Church/Monastery name:
Ashdod Yam (Azotos Paralios) - Church of the Deaconesses
Inscription number:
10
Inscription type:
epitaph
Location:
On a marble plaque in the narthex.
Physical description :
Engraved on a marble plaque. The elegantly traced characters, 3-4.7 cm high, belong to the round alphabet
Text:
(cross) Θεωδούρου
2 μαγιστριανοῦ (cross)
Translation:
(Tomb) of Theodorus the magistrianos.
Summary:
Tombstone of Theodorus the magistrianos. Dated epigraphically to the second half of the 5th or early 6th century.
Magistrianos is the Greek term for the imperial couriers or agentes in rebus who were attached to the bureau of the magister officiorum (hence their Greek name), but were graded as troopers in the non-commissioned ranks of the army. Besides carrying dispatches, they were inspectors of the cursus publicus and of the maritime traffic in commercial ports, especially as supervisors of the import of foreign goods under State monopoly, like silk. They were also expected to send in reports on the state of the provinces – by all which jobs they gained an unpleasant reputation as government spies (curiosi).