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Negev. Zoora. March 22, 329 CE - March 21, 330 CE. Sandstone tombstone. Epitaph.
Found by local inhabitants in the northwest corner of the Bronze Age, Byzantine and Islamic cemetery in the An Naq neighborhood south of the Wadi al-Hasa, probably in secondary use in later graves.
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μητρίου
θανόντος ἐ
τῶν
Be of good cheer. Monument of Demetrios the officialis (member of the officium) who died (at the age) of 60 years, in (the) year 224.
The inscription provides a year of 224 according the Era of the Province of Arabia, or March 22, 329 CE - March 21, 330 CE. The tombstone is one of about 700 discovered in Byzantine Zoora. The majority of the Greek tombstones from this location have been identified as Christian. The stone is both chipped in many places and weathered, though the text is still clear. The inscription contains orthographic errors and is engraved in an oval script. The text is engraved and painted red. The letters ΟΦ in line 3 are crossed by a diagonal stroke to indicate that they are an abbreviation. The numerical signs are indicated with a horizontal bar over sign. The word ἔτ(ους) on line 5 is abbreviated by recording the first two letters and the siglum S at the end of the word. Though the word Θάρσει usually appears at the end of epitaphs at Zoora, it is instead the first word in this inscription and in Zoor0015.