111-112, pl. LXV.2 (ed. pr.) | |
187, no. 363 | |
59, no. 74 |
SEG 8 (1937): 232
CIIP I.2 (2012): 854 (ph.)
Findspot: In a panel in the middle of the mosaic pavement of a courtyard, in front of the entrance of the later chapel.
Pres. loc.: Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem, IAA inv. no. 1936-2156 (not found).
Remains of a monastic complex on the hillside at Ein el-Jedide, above the village of el-Jora (today Moshav Orah), 1.5 km southwest of Ein Kerem. The western side of the building is obliterated by masses of rock fallen from the overhanging slopes. A central courtyard, paved in the centre with a coarse white mosaic and all around with flagstones (mostly robbed in antiquity), is surrounded on all sides by walls and rooms, only partly excavated. The southern part of the courtyard was cut by the erection of a small chapel and anteroom. In front of the chapel is a mosaic inscription. A fragment of stone, apparently a tetrarchic boundary stone (CIIP I.2, no. 772), was discovered in the winepress attached to the monastery.
A rectangular panel occupies the middle of the mosaic floor of the courtyard, just in front of the entrance to the chapel. The panel contains an inscription of five lines, oriented to the east. The quality of the mosaic within the panel is much finer than the surrounding pavement, and the characters within the double frame are carefully formed. The letters are traced in black tesserae on a white background and have ornamental curls and knots. The text starts with a sprig. Lunate sigma and w-shaped omega.
Meas.: h 88 cm, w 2.03 m.
(sprig) Ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας καὶ ἀντι[λήμψεως
τῶ]ν ὁσίων πατέρων ἡμῶν Ἀ[ -- καὶ
-- ]νίου τῶν πρεσ[βυτέρ]ων κ[αὶ --
δ[ιακ]όνου καὶ ὧν [ὁ Κ(ύριο)ς γιγνώσκει τὰ
ὀνόμα]τα ἐψιφώθ[η --]
For the salvation and succor of our saintly fathers A… and …nius the priests and of … the deacon, and of all those whose names the Lord knows, (this place) was paved with mosaic …
l.4 Hamilton saw part of the initial Δ and remains of the letters ΟΥΚ. ll.4-5 [γιγνώσκει ὁ κύριος | τὰ ὁνόμα]τα all editors; perhaps l.5 ended with [μη(νὶ) -- ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος) --].
Dedicatory mosaic building inscription, in front of the entrance of the later chapel.
The shape of the letters suggests the last quarter of the 6 c. (cf. J. Russel, in: M. Piccirillo - E. Alliata eds., The Madaba Map Centenary, 1999, 128f.). Only Byzantine pottery was uncovered in the excavation. The place was apparently abandoned early in the Islamic period. The formula ὧν (ὁ) Κύριος γινώσκει τἀ ὀνόματα is common in texts recording offerings to a cult place (church or synagogue), such as “offering of those whose names the Lord knows”, in invocations for benefactors “whose names the Lord knows”, or in the second person “whose names Thou knowest”. The inscription suggests an ecclesiastical background, and the presence of a winepress in one of the rooms north of the courtyard, as well as a large cistern below it, may indicate that this was a monastery.