V 65. Cherson.Epitaph of Ariston, IV–Vth centuries C.E.

Monument

Type

Wall. 

Material

Ochre on plaster. 

Dimensions (cm)

H.26.0, W.26.5.

Additional description

Painted on the back wall of funerary niche: two green branches with three red flowers and green leaves and on each, and a compass-drawn circle in red paint with inscription inside. Faded.  

Place of Origin

Cherson. 

Find place

Sevastopol (Chersonesos). 

Find context

Necropolis by the Extramural Cruciform Church, Burial vault 2/2006 ("of the year 2002"), right bench, rear wall. 

Find circumstances

2002, survey of E.Ya. Turovsky. 

Modern location

In situ. 

Institution and inventory

In situ, no inventory number. 

Autopsy

May 1999, August 2001, September 2002, September 2003, September 2004, September 2005, September 2006, September 2007. 

Epigraphic field

Position

Inside the circle. 

Lettering

Dipinto; letters lean slightly to the right. Alpha with left-slanting crossbar and upward projecting right diagonal, half-diamond epsilon, mu with shortened middle, У-shaped upsilon. 

Letterheights (cm)

2.5–4.0.

Text

Category

Epitaph. 

Date

IV–Vth centuries C.E. 

Dating criteria

Archaeological context, palaeography. 

Editions

L1. Vinogradov2009, 229-231; 1.1. Vinogradov2010, 124–126, № d. 

Edition

Ἀρίστω-
ν ἀληθάρ-
[γ]ητε,
ἡ ψυχή σου
5μετὰ τῶν
δικέων.

Diplomatic

ΑΡΙΣΤΩ
ΝΑΛΗΘΑΡ
[.]ΗΤΕ
ΗΨΥΧΗΣΟΥ
5ΜΕΤΑΤΩΝ
ΔΙΚΕΩΝ

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/>Ἀρίστω<lb n="2" break="no"/>ν ἀληθάρ<lb n="3" break="no"/><supplied reason="lost">γ</supplied>ητε,
      <lb n="4"/>ἡ ψυχή σου
      <lb n="5"/>μετὰ τῶν
      <lb n="6"/>δικέων.
   </ab>
   </div>
 
Apparatus criticus

2-3: ἀληθαργίσ]ει(?), κὲ Vinogradov2009

Translation

Ariston, of eternal memory, your soul is with the righteous.

 

Commentary

The present author's editio princeps (published in Stupko, Turovsky, Filippenko 2007, 190, with multiple typos), and the subsequent edition (Vinogradov 2009) were prepared on the basis of photographs generously made available by the discoverers of the burial vault. An autopsy conducted in September 2008 and a consultation with D. Feissel made it possible to amend the reading of lines 2 and 3.

1-3. The first half of the formula has an analogy in Grégoire 1929, № 9 (Cyzicus, IVth century C.E.): "blessed Arkadios, ever-remembered master, not subject to forgetting (ἀληθάργ[ητε])» (сf. also IGLS 2530; Robert 1948, 128). The name Ariston is attested in Christian use (see Delehaye 1902, 753); it is also known in Bosporos in the Vth century (see V 342), and in our case we should rather consider it part of the local tradition: while in Christian epigraphy it is attested 10 times (of which seven are in Asia Minor), in ancient Chersonesos we have 40 attestations (see also commentary to V 342). Artiston was apparently laid to rest in this catacomb, and probably on the central bench.

4-6. On the formula, see Introduction IV.3.F.b.

Palaeographic features are close to those found in V 64: alpha with a loop and elongated rho. At the same time, a rare half-diamond-shaped epsilon can be compared with the same shape of sigma in V 72. On the basis of archaeological remains, the vault is dated to the IVth - early Vth centuries (Stupko, Turovsky, Filippenko 2007).

 

Images

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