Complete

Description

For this record, see also my entry in the Cult of Saints database: CSLA.E04396 – P. Nowakowski, The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity database, http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04396 date: 492/493 CE (Seleucid era, the year 804) description: Mosaic inscription within a frame. No dimensions given in the edition. Black and red tesserae were used to make the letters. Left-hand corners have decorative leaf-patterns. Precise find-spot unknown. The mosaic was published in 1988 by Émile Puech who stated that he learned about its existence through the antiquities market of New York. Alongside this inscription, two further mosaic panels inscribed in Syriac were offered for sale. Puech ascribed it to Edessa's territory based on rather tentative grounds, especially the shape of letters, so this attribution is hypothetical. ed. Puech 1988, 267–270 (CSLA.E04396). ܐܬܛܣܝܡ ܩܬܐܝ̈ܣܘܗܝ ܕܡܘ[ܫ]ܠܐ .4 ܗܢܐ ܒܫܢܬ ܬܡܢܡܐܐ ܘܐܪܒܥ ܒܝܪܚ ܢܝܣܢ .8 ܒܝ̈ܘܡܝ ܩܕܝܫܐ [ܥܒ]ܕܐ ܚܝ̈ܠܐ [ܘܢܙ]ܝܪܐ ܘܩܫܐ 3. ܡܘ[ܫ]ܠܐ Puech, but perhaps ܡܽܘܫܶܐ ‘The foundations of this mausoleum were laid (or: ‘These floor-mosaics were laid’, see the comments) in the year eight hundred and four, in the month of Nisan, in the days of the holy miracle worker, ascetic and priest.’ (tr. after É. Puech.) commentary: In his restoration of the mosaic, Puech puts forward an interpretation that line 3 contained the name of a building: ܡܘ[ܫ]ܠܐ , which might be the Greek term μαυσώλειον , or mausoleum, written in Syriac letters. If so, this is a funerary inscription. However, given the usual contents of inscriptions from floor mosaics, which usually record the restoration works, one can wonder if the damaged word could be read as a form of ܡܽܘܫܶܐ which is a Syriac term for ‘mosaic’, and refer to the (re)paving of any building (e.g. a church?) with floor-mosaics. Interestingly, the dating formula also mentions the "times of a holy miracle worker, ascetic, and priest". Puech believed this could be Thaddaeus/Addai of Edessa or his disciple Aggai. But we have too little positive evidence to assume that this identification was correct. More probably, this is an ordinary cleric or monk, offering his service as a supervisor of work. Literature: Puech, É., ‘Une inscription syriaque sur mosaïque’, Liber Annuus 38 (1988), 267–270.