130, fig. 24 (ph., dr.) | |
170-171, no. 2 (dr.) (ed. pr.) |
SEG 62 (2012): 1652
CIIP IV.2 (2018): 3757 (ph., dr.)
In the mosaic pavement at the western end of the southern aisle, near its entrance, stage 1.
Fragmentary 4-line mosaic inscription set in a tabula ansata. Estimated original dimensions: Height 62.5 cm, Length 117.5 cm (179.4 cm with handles).Text traced in black tesserae; lines separated by rows of red tesserae. Letters are tall, narrow, and regular and belong to the square alphabet. Height varies according to line (10-11.2 cm), as in Inscription 1. Most of the inscription is lost; only the right side remains. Estimated dimensions of complete inscription: Height 62.5 cm, Length 117.5 cm (179.4 with handles). Inscription is too fragmentary to be restored.
- - - - - - - - - - - Ι̣ΝΤΗΣ
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ι̣Σ
- - ΜΕΝΟ̣ - - - - - - ΤΗ
- - ΕΨ - - - - Ι̣Ν̣Σ̣Τ̣ΟΑΝ
(too fragmentary for translation)
Very fragmentary inscription in a tabula ansata, at the western end of the southern aisle.
The inscription is too fragmentary to be restored in its entirety. The assumed frame length leaves enough space in the first line for about 12–13 letters before the vertical stroke, a total of 16–18 letters per line, except in the last line, in which the characters appear to be squeezed, at least toward the end, and which could therefore have accommodated more letters. One would be tempted to restore in the first line [ΚΕΜΝΗΣΘΗΤΙΤΩ]Ν (with or without a cross at the beginning), which is the opening formula of three other inscriptions in the church, nos. 3-5. The following group of letters is probably the feminine article in the genitive. A blessing upon the community is not unusual in sacred buildings: at the entrance of the Early Church at Shiloh an inscription invokes Christ’s pity for the village and its inhabitants, and in the mosaic floor of the Samaritan synagogue at Ẓur Nathan the village inhabitants ask to be remembered. Another example can be found in a fragmentary inscription from Hanitha in Upper Galilee. The following reading is tentatively suggested, based on the remains of letters, on the probable number of characters per line, and on common formulas:
[Κ(ύρι)ε μνήσθητι τῶ]ν τῆς
[κώμης οἰκετόρων] ὡς
[εὐξά]μενο[ι ὑπὲρ σω]τη-
[ρ(ίας) αὐτῶν] ἐψ[ήφωσαν τ]ὴν στοάν.
[Lord, remember the inhabitants of] this [village],
for [pray]ing [for their salvation] they paved the
aisle with mosaics.
The word σωτηρίας would have had to be abbreviated at the beginning of l. 4, perhaps with a horizontal stroke across the rho, a method of truncation already in use in the third century. It must be stressed that the restoration above is hypothetical, except for the last words of l. 4 with the mention of the mosaic floor of the aisle, which is certain and also fits the location of the inscription. The term στοά, portico, is used to describe the aisle of a basilical building in a Greek inscription in the fourth century floor of the synagogue of Hammat Tiberias (Phase II A), and in Aramaic transcription in the synagogue of Chorazin, also from the fourth century. In later inscriptions another word, also meaning portico, is used for the aisle of a basilica: ἔμβολος.