144, no. 24 (dr.) (ed. pr.) | |
262, no. 382 | |
778-780, no. 299, fig. 349 |
On a limestone slab, found in the floor of Room 10 in the ancient entrance hall of the church.
The epitaph is incised on a limestone slab measuring 31x47 cm, broken at the upper left corner. The script, much worn, alternates square and oval letters, an average 3.5 cm high. Stigma and the monogram ȣ occur. The texs ends with a palm branch and cross.
[ ☩ Ἐτε]λεύτεσεν
[ὁ μ]ακάριος S
[Στε]φαν(ος) Οὐάέλ(ου)
4 ἐν μ(ηνὶ) Ξανθ[ικοῦ - - ἰν-]
δ(ικτιῶνος) β´ τοῦ ἔτους υοη´.
The blessed Stephen (son) of Wa'il died in the month of Xanthikos [the ... ] of the 2nd indiction, year 478 (479?).
L.2: The meaning of the stigma is obscure: there is no abbreviation and no space in l.3 for an additional epithet introduced by καί. It may be a word divider; l.5: the final Η is not clear.
Dated epitaph of Stephen son of Wa'il on limestone slab, found in the ancient entrance hall (Room 10), March/April 584.
Xanthikos 478 of Arabia is equivalent to March-April 583, which fell in the first indiction. Kirk and Welles reasonably assumed that, since Xanthikos marked the beginning of the new year, the writer had simply forgot to make the necessary change in the numeral of the year, from 478 to 479. Therefore the date should be March-April (the exact day is lost), 584. Meimaris tentatively offers an alternative explanation, namely, that in this period the first of September had superseded March 22 as epoch of the Arabian era. Meimaris himself is disinclined to accept this hypothesis, which has been shown groundless. It must also be stressed that the Η representing the figure 8 is broken, as could ascertain from sketches made by the excavators and included in the file kept at the IAA. The
figure may have been a square Θ, giving the year 479.