36-41 (phs.) (Di Segni) (ed. pr.) | |
751, no. 562 (Feissel) |
SEG 56 (2006): 1900; 61 (2011): 1441
At the western side of the southern mosaic panel of the prayer hall.
The inscription is set within a rectangle (67 x 80 cm) in the western side of the southern mosaic panel. Its frame and letters are traced in black tesserae; the characters are 7.5–9.0 cm high. The letters eta and nu of proseniken—a vulgar spelling of the verbal form prosenenken—are in ligature. A dot marks the end of the second line and two additional dots separate the three elements of the nomen sacrum in the fourth line.
Προσήνικεν
Ἀκεπτοῦς
ἡ φιλόθεος
4 τὴν τράπε-
ζαν Θ(ε)ῷ ᾿Ι(ησο)ῦ Χ(ριστ)ῷ
μνημόσυνον.
The God-loving Akeptous has offered the table to God Jesus Christ as a memorial.
Dedicatory mosaic inscription of a table by Akeptous, at the western side of the southern mosaic panel of the prayer hall.
In Early Christianity the altar was not called bomos, like the altars on which the pagans used to sacrifice, nor thysiasterion (as it was later named because of its identification with the altar of the Temple), but trapeza, 'dining table'. It is certainly not accidental that two fish were depicted in the center of the medallion in the northern panel of the mosaic, near the structure which probably served as a base for the altar/table. The table donated by Akeptous most likely served for the celebration of the Eucharist, and may have also served for ceremonial meals.
The name Akeptous has no parallel in the region. It seems to be a feminine form of the Latin name Acceptus, common in the West. Its standard feminine form was Accepta, but in this inscription it bears the Greek ending –oûs, which characterizes a small group of female names, like Philous and Pallous.