Church/Monastery name:
Khirbet ed Deir - Severianus
Inscription number:
2
Selected bibliography:
373-377, 386, no. 2 (ph., dr.) (ed. pr.) | |
99, no. 2 (ph.) |
Epigraphical corpora:
SEG 37 (1987): 1494
CIIP IV.2 (2018): 3821 (phs., dr.)
Inscription type:
dedicatory
invocation/prayer
Location:
On the long edge of a marble offering table found in the central of three auxiliary rooms in the west part of the church cave.
On a moveable object:
altar table
Physical description :
Engraved along the long edge of the (90 x 130 cm) marble altar table (mensa). Average hight of letters 3.8 cm. Paleography points to a date in the second half of the 6th century. Stigmas and horizontal stroke over sacred name.
Text:
☩ Μνήσθητι Κ(ύρι)ε τῶν καρποφορησ(άντων) Ἀλαφέου δ[ιά]κ(ονος)
κ(αὶ) Αἰαν(οῦ)/Αἴαν(τος) μονάζ(οντος) or μοναζ(όντων).
Translation:
O Lord, remember the donors Alaphaeos the deacon and Aias (Aianos) the monk (monks).
Date:
second half of the 6th cent.
Summary:
Dedicatory inscription of Alaphaeos and Aias, on the long edge of a marble offering table.
Epigraphical Abbreviations:
stigmas, horizontal stroke over nomen sacrum
The names Ἀλαφαῖος, sometimes phonetically spelled Ἀλαφε̑ος, and Ἄλαφος are Greek transcriptions of the Semitic name Halaf. Similarly, Αἴας or Αἰανής can be seen as Hellenized froms of the Aramaic or Arabic name Hayya.