Complete
Linguistic features:
Formulae:
Quotations from literary texts:
Dating:
AD 301
-
AD 700
Language:
Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
Monumental:
Medium:
mosaic
Visible:
Accessible:
Has figural depiction:
Has iconoclastic damage:
Activities commemorated:
unknown
Funds:
his own property
Price:
1 tremissis
Placement:
Floor of the narthex
People mentioned:
Name:
Laʿzar
Patronym:
Status:
unspecified
Ethnic allegance:
Semitic
Tribal allegane:
none
Family status:
unspecified
Role:
Benefactor
Occupation:
unspecified
Age:
Gender:
male
Religion:
Judaism
Religious denomination:
unspecified
Language:
Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
Description
date: 4th century AD (or later up to the 7th century as in IIP) description: Aramaic mosaic inscription mentioning Laʿzar the priest founded on the floor of the narthex. Letters in black tesserae against a white, yellowish and tan background. There was a polychrome date palm near the inscription. Dimensions: 46 cm long; letters 3-4.4 cm; height of three lines: 13 cm. ed. CIIP IV 3868 דכיר לטב לעזר כהנא ובנוי דיהב חד טר[י] [ה]יסין מן פעל [[מ 'May Laʿzar the priest be remembered for the good, together with his sons, (he) who gave one tremissis from his own property'. commentary: The restoration of the definite article alef at the end of the first line is certain. Both Laʿzar and his sons are mentioned, but the verb is singular, indicating that the father himself made the contribution in all their names. On the minimal role played by priests in the late antique synagogue, see now Weiss 100-2; Weiss contradicts the prevailing, but poorly documented theory, that priests became more important in this period. The tremissis was one-third of the gold solidus, weighing about 1.5 gram. The words in the inscription are not contiguous but separated by at least two tesserae each. The suggested restoration by Fitzmyer and Harrington in MPAT, which has the entire word טרימיסין ṭrymysyn at the end of l.2 and then an unknown, lost word at the beginning of l.3 ending in ypyw, neither fits the space of the inscription nor matches the more accurate reading from the mosaic itself. (after CIIP IV 3868) The name Lazar, a shortened version of Eleazar, has already been noted at Susiya, where the individual likewise was identified as a priest. Given the proximity and similarities between Susiya and Eshtemoa, we are probably dealing with the same person or same family. The inclusion of “his sons” is also paralleled at Susiya, although this is not specific to these two synagogues. (Milson 2015: 187 citing Naveh 1978: 114-115) CIIP IV 3868 Beyer 1984: 365 (yyES 1) Milson 2007: 358-361 Naveh 1978: 114-115 (nr 74) Werlin 2015: 182-199 (especially 187) https://library.brown.edu/iip/viewinscr/esht0001/ https://synagogues.kinneret.ac.il/synagogues/eshtamoa/
Author:
Tomasz Barański
Added by:
Martyna
Created:
2022-05-27 08:54:13
Last update:
2024-03-27 14:47:21
Building:
Synagogue
Site:
Eshthemoa; as-Samu῾a
Dimensions: surface: cm
Condition: Aramaic mosaic inscription mentioning Laʿzar the priest founded on the floor of the narthex. Letters in black tesserae against a white, yellowish and tan background. There was a polychrome date palm near the inscription.
Text: letters 3-4.4 cm
Date: 301 CE - 700 CE
4th century AD (or later up to the 7th century as in IIP)
Findspot: Unknown
Original location: Palestine Eshthemoa (as-Samu῾a) 31.399167, 35.066111 Synagogue Floor of the narthex
Current repository: Unknown
Text type: mosaic inscription
Summary:
Inscription on mosaic in JPA script mentioning Laʿzar the priest from Eshthemoa (as-Samu῾a). AD 301 - AD 700.
Changes history: 2022-05-27 Tomasz Barański, Karolina Tomczyszyn Creation; 2024-03-27 Martyna Swierk Last modification; 2023-11-29 Martyna Swierk Preparation of EpiDoc file
Publication details: University of Warsaw; Warsaw;
Available under licence CC-BY 4.0
; @2021Translation
May Laʿzar the priest be remembered for the good, together with his sons, (he) who gave one tremissis from his own property
Commentary
The restoration of the definite article alef at the end of the first line is certain. Both Laʿzar and his sons are mentioned, but the verb is singular, indicating that the father himself made the contribution in all their names. On the minimal role played by priests in the late antique synagogue, see now Weiss 100-2; Weiss contradicts the prevailing, but poorly documented theory, that priests became more important in this period. The tremissis was one-third of the gold solidus, weighing about 1.5 gram. The words in the inscription are not contiguous but separated by at least two tesserae each. The suggested restoration by Fitzmyer and Harrington in MPAT, which has the entire word טרימיסין ṭrymysyn at the end of l.2 and then an unknown, lost word at the beginning of l.3 ending in ypyw, neither fits the space of the inscription nor matches the more accurate reading from the mosaic itself. (after CIIP IV 3868).
The name Lazar, a shortened version of Eleazar, has already been noted at Susiya, where the individual likewise was identified as a priest. Given the proximity and similarities between Susiya and Eshtemoa, we are probably dealing with the same person or same family. The inclusion of “his sons” is also paralleled at Susiya, although this is not specific to these two synagogues. (Milson 2015: 187 citing Naveh 1978: 114-115)
Bibliography (edition)
- CIIP IV W., Ameling, H., Cotton, W., Eck, A., Ecker, B., Isaac, A., Kushnir-Stein, H., Misgav, J., Price, P., Weiß, A., Yardeni, 2023, Corpus inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae. Volume IV: Iudaea/Idumaea, Berlin, Boston, 3868.
Bibliography
- K., Beyer, 1984, Die aramäischen Texte vom Toten Meer: samt den Inschriften aus Palästina, dem Testament Levis aus der Kairoer Genisa, der Fastenrolle und den alten Talmudischen Zitaten, Gottingen, 365. D.W., Milson, 2007, Art and Architecture of the Synagogue in Late Antique Palestine. In the Shadow of the Church, Leiden, 358-361. J., Naveh, 1978, On Stone and Mosaic: The Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions from Ancient Synagogues, Tel Aviv, 114-115, 74. S.H., Werlin, 2015, Ancient Synagogues of Southern Palestine, 300-800 C.E.: Living on the Edge, Leiden, 182-199 (especially 187).