ʻAnab el-Kabir (Khirbet ʻAnab) - Church

Church/Monastery name: 
ʻAnab el-Kabir (Khirbet ʻAnab) - Church
Inscription number: 
1
Selected bibliography: 
51 (phs.) (L. Di Segni and M. Meerson) (in Hebrew)
451, fig. 9 (ph.)
348, fig. 22; 360, fig. 38 (ph., dr.)
385-386, no. 1 (dr.) (ed. pr.)
16, no. 12
Abbreviation for Journals and Series
Epigraphical corpora: 

CIIP IV.2 (2018): 3864 a (ph., dr.)

Inscription type: 
dedicatory
Location: 

On the mosaic panel at the center of the bema.

Physical description : 

Two-line mosaic inscription. Each line begins with a cross; the second line also has a small floret on the extreme left. The first line is traced in black tesserae on either side of the base of the amphora depicted above it. It is separated from the second line by a row of red tesserae. The second line is traced in red tesserae. The characters in both lines are round, 8-10 cm high, with some of the omicrons slightly smaller, around 6 cm.

Text: 

☩ Ἀββᾶς Οὐλπιανός.

☩ Ἀββᾶς Ὀλπιανός.

Translation: 

Abba Ulpianus.

Abba Olpianus.

Commentary: 

The purely Latin name, spelled here in two different ways, is in all likelihood a Greek transcription of the Semitic name Oulefos mentioned in the inscription at the foot of the bema (no. 3).

Date: 
early 6th cent.
Summary: 

Mosiac inscription mentioning a priest by the name of Ulpianus/Olpianus, in the bema.

Contents
Epithets of clergy/monks: 
abba
Personal names: 
Ulpianus/Olpianus