37-39 (ed. pr.) | |
404-406, pl. VI a (ph.) | |
28-29, pl. XII:4 | |
275-277, no. 59, fig. 68 (ph.) | |
143-144, no. 213 |
SEG 26 (1976): 1677; 30 (1980) 1697; 33 (1983) 1270
AE 1981: 848
Findspot: Mosaic panel set at the entrance of the room south of the apse (baptistry).
Pres. loc.: In situ, restored.
The inscription has nine lines, the last two of which are written in smaller and more cramped letters. The characters are white on a red background. The text began and ended with crosses, but the first was found destroyed and was not restored.
[☩] Ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοφιλ(εστάτου) Στε-
[φ]άνου πρεσβ(υτέρου) καὶ ἡγου-
μένου ἐγένετο ἡ ψή-
4 φωσις τοῦ φωτιστη-
ρίου ἐν μη(νὶ) Δεκεμβρίῳ
ἰνδ(ικτιῶνι) τετάρτῃ ἐπὶ το(ῦ)
εὐσεβ(εστάτου) καὶ φιλοχ(ρίστο)υ ἡ-
8 μῶν βασιλέως Μαυρικίου
ὑπατίας πρώτης. ☩
In the time of the most God-loving Stephan, priest and abbot, the mosaic pavement of the baptistry was made, in the month of December of the 4th indiction, during the first (post-)consular year of the our most pious and Christ-loving emperor Mauricius.
L.6 ἰνδ(ικτίωνι) τετάρτῃ Lifshitz, ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος) τετάρτη Blomme; l.7 εὐσεβ(οῦς) Blomme, Tzaferis.
Mosaic panel set at the entrance of the room south of the apse (baptistry), December 585.
The fourth indiction fell twice in Mauricius's reign, in 586/6 and in 600/1. The text cannot mean "in the first consulate", since Mauricius assumed a second consulate only in July 602, in the fifth indiction, a fact which could not be foretold during the fourth indiction, either in December 585 or December 600. It seems that, since the emperor had assumed the condulate very late in 583, the year 584 was considered by some to be his consular year, so that the year 585 would become Mauricius' first post-consular year. (see full discussion in Di Segni.)