Church/Monastery name:
Sussita - Northwest Church (NWC)
Inscription number:
3
Selected bibliography:
58-59, fig. 65 | |
44, pl. 4.C (ph.) | |
51-53 (ed. pr.) | |
270-271, no. 20, fig. 336 (ph.) | |
150, no. 220 |
Epigraphical corpora:
SEG 54 (2004): 1663; 64 (2014): 1713
Inscription type:
building
dedicatory
Location:
Findspot: At the centre of the mosaic floor of the southern portico of the atrium. Found during the 2004 excavation.
Pres. location: In situ. (Łajtar 2013)
Physical description :
Five-line inscription inserted in the diagonal grid of squares of the mosaic. Black letters in round majuscules (h 5-9 cm) against a white background.
Text:
Προσφορὰ
ὑπὲρ ἀναπ-
αύσεως Ἀ-
4 ντώνας δια-
κονίσσης.
Translation:
Offering for the rest of Antona the deaconess.
Apparatus:
Ll. 3-4: Ἀντωνᾶς [rather Ἀντώνας, Martin apud SEG 54]: phonetic variant of Ἀντωνίας, Łajtar 2005.
Date:
late 6th/early 7th cent.
Summary:
Five-line mosaic dedicatory building (?) inscription of Antona the deaconess, southern portico of the atrium.
διακόνισσα: the chief liturgical duty of deaconesses, attested from the 4th cent. to the Middle Byzantine period, was to assist at women’s baptism (Łajtar 2005, with further comment and reference to Y. Meimaris, Sacred Names, for two examples from Palaestina).