Complete

Dimensions: surface: w 0.9 x h 2,6 meter

Condition: According to the excavation report exact location of the inscription is unknown. Probably heavily damaged when found, the mosaic was situated in the nave, close to the presbytery. Above the inscription's text is an image of an amphora and next to the inscription a depiction of a peacock behind a plant is visible. Moreover, there is a vine scroll along the Christian Palestinian Aramaic text. The available picture presents only the part of the text. Two lines of Christian Palestinian Aramaic text are divided by a line of Greek text. Additionally, there are three Greek lines below.

Text:

Date: 501 CE - 700 CE

6th-7th c.

Findspot: Unknown

Original location: Arabia al-Burz (Khirbet el-Burz; Khirbet el Birz; Khirbet el Bourj) 32.509722, 34.941111 Church nave

Current repository: Unknown

Text type: building inscription

Summary:

Inscription on mosaic in CPA and Greek scripts from al-Burz (Khirbet el-Burz; Khirbet el Birz; Khirbet el Bour). AD 501 - AD 700.

Changes history: 2023-01-04 Tomasz Barański, Karolina Tomczyszyn Creation; 2023-11-20 Martyna Swierk Last modification; 2023-11-20 Martyna Swierk Preparation of EpiDoc file

Publication details: University of Warsaw; Warsaw;

Available under licence CC-BY 4.0

Translation

'Ce lieu [a été construit / pavé?] par les soins de [...] et Sèinas fils de Johannes [...] (il) servira [...] fut réalisé [...].'

English translation: 'This place [was built / paved?] by the care of [...] and Seinas son of Johannes [...] (it) will serve [...] was made [...].'

(by Puech 2003, p. 22)

Commentary

Line 1: The plural noun there is constructed with the suffix of the third person masculine singular, but with the preposition ʿl and the particle d- it is the well-known expression 'by (the agency of), by the care of'. The next dalet is the a particle, meaning literally 'by his hands'. After that, there was probably a name of the benefactor. It could be ywḥnʾ/s as an Aramaic counterpart of Greek name attested in the line 2. This could be possibly supplemented with a term qšyšʾ that means a priest. Line 2: The preserved words of this line seem to be preceded by a phrase (epi tou osiô(tatou) and therefore the original text extended much longer to the left, including the CPA part of the inscription. The name Sèinas was suggested by Puech (2003: 325, n. 14) on the base of names attested in F. Preisigke, Namenbuch, Heidelberg, 1922 and H. Wuthnow, Die semitischen Menschennamen in griechen Inschriften und Papyri des vorderen Orients, Lepizig 1930, s. 109. This name is also known in variants as Sina or Sinas. Puech deliberated on the possible identification of this name as a peculiar orthographical form of Zenon.
Line 3: The verb šmš is in the third person masculine singular imperfect peʿal instead of the usual paʿel. The third row of tesserae at the break would then suggest a šin or ʾalef, perhaps for š[mšʾ, 'the deacon, the minister'.

Bibliography

R., Hoyland, 2010, Mount Nebo, Jabal Ramm, and the status of Christian Palestinian Aramaic and Old Arabic in Late Roman Palestine and Arabia, [in:] M.C.A., Macdonald, The development of Arabic as written language, Jerusalem, 29-46. N., Khasawneh, 1993, Final Report on the Khirbet al-Burz - Sama ar-Rusan Excavation, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 38, 21-29. E., Puech, 2003, L’inscription christo-palestinienne du Ouadi Rajib-Ajloun et de nouvelles inscriptions christo-palestiniennes de Jordanie, [in:] G.C., Bottini, L., di Segni, L.D., Chrupcala, One Land Many Cultures, Jerusalem, 317–325. SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 53, 1911 - Sama ar-Rusan (area of el Burz). Fragmentary bilingual (Aramaic / Greek) inscription recording the foundation or renovation of a church, probably 6th/7th cent. A.D.

Images