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. Levinskaya2000, 219, fig. 14.
<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
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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