Complete
Linguistic features:
Writing from top to bottom
Formulae:
ܐܢܐ or "I" followed by a name
Quotations from literary texts:
Dating:
AD 450
-
AD 600
Language:
Syriac
Monumental:
Medium:
rock
Visible:
Accessible:
Has figural depiction:
Has iconoclastic damage:
Activities commemorated:
Name recorded
Funds:
Price:
Placement:
wall
People mentioned:
Name:
ZKRWN/Zakhrōn
Patronym:
BR YḤWNN/son of Yōḥannān
Status:
unspecified
Ethnic allegance:
unspecified
Tribal allegane:
none
Family status:
father
Role:
Name recorded
Occupation:
monk_or_clergyman
Age:
Gender:
male
Religion:
Christianity
Religious denomination:
pro-Chalcedonian
Language:
Syriac
Description
date: unknown (fifth or sixth century?). description: The south wall of this rock-cut chamber bears one or two Syriac graffiti (depending if we split these texts into two different entities). The are scratched to the right of the entrance. Visually, they are accompanied by a Greek funerary inscription, which, however, has no links to these two. Written vertically. The lettering resembles sixth century minuscule (Land). ed. AAES IV Syr. 4 and 5. Cf. TIB 15, p. 1668–1669. ܐܢܐ ܙܟܪܘܢ ܩܫܐ .4 ܒܪ ܝܘܚܢܢ 3. ܩܫܐ is not certain Littmann, ܩܫܝܫܐ is not written ‘I am Zakhrōn, the presbyter, the son of Yōḥannān.’ (tr. E. Littmann) commentary: Littmann and Prentice considered the Greek and Syriac texts as chronologically separate. The Syriac ones dated from the period of use of the chamber as an oil press. Littmann concludes that the Syriac inscriptions are ‘graffiti without any special purpose except to record the name of the man who scratched them.’ Thus, they may be products of leisure time or express these people’s emotional attachment to their place or work, or can label their property (the press?). The most interesting feature of this text is its prosopographical value. The man whose name was commemorated on the wall may be a father or son of Yōḥannān, son of Zakhrōn(a), mentioned at Qalb Lawza in a Syriac inscription displayed at the chancel of the basilica.
Author:
Paweł Nowakowski
Added by:
Martyna
Created:
2022-08-16 21:59:35
Last update:
2023-11-13 20:24:51
Building:
rock-cut chamber
Condition: The south wall of this rock-cut chamber bears one or two Syriac graffiti (depending if we split these texts into two different entities). The are scratched to the right of the entrance. Visually, they are accompanied by a Greek funerary inscription, which, however, has no links to these two.
Text: Written vertically. The lettering resembles sixth century minuscule (Land).
Date: 450 CE - 600 CE
Unknown (fifth or sixth century?).
Findspot: Unknown
Original location: Syria Mār Sābā monastery 36.166111, 36.636111 rock-cut chamber wall
Current repository: Unknown
Text type: Christian inscription
Summary:
Syriac inscription from a chamber in Mār Sābā monastery. 450 CE - 600 CE.
Changes history: 2022-08-16 Pawel Nowakowski Creation; 2023-08-21 Pawel Nowakowski Last modification; 2023-11-06 Martyna Swierk Preparation of EpiDoc file
Publication details: University of Warsaw; Warsaw;
Available under licence CC-BY 4.0
; @2021apparatus
3: ܩܫܐ is not certain Littmann, ܩܫܝܫܐ is not written
Translation
‘I am Zakhrōn, the presbyter, the son of Yōḥannān.’
(tr. E. Littmann)
Commentary
Littmann and Prentice considered the Greek and Syriac texts as chronologically separate. The Syriac ones dated from the period of use of the chamber as an oil press. Littmann concludes that the Syriac inscriptions are ‘graffiti without any special purpose except to record the name of the man who scratched them.’ Thus, they may be products of leisure time or express these people’s emotional attachment to their place or work, or can label their property (the press?).
The most interesting feature of this text is its prosopographical value. The man whose name was commemorated on the wall may be a father or son of Yōḥannān, son of Zakhrōn(a), mentioned at Qalb Lawza in a Syriac inscription displayed at the chancel of the basilica.
Bibliography (edition)
- AAES IV Syr.1 E., Littmann, 1914, Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904-1905 and 1909. IV (a–D). Semitic inscriptions, Leiden, 4, 5.
Bibliography
- TIB 15 K.-P., Todt, B. A., Vest, 2014, Tabula Imperii Byzantini, Vienna, 1668-1669.