Hist. eccl. 2, 3, 8), from where we get the typically Byzantine form of accusative Μιχαήλιν, with the omicron dropping out. The omission of the final nu in δοῦλον and Μιχαήλην can probably be explained by the process of transition to Modern Greek. Such an explanation seems more probable than the one offered by Latyshev, who suspected a confusion of noun cases, which is indeed common in Byzantine inscriptions using this formula (see IV.3.E.a).

 

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.)