Church/Monastery name:
ʻAnab el-Kabir (Khirbet ʻAnab) - Church
Inscription number:
5
Selected bibliography:
50 (ph.) (L. Di Segni and M. Meerson) (in Hebrew) | |
451, fig. 8 (ph.) | |
345, fig. 19 (ph., dr.) | |
387-388, no. 5 (dr.) (ed. pr.) | |
16, no. 12 |
Epigraphical corpora:
CIIP IV.2 (2018): 3863 b (ph., dr.)
Inscription type:
invocation/prayer
signature of worker
Location:
East of Inscription 3, in the border of the nave mosaic carpet in front of the altar.
Physical description :
Mosaic inscription within a white square interrupting the meander border of the nave carpet. One of three similar squares with identical inscriptions, apart from the names. Frame and letters traced in black tesserae. Four-line inscription, beginning with a cross. Characters 9-10 cm high in the round, elegant script identical to Inscription 3. Cruciform psi.
Text:
☩ Κύριε ζω-
ὴν Θωμ-
ᾷ τῷ ψη-
φοθέτῃ.
Translation:
Lord, (give) life to Thomas, the mosaic layer.
Date:
early 6th cent.
Summary:
Invocation of the Lord on behalf of Thomas the mosaic layer, in front of the altar.
Thomas was a common Semitic name, found in Aramaic and Arabic and meaning "twin".