V 50. Cherson.Invocation on reused ancient relief, IX–Xth centuries C.E.
Monument
Type
Stele.
Material
Marble.
Dimensions (cm)
H.43.0, W.41.5, Th.unknown.
Additional description
Trapezoidal stele with Totenmahl relief, in secondary use: a cross is cut between the original figures on the relief, and three more crosses of the same shape (T-shaped arms' ends) are cut on the frame below the relief.
Place of Origin
Cherson.
Find place
Sevastopol (Chersonesos).
Find context
Church No 23 ("Uvarov basilica"), near the southern wall.
Find circumstances
1853, excavations of A.S. Uvarov.
Modern location
Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Institution and inventory
State Hermitage, Х–1039.
Autopsy
October 2001.
Epigraphic field 1
Position
Between the figures on the relief.
Lettering
Lapidary. Letters are of varying heights. Alpha with broken crossbar; beta with bottom underline; kappa with extended vertical; У-shaped upsilon.
Letterheights (cm)
1.2–6.
Text 1
Category
Demonstrative.
Date
IX–Xth centuries C.E.
Dating criteria
Palaeography, orthography.
Editions
L1. Latyshev1896, 23–26, № 12; 1.1. Kieseritzky, Watzinger1909, 134, № 734.
<div type="textpart" subtype="inscription" n="1">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/>Φο͂ς,
<lb n="2"/>ζοή.
</ab>
</div>Translation
Light, life.
Commentary
On the formula, seeIV.3.C.b.
Images
Epigraphic field 2
Position
On the frame below the relief.
Lettering
See field 1.
Text 2
Category
Invocative inscription.
Date
IX–Xth centuries C.E.
Dating criteria
Palaeography, orthography.
Editions
L1. Latyshev1896, 23–26, № 12; 1.1. Kieseritzky, Watzinger1909, 134, № 734.
<div type="textpart" subtype="inscription" n="2">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/><roleName>Κύριε</roleName>,
βοήθη
<lb n="2"/>τὸν ὖκον τοῦτον,
ἀμήν.
</ab>
</div>Translation
O Lord, help this house.
Commentary
This ancient relief and its inscription were often discussed in publications of the XIXth century (Uvarov 1855, 168-170; Tolstoy, Kondakov 1889, 115; Kulakovsky1896, 49; Latyshev 1897, 150).
1. Theta at the end of the line is fully visible, and not just by half, as was the opinion of Latyshev.
1-2. On the formula, see IV.3.E.a. Byzantine parallels for this particular variant (IGLS 1450, 2635; see also Reynolds 1960, 286, no. 5 lf; Cyrene, 365 (?) C.E.) come from domestic structures rather than churches, and so it is possible that in our case as well the relief was first reused in a house wall and inscribed at that time, and only later built into the wall of Church 23 (although it was found not in the wall, but next to it). On the practice of building ancient stelae with reliefs into the walls of churches, see Saradi 1997.
Latyshev's date - 1st half of the Xth century, which depends on the faulty dating of the Stephani Basilica, is actually not as wrong as it is sometimes made out to be (Sorochan 2005, 784, n. 404). The characteristic beta with bottom underline, as well as the interchange of diphthong οι and upsilon, impossible in Byzantium prior to the VIIIth century, makes any earlier date for our inscription also improbable. At the same time, alpha with broken crossbar, which is still known in Cherson in the early Xth century (see V 66, 915 C.E.), disappears after the middle of the XIth (cf. V 11). Finally, beta with bottom underline is typical specifically for IX-Xth centuries. Thus, we should date this inscription to the IX-Xth centuries.
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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