150-151, no. 37 (dr.) (ed. pr.) | |
216, no. 207 | |
774-776, no. 296, fig. 346 |
Findspot: Inscribed on a chalk voussoir on the eastern arch on the south side of Room 14 in the martyrium.
Pres. location: In situ (Di Segni).
The epitaph is inscribed on a chalk voussoir, 54x33 cm, in situ on the eastern arch on the south side of Room 14. The script is round, shallow, traced in red; the letters are an average 3 cm high. Two forms of cursive upsilon are used: V-shaped and with a slanting stem. Abbreviations are marked with stigma and horizontal lines; numerals are also marked with horizontal strokes. The last word has a ligature of eta and nu. The text begins and ends with a cross. It contains several misspellings, of which only the less obvious are corrected below.
☩ Κατετέθη ὁ
μακάριος Παλλάδις
ὁ διάκονος ἐν τού-
4 το τῷ ἁγίῳ τόπῳ
ἐν μενὶ Ἀπελλέου ιε´
ια´ ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος) τοῦ ἔτους τριακο-
σιοστοῦ ἑβ[δ]ομηκοστοῦ.
8 Τῷ δὲ Π(ατ)ρὶ καὶ Υἱῷ
καὶ ἁγίῳ Πν(εύματ)ι ‹ᾧ› ἡ δόξα
εἰς τοὺς αἰώνας
τῶν αἰώνων, ἀμήν. ☩
Was laid to rest in this holy place the blessed Palladius the deacon, on the 15th of the month Apellaios of the 11th indiction of the year 370. To the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory for ever and ever, amen.
L.6 mistakenly divided into two lines by Meimaris.
Dated epitaph of Palladis the deacon on a chalk voussoir, on an arch in the martyrium (Room 14), 1 Dec. 475.
Year 370 of the era of Arabia corresponds to 475/6 AD; the month of Apellaios in the Arabian calendar began on November 17. The date therefore is 1 December, 475. However, this date fell not in the 11th, but in the 14th year of the indictional cycle. The 11th indiction does not fit 15 Apellaios 370 in any era that might conceivably have been used in Nessana, the Gazean, the Eleutheropolitan or the era of Diocletian. The editors reasonably suggested that the writer copied from a badly written draft and misread alpha for delta. A 14th indiction began on 1 September 475. Παλλάδις, normal Byzantine spelling of Παλλάδιος, is a Greek name used especially in the Hauran, as well as in Egypt, but its Hellenized appearence may conceal the theophoric name of Athena-Allat, the city-goddess of Bostra: it would thus correspond to anyone of the Nabataean names derived from the name of Allat.
Two more chalk voussoir found in the martyrium also contain a doxology (Kirk–Welles, no. 36) and a calendar of saints and anniversaries (no. 38).