Church/Monastery name:
Alumma - Church
Inscription number:
5
Selected bibliography:
34 (ph.) | |
(L. Di Segni) |
Inscription type:
acclamation
building
quotation
Location:
Within a medallion at the eastern end of the nave (Locus 322), outside the main mosaic frame, just in front of the bema (Locus 361).
Physical description :
Fragmentary mosaic inscription within a medallion. Two peacocks stand to either side looking at the inscription.
Text:
☩ Ἐπὶ τοῦ φ[ι-]
λοχρίστου [? βασι-]
[λέως ? Ἰουστινιαν-]
4 οῦ ἔ[τους - - ἡ ἐκλ-]
ησία ἀ[νενεώθη.]
Ἰ(ησοῦς) Χ(ριστός)
ἄ(λφα) ὠ(μέγα).
Translation:
In the time of the Christ-loving [emperor Justinian (?) in the ... year], the church [was renovated]. Jesus Christ, beginning and end.
Given date:
year
Summary:
Fragmentary building inscription of Emperor Justinian (?) for the renovation of the church, within a medallion at the eastern end of the nave, just in front of the bema.
Citations from LXX / NT:
Apoc. 1:8
Φιλόχριστος is only used for lay people (man, woman, or a collective: people of a city etc.), and for emperors, never for members of the clergy, except for rare cases in the late 6th-7th cent., where it appears after another, appropriate attribute (a bishop in Kh. el-Kursi church near Amman, SEG 38:1660; a priest at St. Catherine, an abbot in Yatir church). But ἐπί requires a date, so it must be a date by the emperor’s name, probably followed by a regnal year, which became obligatory (at least in documents) since 537. If ἔτους was abbreviated, as it often is, in ἔτ(ους), there is space in this line also for ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος). This and the inscription to its left (no. 6) are palaeographically very similar, and probably belong to the same stage of the church. If the emperor’s name was Anastasius (491-518), the renovation would have followed the paving after a very short time. Also, with Anastasius mention of regnal year is not usual. Justin (518-527) — too short. By the shape of the letters the inscription cannot be later than the mid-6th cent., so no emperor after Justinian (527-656) can be considered.