V 54. Cherson.Invocation, X–XIIth centuries C.E.
Monument
Type
Colonnette.
Material
Sandstone.
Additional description
Crudely planed colonnette. On the cross section is an image of a six-petal rosette in a circle - (to be inserted into a wall?). Damaged.
Place of Origin
Cherson.
Find place
Sevastopol (Chersonesos).
Find context
Wall, southwestern corner, Tower VIII, almost on the ground surface.
Find circumstances
1893, works of the Military Engineering Office.
Modern location
Unknown.
Institution and inventory
Unknown.
Autopsy
Non vidi.
Epigraphic field
Position
On the circular frame.
Lettering
Lapidary. Uneven letters; diamond-shaped omicron.
Letterheights (cm)
3.5.
Text
Category
Invocative inscription.
Date
X–XIIth centuries C.E.
Dating criteria
Palaeography.
Editions
Unpublished.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/><g ref="#stauros"/> Νικ<unclear>ό</unclear><supplied reason="lost">λαε</supplied>
<expan><abbr>μι<supplied reason="lost">τροπολ</supplied></abbr><supplied reason="lost"><ex>ῖτα</ex></supplied></expan>
<unclear>Μ</unclear>υρῶν,
<app type="alternative"><lem><supplied reason="lost">βοήθει</supplied>
<gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/><w part="F">νο</w>
<expan><abbr>μ</abbr><ex>οναχῷ</ex></expan></lem>
<rdg><supplied reason="lost">τῷ</supplied>
<supplied reason="lost">δεῖνα</supplied>
<expan><abbr><supplied reason="lost">οἰκο</supplied>νόμ</abbr><ex>ῳ</ex></expan></rdg></app>.
</ab>
</div>Translation
O Nicho[las, me[tropolitan[ of Myra, [help...], the monk (or: [...], the oikonomos).
Commentary
Due to the monument's disappearance, it is difficult to determine its function. Judging by the shape, it was meant to be inserted into the wall of some structure. On the find context, see Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich 1895, 58. Latyshev twice passed on the attempts to offer a reading (Latyshev 1895a, 24, no. 31; Latyshev 1896, 35-36, no. 30).
The inscription is restored rather hypothetically. Mu at the end can be paralleled in the inscription on a cup, from the excavations of a water reservoir: "... of Constantine, the monk" (Ginkut, Alekseyenko 2003, fig. 1).
The shape of the rosette cannot be used as a criterion for dating because it occurs in pre-Christian times (cf. Canali De Rossi 2004, 250, no. 426), and in the XIVth century (see V 108, V 265). The shape of the monument resembles an inscription, dated 913-914 C.E., from Panagia Chrysokephalos, Trebizond (Bryer, Winfield 1985, 238). The title of Saint Nicolas - metropolitan - rather than bishop or archbishop, most likely points to the Middle Byzantine period. Invocations of Saint Nicolas are common in Byzantine epigraphy of all periods, e.g., Bandy, 1970, no. 24 (Agii Deka, VIth century C.E.) and EEBS 2, 246, 3 (Aigina island, 1282 C.E.).
Images
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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