149-150, no. 35, pl. XXXI.1 (ph.) (ed. pr.) | |
215, no. 201 | |
770-774, no. 295, fig. 345 |
Findspot: Engraved on a chalk voussoir, found fallen in the south-east corner of the martyrium (Room 16).
Pres. location: IAA, Inv. no. 36.1379.
Originally Rooms 14 and 16 formed a single hall, under the pavement of which were six graves. An epitaph was incised on a chalk voussoir, 54x35 cm, found fallen on the floor in the southeast corner of Room 16. Its width suggests that it was part of the middle arch. The letters are an average 2 cm high, roughly cut and traced in red. Square shapes are prevalent, but round characters appear too, as well as some cursive forms (alpha, upsilon and beta). A stigma is used as abbreviation sign and a horizontal line marks the only numeral. The text begins with a cross; it contains some oddities of grammar and spelling. Faint traces of a graffito can be seen among the letters of lines 5-6 of the main inscrtiption. Among the scratched letters (2 cm high) in l.6, ΤΟΥ ΤΝΘ - ΟΣ can be made out, perhaps a repetition of the date: τοῦ τνθ´ [ἔτ]ο[υ]ς. It is not clear which text was written first.
☩ Κατετήθη ὁ μακά-
ριος Θώαμος ὁ πρεσβ(ύτερος)
ἐν τούτου τοῦ ἁγίου μαρ-
4 τυρίου Δίου εἰκάδι τοῦ μην-
ὸς τοῦ ἔτους τριακοσιοστοῦ πεν-
τηκοστοῦ θ´· τοῦ δὲ Χ(ριστο)ῦ βασιλ(ε)ί(α) τι-
μὴ καὶ τὸ κράτος τοὺς ἀξίους ‹ἑ›-
8 αυτοῦ.
Was laid to rest the blessed Thoamos the priest in this holy martyrium on the 20th of the month of Dios, in the year 359. The kingdom of Christ, honour and power to His worthy ones.
Dated epitaph of Thoamos the priest on a chalk voussoir, found in the corner of the martyrium (Room 16), 6 Nov. 464.
Year 359 of Arabia corresponds to 464/5; Dios in the Arabian calendar began on October 18. The date is therefore 6 November 464, the earliest registered at Nessana. The epitaph of priest Thoamos provides the terminus ante quem for the construction of the martyrium: this was probably completed not many years before since the fort, which antedates the church, cannot be earlier than the beginning of the 5th century, in light of the absence of Nessana from the list of garrisoned settlements in the Notitia Dignitatum. Θώαμος is a Greek transcription of the Arab name תים, TYM, frequent at Nessana. The acclamation in ll.6-8 is new, though its elements are familiar. The mention of "honour" and "power" may have sounded well to a body of believers mainly consisting of soldiers. A formula reminiscent of this, i.e. Βασιλεύει τὸ κράτος, was written with black ink in a cursive hand on a marble fragment found in the church (Kirk–Welles, no. 9).