no. 3, fig. 9 (ed. pr.) |
In the upper mosaic pavement of the narthex.
Damaged seven-line inscription set within a round medallion (diam. 127 cm) in the upper mosaic pavement of the narthex . It is not located exactly above the earlier dedication but slightly to the south in respect to the entrance to the nave, and it is oriented to the west. The frame and the script are formed with black tesserae. A decoration of ivy leaves fills the lower section of the medallion. The first line of the text is completely destroyed and so is most of the last line. The letters, 11 cm high, present a mixture of round and square forms; some have noticeable apices. Psi would be cruciform but for the apices at the end of its horizontal bar, one upward, the other downward. Omicron is drop-shaped. The last but one letter in line 7, though broken, can be recognized as a cursive delta, often used in the abbreviation ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος). The abbreviation ΑΓΙԜ in line 2 may be unmarked but as the mosaic is broken above the omega, it is possible that an abbreviation mark was lost there — a horizontal stoke or a lifted tau or stigma above the letter, all common abbreviations of ἁγιώ(τατος) or ἁγιώτ(ατος) in this period. Another abbreviation, in line 3, is marked with a diagonal stroke. A stigma in line 4 stands for (καί). The numeral at the end of line 7 is marked with a horizontal stroke.
[☩ Προ-]
νοίιᾳ τοῦ ἁγιω(τάτου)
ἡμῶν μητροπολ(ίτου)
4 Ἀνδρέου (καὶ) τὸ παρὸν
ἔργον τῆς ψη̣φ̣ό̣[σεως]
ἐγένετο μ̣[η(νὶ)] Ἰου-
λ̣ίῳ [ἰν]δ̣(ικτιῶνος) α´.
By the provision of our most saintly metropolitan Andreas also the present work of the mosaic pavement was done in the month of July of the first indiction.
Dated seven-line mosaic building inscription of the metropolitan Andreas, in the upper mosaic pavement of the narthex, July 598 / 613 / 628.
Dating inscriptions in square script on palaeographical grounds is difficult, for this script, popular in the fifth century, goes out of fashion but does not completely disappear in the sixth and sees some revival in the seventh, especially in the south. However, several elements in this inscription — the noticeable apices, the cursive delta, the cruciform psi — point to a late date, not earlier than the end of the sixth century and possibly the early seventh. In the period suggested by the appearance of the inscription, July fell in a first indiction in 598, 613 and 628. All three dates are possible, for there is ample proof that churches were being renovated, and even built, in the Holy Land also in the period of the Persian occupation. Interestingly, the memorial day of the martyr Basilius, according to the Synaxary of Constantinople, fell on the 5th of July.