Complete
Linguistic features:
Formulae:
Quotations from literary texts:
Dating:
AD 201
-
AD 400
Language:
Hebrew
Monumental:
Medium:
stone
Visible:
Accessible:
Has figural depiction:
Has iconoclastic damage:
Activities commemorated:
Beth Midrash
Funds:
unknown
Price:
Placement:
lintel
People mentioned:
Name:
Eli'ezer ha-Qappar
Patronym:
Status:
religious_authority
Ethnic allegance:
Semitic
Tribal allegane:
none
Family status:
unspecified
Role:
Name recorded
Occupation:
rabbi
Age:
Gender:
male
Religion:
Judaism
Religious denomination:
unspecified
Language:
Hebrew
Description
date: 201-400 CE description: Hebrew inscription on a lintel founded reused in the wall of the village mosque whose construction is said to be incomplete. On each side of the stone, an eagle with outstretched wings bears a snake in its mouth. The text is in the middle inside and outside of the wreath formed by intertwining snakes. Dimensions: 42x170 cm. Letter Height: 5-10 cm. ed. IIP dabb0006 זה בית מדרשו שהלרבי אליעזר הקפר 'This is the Beth Midrash of the Rabbi Eli'ezer ha-Qappar.' commentary: The text is in Hebrew language. Rabbi Eli'ezer ha-Qappar (Aramaic Bar-Qappara) was a famous Tannaitic sage. His period of activity would date this inscription to the late second or early third centuries CE. Nevertheless, the recent studies propose to date it later at least to the fourth century CE. There are suggestions that the lintel was rather the work of disciples of Rabbi Eli‘ezer who, like Christians who venerated their saints, wished to perpetuate the memory of their mentor by fostering his study in the Beit Midrash named after him. Some researchers even call it a “pseudepigrapic” and “hagiographic” text. It is one of a key element in the discussion concerning the “literary rabbis” and “epigraphical rabbis” (see. Miller 2014). Beyer 1984: 396 (hDA 6) Gregg, Robert C., and Dan Urman. Jews, Pagans, and Christians in the Golan Heights: Greek and Other Inscriptions of the Roman and Byzantine Eras. South Florida Studies in the History of Judaism 140. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996. (p. 128-129 ) Miller, Stuart S.. “This Is the Beit Midrash of Rabbi Eliezer ha-Qappar” (Dabbura Inscription) – Were Epigraphical Rabbis Real Sages, or Nothing More Than Donors and Honored Deceased? [in:]. Talmuda de-Eretz Israel: Archaeology and the Rabbis in Late Antique Palestine, edited by Steven Fine and Aaron Koller, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2014, pp. 239-274. https://library.brown.edu/iip/viewinscr/dabb0006/ https://survey.antiquities.org.il/index_Eng.html#/MapSurvey/1113/site/16439
Author:
Tomasz Barański
Added by:
Martyna
Created:
2022-11-30 18:34:14
Last update:
2024-01-13 10:32:38
Dimensions: surface: w 170 x h 42 cm
Condition: Hebrew inscription on a lintel founded reused in the wall of the village mosque whose construction is said to be incomplete. On each side of the stone, an eagle with outstretched wings bears a snake in its mouth. The text is in the middle inside and outside of the wreath formed by intertwining snakes.
Text: Letter height 5-10 cm
Date: 201 CE - 400 CE
Findspot: Unknown
Original location: Palestina Dabbura (Kfar Devora; Khirbet Deborah; Dabura) 33.04464, 35.66587 Unexcavated synagogue/Beth Midrash lintel
Current repository: Unknown
Text type: tituli operum
Summary:
Insription on a lintel in Hebrew script from Dabbura (Kfar Devora; Khirbet Deborah; Dabura). 201 CE - 400 CE.
Changes history: 2022-11-30 Tomasz Barański Creation; 2024-01-13 Martyna Swierk Last modification; 2024-01-13 Martyna Swierk Preparation of EpiDoc file
Publication details: University of Warsaw; Warsaw;
Available under licence CC-BY 4.0
; @2021Translation
'This is the Beth Midrash of the Rabbi Eli'ezer ha-Qappar.'
Commentary
The text is in Hebrew language. Rabbi Eli'ezer ha-Qappar (Aramaic Bar-Qappara) was a famous Tannaitic sage. His period of activity would date this inscription to the late second or early third centuries CE. Nevertheless, the recent studies propose to date it later at least to the fourth century CE. There are suggestions that the lintel was rather the work of disciples of Rabbi Eli‘ezer who, like Christians who venerated their saints, wished to perpetuate the memory of their mentor by fostering his study in the Beit Midrash named after him. Some researchers even call it a “pseudepigrapic” and “hagiographic” text. It is one of a key element in the discussion concerning the “literary rabbis” and “epigraphical rabbis” (see. Miller 2014).
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, 396. R.C., Gregg, D, Urman, 1996, Jews, Pagans, and Christians in the Golan Heights: Greek and Other Inscriptions of the Roman and Byzantine Eras, South Florida Studies in the History of Judaism 140, 128-129. S.S., Miller, 2014, This Is the Beit Midrash of Rabbi Eliezer ha-Qappar” (Dabbura Inscription) – Were Epigraphical Rabbis Real Sages, or Nothing More Than Donors and Honored Deceased?, [in:] Talmuda de-Eretz Israel: Archaeology and the Rabbis in Late Antique Palestine, ed. S. Fine and A. Koller, Berlin, Boston, 239-274.