Shivta - St. George (North Church)

Inscription number: 
15
Selected bibliography: 
55, no. 57, ph. 48, fig. 8 (ed. pr.)
297, no. 506
147
847-848, no. 342, figs. 392 A-B (ph., dr.)
Abbreviation for Journals and Series
Epigraphical corpora: 

SEG 31 (1981): 1436

Inscription type: 
epitaph
Location: 

Findspot: On a tombstone in the baptistry.

Pres. loc.: IAA, neg. no. 89.070, scale drawing in file.

Physical description : 

Bottom epitaph on the same stone as Inscription no. 11. The letters are smaller and more cramped, with square sigma and epsilon. The cursive delta in ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος) is noteworthy. The text begins with a cross and ends with another followed by a palm branch.

Text: 

☩ Ἐνθάδε κατάκειται ὁ μακάριος

Στέφανος Γεωργίου πρεσβ(υτέρου) καὶ Ἀ-

βρααμίου ἀδελφοῦ ἐν μηνὶ Δίου κβʹ

ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος) βʹ ἔτους φληʹ. ☩
(palm)

Translation: 

Here lies the blessed Stephen (son) of George, priest and brother of Abraham, in the month of Dios the 22nd, indiction 2, year 538.

Apparatus: 

L.2  πρεσβ(υτέρου) Pleket (SEG),  πρεσβ(ύτερος) Negev, Meimaris.

Commentary: 

22 Dios 538 corresponds to 8 November 643, which fell in the 2nd indiction. Stephen was laid in the same tomb as the child Abraham, who was brother of Stephen's father, George the priest. Stephen may have been a child himself. His father, George, was one of the sons of John the vicarius: a third son, Stephen, was buried in the narthex on 21 November 646 (see Inscription no. 9).

Given date: 
year
month
day of the month
indiction
Date: 
8 November 643
Summary: 

Dated epitaph of Stephen son of George, on the lower part of a tombstone found in the baptistry, 8 November 643.

Contents
Ecclesiastical titles: 
presbyter
Personal names: 
Abraham, Georgius, Stephanus
Kinship terms: 
siblings
Epigraphical Abbreviations: 
stigma, monogrammed ΟΥ, double-dotted iota, horizontal stroke for numerals