Complete
Linguistic features:
Formulae:
Quotations from literary texts:
Dating:
AD 301
-
AD 800
Language:
Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
Monumental:
Medium:
mosaic
Visible:
Accessible:
Has figural depiction:
Has iconoclastic damage:
Activities commemorated:
unknown
Funds:
unknown
Price:
unknown
Placement:
the narthex, near the north wall
People mentioned:
Name:
Yeshuʿa
Patronym:
Status:
official
Ethnic allegance:
Semitic
Tribal allegane:
none
Family status:
unspecified
Role:
Benefactor
Occupation:
advocate
Age:
Gender:
male
Religion:
Judaism
Religious denomination:
unspecified
Language:
Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
Description
date: 4-8 c. CE description: Aramic inscription mentioning Yeshuʿa the “witness” founded on mosaic floor in the narthex, near the north wall. A single line of letters formed by black tesserae. Below the text there is a hederae design. Dimensions: 135+ cm wide. ed, (CIIP IV 3872) [--]דכירן לטב מנחמה ישוע שהדה ומנחמה ש dkyrn lṭb mnḥmh yšwʿ śhdh wmnḥmh š[--] 'May they be remembered for the good, the advocate Yeshuʿa the “witness” (=notary?) and the advocate Sh…' commentary: The repeated word מנחמה mnḥmh has caused difficulty. Naveh has correctly understood it as a title or profession and not a personal name, as the excavators thought; his suggestion, tentatively adopted here, is to understand it as a translated loan-word from the Greek παράκλητος= advocatus; it is found in Syriac, Jewish Aramaic and Hebrew as פרקליט prqlyṭ. παράκλητος is rendered in 4 c. Latin translations of the New Testament as consolator, and occasionally as mnḥmnʾ in the Palestinian Syriac translation (commentary by CIIP IV 3872). Werlin accepts this interpretation but warns that it cannot be fully excluded that the personal name, Menaḥem, was intended here. (Werlin 2015: 146-147) CIIP IV 3872 Beyer 1984: 367 (yySU1) misinterpreted Naveh 1978: 118-119 (no 77) Werlin 2015: 146-147 https://library.brown.edu/iip/viewinscr/ksus0002/
Author:
Tomasz Barański
Added by:
Martyna
Created:
2022-07-21 13:14:49
Last update:
2024-03-27 14:54:24
Dimensions: surface: w 135+ cm
Condition: Aramic inscription mentioning Yeshuʿa the “witness” founded on mosaic floor in the narthex, near the north wall. A single line of letters formed by black tesserae. Below the text there is a hederae design.
Text:
Date: 301 CE - 800 CE
4-8 c. CE
Findspot: Unknown
Original location: Palestine Susiya 31.391944, 35.112222 Synagogue the narthex, near the north wall
Current repository: Unknown
Text type: mosaic inscription
Summary:
Inscription on mosaic in JPA script from Susiya. AD 301 - AD 800.
Changes history: 2022-07-21 Tomasz Barański Creation; 2024-03-27 Martyna Swierk Last modification; 2023-12-07 Martyna Swierk Preparation of EpiDoc file
Publication details: University of Warsaw; Warsaw;
Available under licence CC-BY 4.0
; @2021Translation
'May they be remembered for the good, the advocate Yeshuʿa the “witness” (=notary?) and the advocate Sh…'
Commentary
The repeated word מנחמה mnḥmh has caused difficulty. Naveh has correctly understood it as a title or profession and not a personal name, as the excavators thought; his suggestion, tentatively adopted here, is to understand it as a translated loan-word from the Greek παράκλητος= advocatus; it is found in Syriac, Jewish Aramaic and Hebrew as פרקליט prqlyṭ. παράκλητος is rendered in 4 c. Latin translations of the New Testament as consolator, and occasionally as mnḥmnʾ in the Palestinian Syriac translation (commentary by CIIP IV 3872). Werlin accepts this interpretation but warns that it cannot be fully excluded that the personal name, Menaḥem, was intended here. (Werlin 2015: 146-147)
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, 3872.
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, 367. J., Naveh, 1978, On Stone and Mosaic: The Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions from Ancient Synagogues, Tel Aviv, 118-119, 77. S.H., Werlin, 2015, Ancient Synagogues of Southern Palestine, 300-800 C.E.: Living on the Edge, Leiden, 146-147.