Church/Monastery name:
Dor (Dora) - Pilgrims Church
Inscription number:
1
Selected bibliography:
22-23 (ed. pr.) | |
54, no. 72, pl. XLII (ph.) | |
435-438, no. 122*, fig. 159 (ph.) | |
55-56, no. 69 |
Epigraphical corpora:
SEG 37 (1987): 1478
CIIP II (2011): 2116 (ph.)
Inscription type:
building
Location:
Found at the northern aisle of the basilica. Now disappeared.
Physical description :
The inscription was set in two lines broken at the right end, but the right handle of a tabula ansata is visible in the photo and shows that only two or three letters were missing from each line. The characters are round and rather rough.
Text:
Ἐπὶ τοῦ ἁγιωτά[το]υ [ἐ-]
πισκόπου Ἀκακ[ίου.]
Translation:
In the time of the most holy bishop Acacius.
Date:
340-366 ?
Summary:
Mosaic inscription set in tabula ansata in the northern aisle of the basilica, now lost.
There seems to be no space for anything but perhaps a cross after the bishop's name. The shape of the letters points to the 4th century, and a famous Acacius was bishop of Caesarea from 340 to 366. If, as it seems, Dora was not yet an episcopal see in the 4th century, its Christian community was subject to the bishop of Caesarea: therefore I suggest to identify the bishop mention in the inscription with Acacius of Caesarea, and to date the inscription accordingly. The pavement would thus be contemporary to the lower floors of Rooms 1 and 2.
For a disscussion on past datings of the site and inscription, see Di Segni.