Complete

Description

For this inscription, see also the entry by Pawel Nowakowski and Sergey Minov in the Cult of Saints Database, E03538 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E03538 Date: The importance of this inscription lies in its date, the earliest dated Christian Syriac inscription so far discovered in north Syria. The dating formula was plausibly restored as the year 718 of the Seleucid era = 406/407 CE. Thus, the inscription predates the Syriac inscription of Dar Qita in the territory of Antioch (433/434 CE), formerly considered as the earliest, and the Edessene manuscript BL Add. 12150 (411 CE) – the earliest dated codex in Classical Syriac. Briquel Chatonnet and Desremaux also point to some ‘archaic’ features of the estrangelo script which may corroborate their restoration of the date; the phrasing differs from the regular terms of the sixth century dedicatory inscriptions. A notable feature is that the ܩܦܣ used by the person who drafted the text to denote the laying out of the mosaic pavement. It is very unusual and the editors suppose that it derives from the Greek kubos/“cube”, or “tessera”. See further discussion of the date by Klaus Peter Todt and Bernard Andreas Vest in TIB 15, p. 1536. Description: The inscription is divided into two columns by a two-stepped stone threshold. It belongs to the east border of a carpet mosaic with hunting scenes, trees, and other plants. Dimensions: north part – 1.05 m x 0.53 m, south part – 1.09 m x 0.57 m. Letter height 0.03–0.075 m (usually 0.045 m). Letters in black tesserae on white background. Written from top to bottom. According to the editors, the style of the mosaic points to an itinerant mosaic workshop from Antioch. The lettering of the two columns is slightly different, which can point to two mosaicists commissioned with this work. The mosaic was subject to an iconoclastic intervention. Text: ed. Briquel Chatonnet & Desreumaux 2008, 23–28; Briquel Chatonnet & Desreumaux 2011, 45–61 (CSLA.E03538). Cf. TIB 15, pp. 1535–1536. ܫܒܥ […] ܡܢ […] ܠܐ […] .4 ܡ. […] ܙ ܐܬ […] ܩܦܤ ܒܣܗܕܐ ܗܢܐ ܕܒܡܪ ܝܚܢܢ .8 ܒܝܘ̈ܡܬܗ ܕܪܫ ܕܝܪܐ ܡܪ ܒܪܢܒܐ ܐܫܬܪܐ ܒܒܣܗ ܕܐ ܗܢܐ .12 ܘܒܝܘ̈ܡܝ ܪܫ ܕܝܪܐ ܡܪܤ ܐܫ ܬܠܡ ܡܪܐ ܬܟܪ ܒܡܠܟܘܬܐ ܠܫܡܫܐ .16 ܬܝܕܛܐ ܘܠܫܡܫܐ ܩܘܙܡܐ ܘܠܢܘܚ ܩܦܣܐ ܘܠܝܚܢܢ ܕܫܩܠܘ ܛܥܢܐ ܡܛܠ .20 ܡܪܢ ܘܩܦܣܘ ܒܝܬܐ ܗܢܐ ܕܟܘܠ ܕܩܪܐ ܢܨܠܐ ܥܠܝܗ̈ܘܢ Translation: ‘[- - -] eight-... [- - -] seven, this martyrion was mosaiced, which is in St. John. In the days of Father Superior Mar Barnaba the work was started in that martyrion, and in the days of Father superior Mares this work was completed. Lord, in the kingdom, remember deacons Theodotos and Kosma, and mosaicist Noah, and John, who all undertook the charge for Our Lord and have mosaiced this house so that whoever readeth shall pray for them.’ (transl. Fr. Briquel Chatonnet & A. Desreumaux) Commentary: The activity commemorated by this inscription is the paving of a martyr shrine literally situated ‘in St. John’/da-b-mār Yuḥannān, that it is probably in a church dedicated to St. John (as suggested by the editors) belonging to a monastery. The precise position of this mosaic in the church is not know, since it was not fully excavated, but the width of the carpet mosaic (just 5.34 m) makes it plausible that the inscription was part of the floor mosaic of an aisle, just in front of a pastophorion, probably the martyr’s chapel mentioned in the inscription.