Phasaelis; Khirbet Fasayil - Church of Cyriac (?)

Inscription number: 
3
Selected bibliography: 
*157, fig. 19 (ph.)
Abbreviation for Journals and Series
Epigraphical corpora: 

SEG 66 (2016)

Inscription type: 
dedicatory
Location: 

In the mosaic floor of the nave of the church.

Physical description : 

Damaged nine-line mosaic inscription within a rectangular frame. Usual iotacism and exchange of short for long vowels throughout the text.

Text: 

       (sprig) Ὑπ[ὲρ σω]τ-

       ηρίας [(καὶ) ἀ]ν̣
-

       τιλίμψ[εως]

4     Θεοφάν[ου]

       (καὶ) Λεοντ[ίου]

       πρεσβυ[τέρ-]

       ου (καὶ) λυπο̃ν ἐ̣
χ̣-

8     μαλότον· ἐγ-

       γράφι ἔτ(ους) ͵ϛσλϛʹ
.

Translation: 

For the salvation and the succour of Theophanes and Leontius the priest and of the other prisoners of war; it was written in the year 6,236.

Apparatus: 

L.7 λυπο̃ν for λοιπῶν;  ll. 7-8 ἐχ̣|μαλότον = αὶχμαλώτων.

Commentary: 

Year 6236, proto-Byzantine era of Creation (its first epigraphic appearance west of the Jordan), corresponds to 21 March 728 – 20 March 729 AD; the February month date of Inscription no. 2 would place the date in 729, but in the 12th indiction, not the 11th as given there, but in the 7th cent. the new year would begin early on 1 September to synchronize with the indiction-year, allowing at least Inscriptions nos. 2-3, and probably also no. 1, to be dated to February 728.

The captivity may relate to that of some pilgrims from Byzantium taken by Muslims ca. 722 upon the sudden expiry of a truce, sixty of whom were martyred after refusing to convert to Islam (the martyrdom ed. A.Papadopoulos-Kerameus, Pravoslavnij Palestinskij Sbornik 12 [1892] 1-7); survivors might have offered the floor decoration as an ex voto after being ransomed.

Given date: 
year
Date: 
February 728
Summary: 

Dated damaged nine-line dedicatory inscription of Theophanes and Leontius the priest and "other prisoners of war", in the mosaic floor of the nave.

Contents
Ecclesiastical titles: 
presbyter
Personal names: 
Leontius, Theophanes
Epigraphical formulae: 
succour (antilêpsis, boêqeia)
salvation/preservation (sôtêria)
Epigraphical Abbreviations: 
stigmas for καί, ΟΥ in ligature, tau over a slanting line for ἔτ(ους)