V 101. Cherson. Inscription of Epiphanios (?), IV–Vth centuries C.E.
Monument
Type
Stele.
Material
White fine-grained marble.
Dimensions (cm)
H. 15.5, W. 16.0, Th. 2.0.
Additional description
Roman funerary stele decorated with pediment and cornice and fluted Doric colonnettes on each side, with inset (D. 4cm) field inbetween. There may have been a bas-relief and inscription in this architectural space. The front is smooth, and the back is crudely worked; in secondary use. Broken off on the right and bottom.
Place of Origin
Cherson.
Find place
Sevastopol (Chersonesos).
Find context
Northern sector, Block IX, near the bath-house by the Northern basilica, in the masonry of the wall of XII-XIVth centuries.
Find circumstances
1982, excavations of S.G. Ryzhov.
Modern location
Sevastopol, Crimea.
Institution and inventory
National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos, 179/37050.
Autopsy
May 1999, August 2001, September 2002, September 2003, September 2004, September 2005, September 2006, September 2007.
Epigraphic field
Position
On the cornice.
Lettering
Lapidary. Alpha with slanting crossbar, bouletée epsilon, elongated phi.
Letterheights (cm)
1.0–1.4.
Text
Category
Unknown.
Date
IV–Vth centuries C.E.
Dating criteria
Palaeography.
Editions
L1. Solomonik 1986, 217, № 8, fig. 13; 2. Vinogradov 2010, 150–151, № p.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/><g ref="#stauros"/> <seg part="I">Ἐπηφα<supplied reason="lost">νι</supplied></seg><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
</ab>
</div> Translation
Epipha[ni...
Commentary
It is not clear whether the name Epiphanios or Epiphania stood at the beginning of the inscription. An ancient relief in this case was reused as a Christian tombstone. The name Epiphanios has parallels in the Northern Black Sea region (Beševliev 1964, № 105, 113). An additional possibility is that we are dealing with the name of a feast - Epiphany.
The lettershapes are close to the script of V 5 where alphas in lines 4 and 6 are also heavily tilted to the left.
Images
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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