V 252. Sougdaia. Image-related inscription, XIV–XVth centuries C.E.
Monument
Type
Icon in relief.
Material
Limestone.
Dimensions (cm)
H. 21.0, W. 18.5, Th. 5.0 .
Additional description
Work of a Genoese master (?); on the front: framing border (height 0,8) and image of St. George on a horse. Fully preserved.
Place of Origin
Sougdaia.
Find place
Sudak.
Find context
Fortress, tower of 1409, debris at the bottom.
Find circumstances
1983, excavations of I.A. Baranov.
Modern location
Sudak, Crimea.
Institution and inventory
Museum "Sudak Fortress", no inventory number.
Autopsy
September 2003, September 2009.
Epigraphic field 1
Position
Above and right of St. George.
Lettering
Graffito.
Letterheights (cm)
0.3–0.8.
Text 1
Category
Image-related inscription.
Date
XIV–XVth centuries C.E.
Dating criteria
Character of representation.
Editions
L1. Vinogradov, Dzhanov 2004, 422–424, № 14.
<div type="textpart" subtype="inscription" n="1">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/>Ὁ <roleName>ἅγιος</roleName>
<lb n="2"/>Γεώργι<supplied reason="lost">ος</supplied>.
</ab>
</div> Translation
Saint George.
Commentary
See commentary to Text 2.
Images
Epigraphic field 2
Position
Above and left of St. George.
Lettering
See epigraphic field 1.
Text 2
Category
Image-related inscription.
Date
XIV–XVth centuries C.E.
Dating criteria
Character of representation.
Editions
L1. Vinogradov, Dzhanov 2004, 422–424, № 14.
<div type="textpart" subtype="inscription" n="2">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/><unclear>Ὁ</unclear> <note>?</note>
<roleName><expan><abbr>ἅγ</abbr><ex>ιος</ex></expan></roleName> Θε<lb n="2" break="no"/><supplied reason="lost">ό</supplied><unclear>δ</unclear>ωρος.
</ab>
</div> Translation
Saint Theodore.
Commentary
The relief certainly depicts St. George, astride a horse and charging a dragon.The second text, "St. Theodore," is probably to be associated with the rededication of the icon to the latter martyr, at which time the earlier inscription was slightly erased and possibly painted over. Such reconsecration should not appear too surprising, considering that the cult of St. Theodore (more precisely of Theodores: Stratelates and Tiro) was also associated with a horse (see, e.g., the mural in the Church of the Donators at Cherkes-Kermen), as well as with a dragon who had abducted the saint's mother and was killed by him (BHG 1766).
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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