V 317. Bosporus (?). Epitaph of Theodore, 884 C.E.
Monument
Type
Panel.
Material
Gray (Proconessian ?) marble.
Dimensions (cm)
H. 28.0, W. 25.0, Th. 5.0.
Additional description
Top left corner and the right side are missing.
Place of Origin
Bosporus (?).
Find place
Unknown.
Find context
Unknown.
Find circumstances
Unknown.
Modern location
St. Petersburg, Russia (?).
Institution and inventory
State Hermitage (?), no inventory number.
Autopsy
Non vidi.
Epigraphic field
Position
On the front.
Lettering
Lapidary. Alpha with a loop, almond-shaped epsilon, theta, omicron and sigma, extremely ornate kappa. Ligature: nu-tau, omicron-nu; abbreviation marks.
Letterheights (cm)
1.35.
Text
Category
Epitaph.
Date
884 C.E.
Dating criteria
Explicit date.
Editions
Unpublished.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/><supplied reason="lost">Ἐνθά</supplied>δε κατάκητε
<lb n="2"/><supplied reason="lost">ὁ</supplied>
<supplied reason="lost">δοῦ</supplied><unclear>λ</unclear>ος
τοῦ <del rend="erasure"><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/></del>
<roleName><expan><abbr>θ</abbr><ex>εο</ex><abbr>ῦ</abbr></expan></roleName>
Θε<lb n="3" break="no"/><supplied reason="lost">όδω</supplied>ρος τὸ
ἐπήκλην
<lb n="4"/><gap reason="lost" unit="character" quantity="2"/><w part="F">θυ</w>. Ἅπαντος τοῦ
<expan><abbr>κ</abbr><ex>αὶ</ex></expan>
<expan><abbr>ἦ</abbr><ex cert="low">ν</ex></expan>
βίο<lb n="5" break="no"/>υ
<date dur="P87Y"><expan><abbr><choice><corr>ὀ</corr><sic>Η</sic></choice>γδοήκ</abbr><ex>ον</ex><abbr>τα</abbr></expan>
καὶ <num value="7">ζ</num></date>, οὗ
<lb n="6"/>ἀνερ<choice><corr>εθ</corr><sic>ΘΡ</sic></choice>ῇ
ὑπὸ το͂ν <expan><abbr>πα<lb n="7" break="no"/>τ</abbr><ex>έ</ex><abbr>ρον</abbr></expan>,
<expan><abbr>ἄρ<supplied reason="lost">ι</supplied>στ</abbr><ex>α</ex></expan> ἔτη. Ἐτελη<lb n="8" break="no"/>ώθη <date><expan><abbr>μη</abbr><ex>νὶ</ex></expan> <rs type="month" ref="apr">Ἀπρηλήῳ</rs>
<lb n="9"/><num value="13">ιγ</num>, ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ
ἔ<lb n="10" break="no"/>τους <num value="6392">ςτϞβ</num></date>.
</ab>
</div> Apparatus criticus
4: Θύα παντὸς Latyshev;
κ(αὶ) βίο[υ ? Latyshev
5-6: <ὸ>γδο[ήκον]τα ? ΚΑΤΖΟΥ ΑΝΕΡΘΡΗ Latyshev
6-7: τὸν πατρο͂να .... Latyshev
Translation
Here lies a servant of God, Theodore, nicknamed ...phy. Of his life, in total, there were eighty seven wonderful years, until he was taken by the fathers. He died on April 13th, in the 6392nd year since Adam.
Commentary
A drawing of the monument, together with a reading and some information about it, is preserved among the papers of V.V. Latyshev (The Archive of The Academy of Sciences of Russia, St. Petersburg Branch, f. 110, op. 1, d. 98, l. 354). Latyshev transcribed it at the Hermitage in 1883; I could not find any trace of it there. It is unclear why Latyshev did not publish the monument: perhaps in 1883, he was not yet aiming at publishing all inscriptions from the South of Russia; or perhaps the inscription was not from that region, finally, it might be because he did not succeed in reading all of it. My restoration of the middle of the text is hypothetical, based as it is on Latyshev's transcription rather the study of the monument de visu.
Judging by the arrangement of text, it is likely that the right bottom corner had already been lost by that time - it is possible that the tombstone was made from a marble spolium.
1–2. On the formula, see Introduction IV.3.F.d.
4. The nickname of Theodore may have been something similar to Mamsy, as in V 45.
4–7. The rhetorical flare resembles that of V 243 (see also below).
7–8. On the formula, see Introduction IV.3.F.f.
9. On the dating "since Adam," see Introduction IV. 4. D; on the correspondence of year "since Creation" and "since the Birth of Christ" in the Middle Byzantine period, see Introduction IV. 4. D. The date suggests that the monument originated in the Northern Black Sea region (see commentary to V 315 and Vinogradov 2008). The palaeographic features are similar to those of V 243 (906 C.E.) and V 336 (912 C.E.?). Taking into consideration their origin in Bosporus (see commentary to V 336), we could hypothesize that if indeed this tombstone were from the Northern Black Sea region, then it could be associated with Bosporus. The fact that Latyshev was working with this monument in 1883 also supports the hypothesis of its Black Sea origin because it was at exactly this time that Latyshev had been entrusted with the study of Northern Black Sea epigraphy by the Imperial Russian Archaeological Society and made a trip to Crimea.
Images
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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