Sussita - Northwest Church (NWC)

Church/Monastery name: 
Sussita - Northwest Church (NWC)
Inscription number: 
1
Selected bibliography: 
60-61, no. 1, fig. 32 (ph.) (ed. pr.)
26 (ph.) (in Hebrew)
44, pl. 4.B (ph.)
267-268, no. 18, fig. 334 (ph.)
150, no. 220
Abbreviation for Journals and Series
Epigraphical corpora: 

SEG 54 (2004): 1661; 64 (2014): 1711

Inscription type: 
building
dedicatory
Location: 

Findspot: In an intercolumniation of the colonnade separating the nave from the south aisle. Found during the 2002 excavation.

Pres. location: In situ. (Łajtar 2013)

Physical description : 

One-line mosaic inscription laid between a geometric panel of the intercolumnium and the plait bordering the mosaic in the south aisle, to be read from the side of the nave. The inscription is 188 cm long; height of letters varies from 7 cm to 4 cm. The word ἥμισυ is recorded as a siglum in the form of a chevron. The end of the inscription is marked with a small circle.

Text: 

Ἐκαρποφόρισεν ΗΔΩΡΑ εἰς λόγ(ον) τοῦ ψηφ(ίου) νο(μίσματος) τὸ (ἥμισυ).

Translation: 

He(lio)dora (?) offered half a solidus on account of the mosaic.

Apparatus: 

Since ΗΔΩΡΑ does not yield an attested name or a meaningful new name, Ἡ⟨λιο⟩δώρα or, more probably, Ἡ(λιο)δώρα should be read, Łajtar. [perhaps ἡ Δώρα, Chaniotis apud SEG 54];   Η may stand for 8, a well-known symbol of Χρειστός (8 letters), and the name, then, would be Χρειστόδωρα Di Segni apud SEG 64.  ||  ψηφ(ίου) or, less probably because of its rareness, ψηφ(οθετήματος), Łajtar  ||  νο(μίσματος) or νο(μισματίου). ‘In the 6th century half a solidus was a considerable sum of money, big enough for living of a single person for half a year’ (61), Łajtar.

Date: 
late 6th cent.
Summary: 

One-line mosaic dedicatory building inscription of He(lio)dora, in an intercolumniation of the southern colonnade.

Contents
Actions: 
donated
Definitions of building/part of building: 
psephosis,psephotheteia (mosaic)
Personal names: 
Christodora / Dora / Heliodora
Epigraphical Abbreviations: 
small stigmas, overhanging omicron for νο(μίσματος) and τό, chevron for ἥμισυ