310-315, no. 7, figs. 8-10 (phs.) (ed. pr.) |
In the mosaic pavement, set within a panel ca. 5 m wide, stretching across the nave in front of the church entrance.
The inscription is set within a panel ca. 5 m wide, stretching across the nave in front of the church entrance. The central section (A) is framed in a tabula ansata (179 x 67 cm without the handles); the last five letters of the second line of the text break out of the frame. A northern section within the panel was lost due to erosion that caused the pavement in this part of the nave to slide away. The southern section of the inscription (B) is unframed and occupies the upper right corner of the panel, above and beside the figure of a peacock. The script in both sections presents a mixture of square and round letters, 6 to 7.2 cm high. Epsilon and sigma are both rounded and square; omicron is round or almond-shaped or narrow and rectangular. The round omicron alternates normal size, small size and minimal size, reduced to a tiny rhombus or a dot, all except the normal size shape floating above the line. Mu also presents two different forms: the regular shape with straight stems and broken bar attached to the top or almost to the top of the stems, and a splaying shape with curving stems and a low curving bar. Some upright characters — iota, rho, tau, upsilon — sometimes have serifs, showing as a small ‘foot’ at the base of the letter. One iota in line 1 has a trema. A reversed nu appears in line 3 of inscription B. Abbreviations are marked with a diagonal stroke. Numerals are marked with a small horizontal stroke in the figure of the year and in the last figure in both inscription A and B; the stroke is not precisely above the numeral, as usual in inscriptions of the Byzantine period, but slightly removed to the right or the left. On the whole, the palaeography is typical of a very early part of the Byzantine period, as is indeed verified by the date, 570 by the era of Tyre, corresponding to August-September 445 AD. There are a number of misspellings: exchange of short and long vowels (ἐτηλιώθε for ἐτελ(ε)ιώθη, χοροεπισκόπου for χωρεπισκόπου, ἐχώμισε for ἐκόμισε, where also kappa is replaced by chi, and there is an haplography of the verb with the following word). Βαρώχι(o)ς and Μακεδόνι(o)ς are phonetic spellings of a type already common in the Roman period.
(A) Ἐπὶ τοῦ ἁγιοτάτου ἐπισκόπου Ἰρηνέου
κ(αὶ) ἐπὶ τοῦ χοροεπισκόπου Θωμᾶ κὲ Ἀχιλλίου
καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ εὐλαβ(εστάτου) περιοδευτοῦ Ἰωαννίου
4 τῆς κώμης ἐτ‹ε›λιώθ‹η› ἡ ψήφωσις τῆς ☩
ἁγίας ἐκλησίας τοῦ οφ′ ἔτους μη(νὶ) Λῴου.
Βαρώχις δι(άκονος) ἐλ(εημοσύνην) βά(λλει) τὸ (ἥμισυ), Συμεὼν δι(άκονος) νό(μισμα) α′, Ἄψων
δι(άκονος) νό(μισμα) α′, Δίφεος δι(άκονος) νό(μισμα) α′, Γαείων δι(άκονος) νό(μισμα) α′, Μακε-
8 δόνις δι(άκονος) νο(μίσματος) τὸ (ἥμισυ), Μεγιστιανὸς νό(μισμα) α′, Καειοῦμος νό(μισμα) α′.
(B) Ζηνόδωρος Ζ(ηνοδώρ)ου ἐλ(εημοσύνην)
βά(λλει) τὸ (ἥμισυ), ἔτι ἐ‹κό›μισ(ε) ἐλ(εημοσύνης) βα(λλάντιον) (ἥμισυ),
Γαείων
4 Μορσέ-
ου νο(μίσματος)
τὸ
(τέταρτον).
(A) Under the most holy bishop Ireneus and under the country bishop(s) Thomas and Achillios, and under the most pious visitor of the village Ioannios the mosaic pavement of the holy church was completed in the year 570, in the month of Loos. Deacon Barochi(o)s gave alms of ½ (solidus), Deacon Symeon 1 solidus, Deacon Apson 1 solidus, Deacon Dipheos 1 solidus, Deacon Gaion 1 solidus, Deacon Macedonius ½ solidus, Megistianos 1 solidus, Kaiumos 1 solidus.
(B) Zenodorus (son) of Zenodorus gave alms of ½ (solidus), again he brought a purse of alms of ½ (solidus); Gaion (son) of Morseos ¼ of solidus.
Dated dedicatory mosaic building inscription of bishop Ireneus and other clergymen, stretching across the nave in front of the church entrance, 445.
Of the several members of the clergy mentioned in the inscription, the only one known from historical sources is the bishop, Ireneus. He was metropolitan of Tyre for a short time in the mid-fifth century. Lines 6-8 of Inscription A contain a list of eight men who gave money for the mosaic pavement, six deacons and two laymen; the list continues in Inscription B with the names of two more lay donors. The abbreviation ΕΛ̷ΒΑ̷, which occurs both in A and B, always before sums of money, contains two words, each truncated. It may have two different meaning: ἐλ(εημοσύνην) βά(λλει), ‘gives alms’ (for the amount of x golden coins), or ἐλ(εημοσύνης) βα(λλάντιον), ‘(gives) a purse of alms’, which seems to be suggested by the verb κομίζειν (misspelled χωμίζειν) in line 2 of B. Possibly the abbreviation, as a notarikon, could be used in both senses. See Di Segni–Ashkenazi for further discussions of the dedicators and their donations.