V 334. Tamatarcha (?). Dedication of an unknown, XIII–XVth centuries C.E.

Monument

Type

Panel. 

Material

White marble. 

Dimensions (cm)

H. 37.0, W. 27.0, Th. unknown.

Additional description

Broken off on the left. 

Place of Origin

Tamatarcha (?). 

Find place

Taman (?). 

Find context

Unknown. 

Find circumstances

Unknown, before 1941 

Modern location

Unknown. 

Institution and inventory

Unknown. 

Autopsy

Non vidi. 

Epigraphic field

Position

On the upper part of the panel. 

Lettering

Lapidary. Mu with T-shaped middle, angular omicron and rho. Abbreviation marks. 

Letterheights (cm)

2.5.

Text

Category

Dedication. 

Date

XIII–XVth centuries C.E. 

Dating criteria

Palaeography. 

Editions

L1. Rozanova 1947, 173–174, № 1. 

Edition

Τῇ μ(ητ)ρὶ τοῦ κ(υρίο)υ.

Diplomatic

ΤΗΜΡΙΤΟΥΚΥ

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/>Τῇ
      <expan><abbr>μ</abbr><ex>ητ</ex><abbr>ρὶ</abbr></expan> τοῦ
      <expan><abbr>κ</abbr><ex>υρίο</ex><abbr>υ</abbr></expan>.
   </ab>
   </div> 

Translation

To the Mother of the Lord.

 

Commentary

Prior to 1941, the monument was stored at the belltower of the Pokrov Church at Taman. Rozanova's publication is our only source of information about the monument. The panel, according to Rozanova, was in secondary use; two letters, psi and kappa, survived from the original inscription.

Rozanova dated the inscription to the IVth century on the basis of script, which in her opinion was similar to that of the II-IIIrd centuries, however, it is quite clear that the ligature μ(ητ)ρὶ and mu with T-shaped middle militate against such a date; rather, ornate lettershapes (large serifs for kappa and tau, angular rho) suggest a Late Byzantine date.

The formula seems to suggest that we have a dedication to the Mother of God, but the exact function of the inscription is impossible to determine. The descrition of the Mother of God as "Mother of the Lord" is essentially unique in Byzantine epigraphy.

 

Images

(cc) © 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
You may download this inscription in EpiDoc XML. (This file should validate to the EpiDoc schema.)