Church/Monastery name:
Wadi Suweinit; el- Maqtara; el Aleiliyat - FIRMINUS
Inscription number:
2
Selected bibliography:
169, pl. 2:2 (ph.) (ed. pr.) | |
529, no. 4 | |
383, pl. XIV:b (ph.) | |
159, pl. 25:2 (ph.) (in Hebrew) |
Epigraphical corpora:
CIIP IV.1 (2018): 2805 (phs., drs.)
Inscription type:
quotation
Location:
Cistern A of the eastern cave-complex at el-ʿAleiliyat. Inscription (a) above the inner entrance to the cave, to the left; inscription (b) above the entrance to the cave, to the right; inscription (c) inside the cave, on the left wall.
Physical description :
Three Christian Palestinian Aramaic (CPA) inscriptions in red paint, all quoting Ps 29,3. The only available photographs of inscriptions (a) and (b) are unfortunately quite unclear.
Text:
(a) קלה דמרא על מיא.
(b) קלה דמר[א ע]ל מי[א].
(c) קלה דמרא על מיא.
Translation:
(a)-(c) The voice of the Lord is on the water.
Summary:
CPA inscriptions quoting Psalms, painted on the walls outside and inside Cistern A.
Citations from LXX / NT:
Ps. 28 (29):3
These inscriptions, painted in red and accompanied by crosses, are found in one of the caves known collectively as el-ʿAleiliyat, which are plausibly part of the monastic complex referred to as the Laura of St. Firmin in Byzantine sources. The construction of the church was dated to the 6 c. AD by archaeologists and the script is consistent with that date. The text, taken from Ps 29,3, is used in
the baptismal rite, which led its discoverers to speculate that the chamber might be a baptistery, though this is not certain. — Robert Hoyland (CIIP)