307-310 (ed. pr.) |
AE (1995): 1584
CIIP I.2 (2012): 787 (ph.)
Findspot: Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the eastern end of the southwall of the Chapel of St. Vartan and the Armenian Martyrs in the crypt of St. Helena.
Pres. loc.: In situ. Autopsy: 10 June 2006 (Leah Di Segni).
Smooth stone block in the eastern end of the south wall of the Chapel of St. Vartan. On the plaster there is a drawing of a ship “with the bow to the left, its stern to the right and its mast unstepped and lying on its side”; two rudders are also depicted (Broshi 1993, 122). The inscription is written below the ship. For the type of ship, cf. L. Casson, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World, 1994, 101ff. Ship and inscription were incised in the stone and then cross-dyed in black, hence rightly designated a graffito/dipinto.
Meas.: h 43, w 86 cm; letters ca. 4 cm.
Domine ivimus.
Lord, we have come.
Isis Myrionymos Bennett - Humphreys; this reading was done before the cleaning; Helms supported their interpretation, and without reason accused Testa of having changed the written part during the cleaning process (see Broshi - Barkay 127f.). D(ono) d(edit) M. Nomimus Wilkinson; however, for this interpretation essential parts of the reading would have to be changed.
Latin graffito/dipinto of a pilgrim, time of Constantine (?).
The interpretation of the phrase depends entirely on the character of the findspot: a cave under the chapel of St. Helena. The Christian context is not in doubt, although pagan gods, too, were often addressed as “domine”. The text recalls Psalm 121,1: “In domum Domini ibimus” = “Let us go to the house of the Lord”. There could also be an allusion to Jn 6,68: “Domine ad quem ibimus?” = “Lord, to whom shall we go (turn)?” It expresses the relief felt by Christian pilgrims arriving in the Holy Land and being close to Christ’s burial place. The precise date cannot be determined. The cave was probably closed when the chapel of St. Helena was finished, and the graffito/dipinto, could have been written at any time before or during the construction of the Constantinian basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, but the time of Constantine, after the decision to build the church had been taken, is more likely. The Latin language, combined with the picture of the ship, shows that, in all probability, the pilgrims hailed from “the West”.