Shivta - South Church

Inscription number: 
1
Selected bibliography: 
177
209-211, no. 1, fig. 1 (ph.) (ed. pr.)
163, no. 4
317, no. 2
819-823, no. 324, fig. 374 (ph.)
Abbreviation for Journals and Series
Inscription type: 
building
Location: 

Findspot: Room E of the Southern Church.

Pres. location: IAA, Neg. no. 42.256. Autopsy: 10.02.2000 (Leah Di Segni)

Physical description : 

Limestone lintel, 128 cm long, 42 cm high, 20-25 cm thick, was discovered in Room E, in the southern part of the South Church. It is cavred by vines. Animals and birds that were represented eating the grapes where chiselled away by iconoclasts, probably Christians, since the cross was not damaged. On the lower border, 5 cm wide, an inscription belong to the square alphabet. No abbreviation marks are used. The lintel is broken on both sides, so there may be room for a cross at the beginning, and for an additional letter at the end of the text.

Text: 

Ἐπὶ Ἀέδου πρεσ(wreath)βυτέρου ἐκτίσθη ἐν ἔτ(ε)ι τι[ - ].

Translation: 

Built under ᾽Aed the priest in year 31[.] or 32[.].

Apparatus: 

ΤΙ[.] Kirk,  ΤΟ[.] or ΤΠ[.] Worp (apud Meimaris). 

Commentary: 

The last surviving letter, according to Kirk, was iota or kappa, and a units digit possibly followed. The date accordingly lies between 310 and 329 of an unknown era. By the era of Arabia, the most common at Shivta, the lintel would be dated between 22 March 415 and 21 March 435. According to Kirk, this date cannot be accepted without question, since not only would it be more than a hundred years earlier than any other dated inscription found at Shivta, but it would occupy a very early place in the history of Christianity in the southern desert. The earliest known Christian inscription in the Negev is the epitaph of a priest in Nessana, dated 464. One might add that in the early period of Christianization, most Christians came from the Hellenized layer of the local population, or at least, new Christians took Greek names on their joining the Church (neophytes at baptism, or clerics on their consecration), while Ἀεδος, a priest, bore an Arab name, עיד. An additional argument was offered by J.W. Crowfoot (apud Kirk 1938), who opposed an early 5th cent. date for the decoration of the lintel on stylistic grounds.

Unable to accept the early date, Kirk suggested that the lintel might be dated not by the ear of Arabia, but by the era of Diocletian, which would place the inscription between 29/30 August 593 and 28 August 613. To this, however, the excavator objected on archaeological ground, which brought Kirk to leave the question of the date open. A possible solution is offered by K.A. Worp (apud Meimaris, p. 316, no. 18), who read ΤΟ or ΤΠ instead of ΤΙ. The resulting figure, reckoned according to the era of Arabia, would give 475/6 or 485/6, and, with the possible addition of a units digit, the date might be anything between 22 March 475 and 21 March 495. After autopsy (10.02.2000), reading ΤΠ seems indeed possible, giving any year between 380 and 389 = between 22 March 485 and 21 March 495 by the era of Arabia.

Meimaris, while tentatively including this inscription among the examples of the Diocletianic era in Palestine and Arabia, rightly observes that any conclusion based on a partially preserved numeral is vulnerable; generally speaking, he considered the arguments in favour of the use of this era in the region, unconvincing, and the evidence tenuous. Although the occurrence of the Diocletianic era in Shivta is not in doubt, as indicated by the block of limestone found in the narthex of the South Church (IAA, neg. no. 36.1275), the context of the same inscription shows that this chronological system was unfamiliar to the people of the town. It seems therefore preferable to reckon the date of the lintel according to a different era, reasonably that of Eleutheropolis, which was used in the building inscription copied by the Colt Expedition (SEG 31:1453). The application of this era would result in a date between the autumns of 508 and 528, which might refer to the erection of the southern annex of the church.

Given date: 
year
Date: 
485-495 or 508-528
Summary: 

Limestone lintel with fragmentary dated building inscription of ᾽Aed the priest, found in Room E, 485-495 or 508-528.

Contents
Actions: 
built, erected/was built, was erected
Ecclesiastical titles: 
presbyter
Personal names: 
᾽Aed