V 70. Cherson. Epitaph of Cosmas, X–XIIIth centuries C.E.

Monument

Type

Panel. 

Material

Yellowish limestone. 

Dimensions (cm)

H. 16.5, W. 27.0, Th. 9.0.

Additional description

The panel is missing its top and bottom. The front is planed. 

Place of Origin

Cherson. 

Find place

Sevastopol (Chersonesos). 

Find context

Residential Block II, enclosure 2, layer 2. 

Find circumstances

1978, excavations of A.I. Romanchuk. 

Modern location

Sevastopol, Crimea. 

Institution and inventory

National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos, 104/36961. 

Autopsy

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

Epigraphic field

Position

On the front. 

Lettering

Lapidary; uneven, angular letters. Looped alpha. 

Letterheights (cm)

1.9–3.4.

Text

Category

Epitaph. 

Date

X–XIIIth centuries C.E. 

Dating criteria

Palaeography. 

Editions

L1. Levinskaya 2000, 219, fig. 14. 

Edition

Ἐκυμήθη [ὁ] δ̣[οῦ]λ(ος)
τ(ο)ῦ Θ(ε)οῦ Κοσμᾶ.

Diplomatic

ΕΚΥΜΗΘΗ[.].[..]Λ
ΤΥΘΟΥΚΟΣΜΑ

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/>Ἐκυμήθη <supplied reason="lost">ὁ</supplied> <expan><abbr><unclear>δ</unclear><supplied reason="lost">οῦ</supplied>λ</abbr><ex>ος</ex></expan>
      <lb n="2"/><expan><abbr>τ</abbr><ex>ο</ex><abbr>ῦ</abbr></expan> <roleName><expan><abbr>Θ</abbr><ex>ε</ex><abbr>οῦ</abbr></expan></roleName> Κοσμᾶ.
   </ab>
   </div> 
 
Apparatus criticus

1: ὁ [δοῦ]λ(ος) Levinskaya

Translation

A servant of God, Cosmas, fell asleep.

 

Commentary

1-2. On the formula, see IV.3.F.e.

2. On the name, see commentary to V 237. The name of the deceased in the genitive instead of nominative is known in Cherson from V 66.

Both the formula and the shape of alpha with a loop point to a date after IXth century, but the generally crude character of the scrip does not allow us to affirm that.

It was Romanchuk's opinion (see Solomonik 1986) that the tombstone of Kosmas had been moved from the residential Block II to the neighbouring Block I already in antiquity, since there was a cemetery there, near Church E (XII–XIVth century), taken over, in the middle of the XIIIth century, by a private estate.

 

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.)