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Unpublished. 

Edition

+ Νικό̣[λαε] μι[τροπολ(ῖτα)] Μ̣υρῶν, [βοήθει ---]νο μ(οναχῷ) resp. [τῷ δεῖνα οἰκο]νόμ(ῳ) .

Diplomatic

+ΝΙΚ.[...]ΜΙ[......].ΥΡΩΝ[......---]ΝΟΜ

EpiDoc (XML)

<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

(cc) © 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
You may download this inscription in EpiDoc XML. (This file should validate to the EpiDoc schema.)