277-278, no. 10 (dr.) (ed. pr.) | |
215 | |
178 |
AE 1996: 1570
SEG 46 (1996): 2030
CIIP III (2014): 2561 (dr.)
Findspot: Abasan el-Kabir, 20 km south of Gaza and 10 km from the sea; “une pièce rectangulaire de 9 m sur 4 m devant le tombeau de Sheikh Ibrahim, probablement une chapelle avec une double salle flanquée d’une tombe sur le côté nord” (Piccirillo); first discovered, photographed and reported by D. Gatenyo around 1986 (“unfortunately, only a fragment of it was uncovered and photographed” [Figueras]). The area was excavated in 1995 by the Gaza Department of Antiquities (Sadeq).
Pres. loc.: According to Sadeq, the artifacts found by the excavation team were exhibited “in the antiquities office in Khan Yunis”; but “the artifacts” do not necessarily include the mosaic.
According to Sadeq, the mosaic “has an excavated area of ca. 9x4 m in plan, partially damaged, and it is made of very fine colored square cubes (averagely 0.5 cm), and different kinds of stones and glass. It shows geometrical and floral forms, birds, cups filled with fruits, as well as parts of the plaited band that framed it. In the centre of the pavement is a Greek inscription”; cf. Piccirillo. Up to the present, no photos of the mosaic seem to have been published.
Meas.: letters ca. 15 cm (Figueras).
[--] Θεοδώρου κ(αὶ) ἐν τούτ[ῳ --]
[-- κα]λλόπισεν, μη(νὸς) Δαισ(ίου), ἰν[δ(ικτιῶνος) --]
... of Theodorus and in this ... made beautiful ... in the month of Daisios, indiction ... (CIIP)
L.1: [-- τοῦ ἁγίου (?)] Θεοδώρου Figueras; ἐν τούτ[ῳ τῷ τόπῳ --?] SEG; l.2: [-- ἐκα]λλόπισεν AE.
Damaged two-line mosaic building inscription mentioning Theodore, May/June (606).
In Gaza, Daisios begins on May 26th. Sadeq saw more of the mosaic, but did not publish his information, since he comments: “a Greek inscription dating the pavement to the month Desios of the year 666 of the Gaza calendar. This date corresponds to the month of May in the year 606 CE.”