V 98. Cherson. Calendar inscription, Xth - early XIth century C.E.

Monument

Type

Small panel. 

Material

Marble. 

Dimensions (cm)

H. 12.5, W. 11.5, Th. 3.5.

Additional description

Broken into pieces, two fragments survive. Fragment 1 is broken on all sides, Fragment 2 (?) preserves the bottom. 

Place of Origin

Cherson. 

Institution and inventory

, no inventory number. 

Fragment 1

Find place

Sevastopol (Chersonesos). 

Find context

Unknown. 

Find circumstances

Before 1925. 

Modern location

Sevastopol, Crimea. 

Institution and inventory

National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos, 3347. 

Autopsy

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

Fragment 2

Find place

Sevastopol (Chersonesos). 

Find context

Citadel (?), room I, rubble fill. 

Find circumstances

1970s-1990s, excavations of I. A. Antonova. 

Modern location

Unknown. 

Institution and inventory

Unknown. 

Autopsy

Non vidi. 

Epigraphic field

Position

On the front. 

Lettering

Lapidary style, letters with serifs. Alpha with slanting crossbar, beta with bottom underline, delta with projecting right diagonal. Ligature tau-omicron, abbreviation sign. 

Letterheights (cm)

1.2–1.8.

Text

Category

Calendar inscription. 

Date

Xth - early XIth century C.E. 

Dating criteria

Palaeography, explicit date. 

Editions

Unpublished. 

Edition

[---] τὸ ἐ[πίγειον? ---],
[---]. τὸ · ἐ[πίγειον? ---],
[ἡμέρ]ᾳδ´· [τὸ ἐπίγειον? ---],
.. ? .. η´ .. ? ..
5.. ? .. η´ .. ? ..
.. ? ..
[τῇ π]α(ρασκευῇ) vac. 2 litt. τὸ ἐ[πίγειον? ---],
[ἡμέρ]ᾳ ε´ τὸ ἐ[πίγειον? ---],
[---] σαββ(άτῳ) · τὸ ἐ[πίγειον? ---],
10[---] τὸ ἐπήγε[ιον? ---]
[π]α(ρασκευῇ)· vac. 2 litt. ἠν[δ(ικτιῶνος?) ..]´.

Diplomatic

[---]ΤΟΕ[.......---]
[---]·ΤΟΕ[.......---]
[....]ΑΔ[..........---]
.. ? ..Η.. ? ..
5.. ? ..Η.. ? ..
.. ? ..
[...]Α    ΤΟΕ[.......---]
[....]ΑΕΤΟΕ[.......---]
[---]ΣΑΒΒΤΟΕ[.......---]
10[---]ΤΟΕΠΗΓΕ[...---]
[.]Α    ΗΝ[.··]

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/><date><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> τὸ
      ἐ<supplied reason="lost" cert="low">πίγειον</supplied>
      <gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>,
      <lb n="2"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="character"/> τὸ ·
      ἐ<supplied reason="lost" cert="low">πίγειον</supplied> <gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>,
      <lb n="3"/><supplied reason="lost">ἡμέρ</supplied>ᾳ<num value="4">δ</num>· <supplied reason="lost" cert="low">τὸ 
      ἐπίγειον</supplied> <gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>,
      <lb n="4"/><gap reason="illegible" extent="3" unit="character"/> <num value="8">η</num>
      <gap reason="illegible" extent="3" unit="character"/>
      <lb n="5"/><gap reason="illegible" extent="7" unit="character"/> <num value="8">η</num> 
      <gap reason="illegible" extent="3" unit="character"/> 
      <lb n="6"/><gap reason="illegible" extent="2" unit="character"/>
      <lb n="7"/><supplied reason="lost">τῇ</supplied> 
      <expan><abbr><supplied reason="lost">π</supplied>α</abbr><ex>ρασκευῇ</ex></expan> <space quantity="2" unit="character"/>
      τὸ ἐ<supplied reason="lost" cert="low">πίγειον</supplied> <gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>,
      <lb n="8"/><supplied reason="lost">ἡμέρ</supplied>ᾳ <num value="5">ε</num> τὸ 
      ἐ<supplied reason="lost" cert="low">πίγειον</supplied> <gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>,
      <lb n="9"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> <expan><abbr>σαββ</abbr><ex>άτῳ</ex></expan> ·
      τὸ ἐ<supplied reason="lost" cert="low">πίγειον</supplied> 
      <gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>,
      <lb n="10"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> τὸ
      ἐπήγε<supplied reason="lost" cert="low">ιον</supplied> 
      <gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
      <lb n="11"/><expan><abbr><supplied reason="lost">π</supplied>α</abbr><ex>ρασκευῇ</ex></expan>· <space quantity="2" unit="character"/>
      <expan><abbr>ἠν<supplied reason="lost">δ</supplied></abbr><supplied reason="lost"><ex cert="low">ικτιῶνος</ex></supplied></expan>
      <num atLeast="11"><gap reason="lost" quantity="2" unit="character"/></num></date>.
   </ab>
   </div>

Translation

... e[pigeion (?)]... e[pigeion (?).., on] Wednesday, [epigeion (?)] ... 8.., ... 8 ... e[pigeion (?)... on] Friday; e[pigeion (?)... on] Thursday; e[pigeion (?).. on] Saturday; e[pigeion (?)... on]; epige[ion... on] Friday in[diction].

 

Commentary

The photograph of the inscription was kindly passed on to me by I. A. Antonova. At the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos, I could neither locate the monument, nor any information about it. A note on the back of the photograph reads "Room I, rubble fill," which suggests that the monument was not found in a stratified deposit.

The text appears to be a calendar: days of the week (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday) are mentioned. It probably belongs together with V 30.

1-4. The first four lines consist of the repetition of the word τὸ ἐπήγε[... with different days of the week. For this word, the only suitable restoration is τὸ ἐπίγειον, which is attested as an astronomical term (see Stephanus, s.v.). The specific meaning of this text could be illuminated by a specialist in Byzantine astronomy.

Beta with bottom underline is attested in Crimea in only one dated inscription - V 243 (in Latyshev's drawing of № 48 it is given incorrectly) and is typical for the end of IXth-Xth centuries; at the same time, in V 30, which is similar to our inscription, we find palaeographic parallels with inscriptions of the XIth century (see comm.).

 

Images

 Photograph of fragment 1 Photograph of fragment 2

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